May is Youth Services Month! Did you know that Rotaract is 60 years old? Yes, it started in 1962. Quite an evolution! 19,000 Rotaract clubs and 437,000 members!
! “RI President Jennifer Jones looks to the past and the future of Rotaract. "For 60 years," she says, "Interactors have been changing the world. This year, I challenge you to Imagine Rotary. Imagine a Rotary where, in the next 60 years, youth voices and youth perspectives lead the way".” (From May Rotary Magazine) Help start a Rotaract club in your community! It only takes 10 to start one!
This month is the District 4-way test on Saturday, May 6th at Westwood School’s Black Box Theater from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm. Last month was the Empowering Girls Essay contest. More on that both of these at Roundtable, Saturday May 13th.
137 Rotarians and friends from 23 clubs in 5810 and 5 clubs from out of our District really enjoyed the District Conference and Service Cruise. On Sunday, April 23rd we took a bus, and some drove, from Dallas to the Port of Galveston where we boarded Royal Caribbean’s SS Allure of the Seas along with about 6,400 other cruisers! On Sunday, April 30th we bused or drove back to Dallas.
Our Cruise Director was PDG Bill Dendy (16) who, with the hard working Lisa Nolley Dendy, made the cruise experience great! Our advance team of DGN Regina Edwards and Vickie and Glen Campbell made local arrangements for tours and projects and the arrangements for shipping 24,000+ books, school supplies and 100+ backpacks. This doesn’t begin to cover the HUGE amount of work that DGE DGN Regina, Ken Edwards and Luke put into the assembly of all the books, a wide assortment of school supplies, 328 Days for Girls, Inc. feminine hygiene kits, and children’s shoes to prepare them for shipping. DGN Regina and PDG Bill Dendy then trucked them to the Port of Galveston. DGN Regina negotiated free shipping with the SS Carnival Breeze to deliver 252 boxes to Cozumel and the SS Carnival Vista delivered 201 boxes to Roatan during the month of April. Thank you, Carnival!!
106 of us enjoyed 6 service tours on the island of Roatan, Honduras and 88 of us enjoyed 3 service tours on the island of Cozumel, Mexico during our cruise. Leading the Roatan projects was DGN Regina Edwards. Leading the Cozumel projects were David & Annette Weiland & Katy Ridge of the Greenville Club.
I had the opportunity to accompany the RI President’s Representative District 5890 PDG Sunny and his wife Rashmi Sharma on tours to projects on both islands, along with PDG Ean & Jan Sullivan, Christina Todd and Vivi Bennett as their aides. We were all very impressed. Also, PDG Sunny made two very inspiring presentations that made a big impact on both Rotarians and our friends.
These projects renewed Rotarians’ spirits, inspired others and changed the lives of many children and adults on the islands for the better. Many Rotarians said it inspired them to continue in Rotary to make a difference. It was great to see what can be done and the impact on these wonderful people of the two islands. And there are several grants pending that will have even more impact! Rotarians in Action and Making a Difference!
There is a lot more of the story, including grants and donations, but I don’t want to spoil it before you see DGN Regina’s extended article coming soon.
Presidents, are you making progress on making sure your goals are completed? Have you input the data in Rotary Club central? Work on it now and save stress later!
The District Goal for Annual Fund Giving is $300K. The Stop Polio Now Goal is $100K. We are close but still have a ways to go. Note if you submit donations after June 1st, they may not be recorded until after July 1st, which means the money won’t come back to clubs for another Rotary year from the Annual Fund! Also, the Gates Foundation matching funds will be less for the coming year. But there is still time to give! Nike! (Just Do It!)
Annual Fund $88.81/member $216,790 6 non-giving clubs
Polio Plus $35.56/member $86,796 26 non-giving clubs
Membership is looking positive! You are on the way to achieving the District goal of a net 100 members by June 30th. We are now a net 71 positive. Keep finding those “Rotarians who don’t know they are Rotarians” and bring them into Rotary!
There are 2 months left in the Rotary Year! Imagine Rotary! Think big and take action!
DG Howard Templin