DG Marlee's Message
SMILES...DOLLARS...MEALS FOR THE HUNGRY
Our 2016 District Conference Netted Amazing Results. Early on in our 2016 District Conference planning, as Chair Melisa and I chatted, I mentioned thinking that a Bike-A-Thon with the pledges going to End Polio Day would be a great fun Saturday afternoon event. October cycling is spectacular with Mother Nature cloaked in all her best colors. I could see it! Then, Melisa reminded me this is happening in Batavia, end of October, lake-effect snow. Yup, twenty-some years ago, I had been nearly stranded on I-90 this same very same weekend. Hmmm…. One to Melisa! But we agreed, in theory a bike-a-thon is a great idea! Let’s do a stationary bike-a-thon – logistically it seemed a non-starter. Batavia Downs is not a spa with a well-appointed gym. Then, the Batavia Club came to our rescue! They meet at the Y, they know people, an ‘ask’ was whispered in the right ear; chatter at the club and a group of Rotarians stepped up to move a lot of stationary bikes – 19 in all from the Y to the Downs, set these up. Yup, you got it! Then, reverse the process after the ride, back to the Y, all this done between noon and 4:00 PM! Awesome! Right on schedule, our inbound Youth Exchange students did a spin class led by Dave Greenfield who teaches, yes, at another Y. God bless, our Rotarian movers, our Bike-A-Thon Chair PDG Rick Sterne, our students who really worked up a sweat thanks to leader Dave. What fun! What success! Our Foundation Director Karen Oakes reported we collected $3705 for the riders. YIPPEE! Additionally, we collected another $2158 from other End Polio initiatives during the conference totaling $5863 be matched 2 to 1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation equaling $16589 USD from our district to Rotary’s End Polio Day. I am so proud of every one of you!
Saturday afternoon at the conference was organized chaos as the dried meals contents; however since everyone was laughing and hooting as the boxes were filled, I ranked this the best hands-on project. We had ten tables surrounded by folks, not all Rotarians, scooping, adding, holding, weighing, sealing and packing. Oh, of course, I didn’t mention those that hefted the huge bags of ingredients to and fro, nor carried and stacked these 33-pound boxes. I am sure the wall got further away with each trip. You see, for those of you who were unable to attend, we packaged 43,000 meals or 7,166 packages (each package feeding a family of 6). The best part was that 50% of our district’s clubs bought into this service project with every $1.50 USD donated they received a package to feed a family who due to bad circumstances depends sometimes on food banks. Talk about a win-win for everyone, especially for attendees who together packaged the meals! By late afternoon, there was this long, high wall of boxes, which miraculously disappeared into member’s cars. Sue from Batavia had so many boxes in her car there was no room for her groceries…imagine that. Thanks to Jackie Davis who ran this chaotic event, her background managing musicals made her the perfect person to orchestrate this project. Smooth, Jackie! Thanks Ed Fancher, Conference Treasurer, who tracked and marked every box ensuring everyone went home smiling. Ed, your sore thigh muscles and efficient tracking meant each club’s dollars matched takeaway meals for their local food bank. To all who worked with such passion – you are the best! We did it in true 7090 fashion; it was well-organized, with great club buy-in for this our first ever district grant for a hands-on service project during a conference and based on the smiles and post conference chatter, it ensure me that it was an idea whose time had come to our district. Thank you, District Grants Committee for your confidence! This project’s success just blew me away. I’m still smiling and bragging about you!