District Celebration A Huge Success
The District Celebration was held On May 20 & 21st at Sun Valley. It was 2 years since our last in-person celebration. This celebration was about fun, education, friendships, old and new and it was about "Service".
On Friday morning, the President Elects met in the morning to discuss and participate in District business. After lunch, everyone was given a red "End Polio Now" shirt, where they went out to the lawn on the east side of the Sun Valley Inn and formed an "R" and some video and pictures were shot with a drone. Then off to the service projects which included the offsite Lunch Out of Landfill exercise where Rotarians sorted the lunch trash from Hemingway Elementary School, weighed the compostable wasted, and calculated how much would be kept out of landfills and reusable as soil nutrient. Presentations and panel discussions went on after that. Also, on-site service projects included No-Sew Blankets and building Mini Libraries.
In the evening an International Dinner reception was held in the Continental Room of the Sun Valley Inn. The Ellen Sanders Quartet provided music. The Outbound Youth exchange paraded flags of countries they were going to go to this year. The Rotarians were encouraged to come in costumes from different lands. Da' Bomb award went to Tammy Moore. Other awards went to Sandy March for work on the District Newsletter. The award was accepted by Jennifer Cook. And a recognition award was presented to (me) Kevin Bradshaw for the #1 Video in Rotary Internationals - I Fix the Planet. American Falls, Baker City, Pocatello and Emmett were recognized for an increase in membership of plus 4. Blue Lakes Rotary and Buhl were awarded as top clubs with plus 5 new members.
As usual, the Harriman House was the place for the Rotary Friendship House. The place to gather after the day's activity.
Saturday morning started out with the Speed Rounds of Rotary education. Several different tables experts on different subjects that attendees could learn more about such as District Grants, Youth Exchange, Membership Drives, Diversity Etc.
Lunch was held and Mr & Mrs. Paul Harries appeared and talked about the Rotary Foundation and the awards for the different winners in Foundation giving including the Barker Family Foundation Achievement award for sustained support in time, talent, and treasure to The Rotary Foundation. This year's honorees are Jane and Carl Nellis of the Jerome club.
After lunch, it was back to service projects and Putt for Polio which raised over $800, building Mini Libraries, No-Sew blankets, and Plant a Row, Share a Row. The keynote speaker for Saturday was Bryan Shul, a pilot for the SR-71, the fastest spy plane of its time able to travel at Mach 3. And of course the District Raffle, under the direction of Karl Klocke. It raised a record $77,400 gross. DG E Janice Faulkerson read the winning club name, Twin Falls, the Seller and Buyer of the tickets was Ryan Anderson. Also, there was the exchange of pins to DG Russell Johnson and DGE Janice Faulkerson. All in all, it was a fun 2 days and people were happy to be back celebrating together. The hard work of the District Celebration Committee and Kate Fornarotto made this year's District Celebration, a district success.
FIND ALL OF KEVIN BRADSHAW WONDERFUL PHOTOS HERE!