The Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone has members are spread over the five continents meaning that to find an hour which would suit all members to meet online is a unique challenge for the club and is an example of the differences a club like this has compared to a conventional Rotary club. In overcoming these their service activity is extraordinary!
 
The picture shows the first meeting of the Rotary Shanghai Elysee Satellite of the Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone
 
The District 9920 Conference 2010-2011, organized by the Rotary Club of Papeete in Tahiti included the Chartering of the Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone by PDG Philippe Lamoise, the representative of the then Rotary International President Ray Klinginsmith's whose annual theme in this regard was appropriately, Buiding Communities - Bridging Continents. In this spirit Jean-Louis Nguyen Qui, who joined the club in 2012, suggested the motto which has been adopted by our E-Club and that inspires since then all our actions: Connecting Rotarians from around the World.
 
Since it has been chartered, the club has chosen the status of being a "Pure" E-Club, that is to say, a club that functions and meets mainly on the internet. In doing so, it opened itself up to the whole world, creating a network of friends on all continents and making it happen through more than fifty Twin Clubs.
 
Not being able to be the club host of international projects due to its global member dispersal, the club has chosen to participate in Matching Grants and then, since July 2013, in Global Grants as Primary or Secondary International Partner whenever it would be possible helped by District 9920 and the host clubs who asked us to help them raise the  international funds required by The Rotary Foundation. Also included have been any of the fifty Twin clubs who wished to participate. In addition, the club has been looking for all the opportunities to locally diversify their actions through District Grants and specific actions implemented by club members, would it be in France, in Spain, in Egypt and more recently in Uganda.
 
Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone has a current membership 37 members spread over thirteen countries, on five continents. This is made up of 22 (10 women and 12 men) of Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone, to whom must be added the 15 members (3 women and 12 men) of the "Rotary Shanghai Elysee Satellite of the Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone", attached to the Club since September 3rd, 2018, with the help of District 9920. In addition, there are six Honorary Members, all experienced Rotarians (2 PDGs, 1 DGE, 1 AG, and 2 PPs), loyal friends and informed advisers whose attendance rate would make so many club presidents happy. These two clubs together benefit from a distribution of harmonious age groups which do not leave room for inter-generational gaps as in many other Rotary clubs. Qualitatively the professional representation is well balanced, and the professional classifications are opened enough to enrich the club with their diversity.
 
In the current Rotary year, the Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone, with the support of its Rotary Shanghai Elysee Satellite Club, aims to obtain the 2019-2020 Rotary Citation with "Presidential Distinction". The club would thus reconnect with the “winning” years 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.
 
The club projects of 2019-2020 are in continuity with those carried out over the past seven years. They are distributed according to the means implemented and the partners who are either the initiators or just simple participants. For some of them, they proceed from the club's response to an unforeseen situations requiring an urgent response, to specific requests, to a repetitive event, or finally to a programming that goes on year after year.
 
Some points regarding these are:
 
  • A District Grant initiated in Uganda by club member Christopher Major from California has been finalized. The outcome of this was a massive participation of young Ugandan beneficiaries and Rotary clubs of District 9211 for only US$1,000 from the Club and District 9920
  • A symbolic fundraising meal statutory meeting with the contribution of each Rotarian of the club to the PolioPlus Fund for World Polio Day
  • The participation of the Rotary E-Club 9920 and of some honorary and active members to the RNZWCS fundraising for the measles epidemic in Samoa
  • The E-Club has participated in eight Global Grants since July 2019 as Primary (5) or Secondary Partner (3), all of them with the help of District 9920
In addition, has been the successes of the Satellite club Shanghai Elysee who have demonstrated that with a determined, inventive, involved and generous team, people can do wonders... The organization of their soccer tournament for the benefit of the Papillon children has been an immense success. Their project to create an Interact Club within the Lycée Français de Shanghai is inspirational.
 
[Edited extract from PDG Nicolas Spillmann, Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone President's speech on the occasion of District Governor Gary Langford's official visit to Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone on Tuesday 21 January, 2019]
 
For Rotary E-Club 9920 Francophone meeting details go to: https://www.rotarydistrict9920.org/clubInfo/rotary-e-club-9920-francophone - an experience worth having (English spoken).