Important Announcement: Many of you have been aware of the fact that I have retired from active service as Chair of Hands Across the Sea. The Search Committee, working since last November, has not found an experienced replacement. At the Salt Lake Convention, PRID Bill Cadwalleder, our HANDS Search Committee Chair, several members of our HANDS Leadership Team and several members of the Humanitarian Service Rotarian Action Group (HS-RAG) Leadership Team met and decided that our best course of action was to combine the resources of HANDS with those of the HSRAG.
Accordingly, we created and agreed to a "Statement of Understanding" to do just that. This is consistent with the creator of the WCSRN, the original humanitarian aid resource network, PRID Cliff Dochterman's dream as stated at the HANDS Symposium "…that the time has come for some kind of Rotary mechanism to assist in coordination, cooperation, collaboration and networking with separate organizations both inside and outside of Rotary…". You may request a full copy of Cliff's keynote speech to the HANDS Symposium by requesting it from Jim@handsacrossthesea.org.
The name that will be utilized in the combined organization will be Humanitarian Service - Rotarian Action Group (HS-RAG) since it is already in operation as an official Global Networking Group. We have forwarded to PDG Elliot Lowenstein, the Chair of HS-RAG messages about the contents of HANDS including a copy of the statistics of the 39 sub-sets in our HANDS Contact Database. You are included in this Database in as many categories as you qualify.
Until you are notified otherwise, you may continue to use the resources available from the HANDS Web Site, but I suggest you add the HS-RAG Web Site at www.hsrag.org as an additional resource. PDG Elliot Lowenstein at elgov6990@aol.com is the new HS-RAG Chair.
We will close this announcement with Cliff's final Symposium comments "Certainly, I will not be living to see that dream achieved. But when that day arrives, I hope that Rotarians are to ones who take the lead in bringing about a coordination of world community service, then the whole world would know what we mean when we say - Rotary Shares." Perhaps this combining of the HS-RAG and HANDS will be the first of these efforts in coordinating humanitarian service.
Symposium Report : The Hands Across the Sea all day Symposium, was successfully held on Thursday, 21 June, the day after the Salt Lake Convention ended and marked the 10th Anniversary since the RI Board of Directors created the former WCSRN at the Glasgow Convention in 1997. The HANDS Web Site has been in operation since October, 2000. Although the name has been changed and we no longer had any direct affiliation with RI or the TRF, we have made great progress in our attempt to bring together many of the resources that could be of help in performing Humanitarian Aid Projects, making them more successful by reducing costs, permitting creation of projects to be easier and faster, and bringing them to more needy people.
It is with a sad but grateful heart that after 10 years, I stepped down from active leadership after the Symposium. There have been many rewards, and yes, many frustrations but overall, I am very happy to have been able to contribute in advancing the Network concept. I will be available to advise the HS-RAG Leadership Team and help where needed but my health and age dictate that new blood is needed to help achieve Cliff's dream.
Thank you all for your help. I trust that you will give the Leadership of the HS-RAG the same cooperation you have given me over the years.
Jim Johannsen, PDG, D5240, 1992-93
Retiring Chair of HANDS Executive
and Operations Committee
Last Revised 14 July 2007