What if everything you thought, said or did had to measure up to this four-way test: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Created in 1932 by Herbert J. Taylor, these criteria are exactly the high standards each and every Rotarian agrees, upon membership, to apply to their lives. Donating the proceeds of a golf tournament to the Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) apparently meets those criteria as it was the good deed of the San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club.
Chartered in1990 by a small group of representatives from the main San Diego Rotary Club, San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club now has approximately 105 active members, ranging in age and profession, whose common link is living or working in the San Diego-downtown area.
As all Rotary clubs are charged, San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotarians must serve their club, vocation, community and the world through direct service and monetary contributions. Recent ventures have included promoting literacy, helping the elderly and disabled, combating urban violence and providing opportunities for youth at the local level. Service to the world has included international humanitarian efforts such as building homes in Tijuana and supporting Foundation for Children of the Americas, Polio Plus and DRF.
San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club member and former president, Frank De Francesco, helped to link the Club with DRF. Father of 32-year-old Karyn De Francesco, who has a profound hearing loss, Frank was immediately supportive of DRF’s mission when he first learned of the organization.
“Hearing is not like sight for which you can put on a pair of glasses and have completely restored vision,” says Frank, reflecting on his daughter’s experience. “Hearing aids don’t necessarily restore hearing clarity to perfection.” Though grateful for the technology that his daughter takes advantage of, Frank looks to DRF’s medical/research approach as the most promising path to complete restoration of lost hearing.
So convinced is Frank of this path to progress that he led the charge to donate one half of the proceeds of a highly successful golf tournament to DRF during his term as president of the Club. “The pat on the back goes to the Rotary Club,” says Frank of the Rotarians’ role in raising the funds. “DRF should challenge all Rotarians worldwide and enlist their aid to continue vital research to restore hearing health to all.”
Now that seems true, fair to all concerned, like it will build goodwill and better friendships and will also be beneficial to all concerned. Frank and the San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club certainly pass the four-way test in our book.
Visit them on the Web at www.sdrotary.com.
