July 2022
I am honored to be your leader for the 2022-2023 Rotary year. It has been a challenge for all of us over the past two years, and I am proud of our members and leaders for the amazing work you were able to accomplish. We are back stronger than ever. We are meeting in person, performing service projects, and holding fundraisers. Take time to renew your club’s purpose, find new community partners to develop new club projects with, and encourage new and newer Rotarians to get involved - to find their own purpose, recommend projects that spark their passion and entrust them to help us lead our clubs and the district to a stronger future. As Paul Harris famously said: “Rotary has to be revolutionary from time to time, and now is the time to be revolutionary."
What better way to begin the 2022-2023 Rotary Year then with the selection of Jennifer Jones as Rotary International President, the first woman president in the 117-history of Rotary International. “Imagine, a world that deserves our best,” Jones told incoming district governors on 20 January 2022, “where we get up each day knowing that we can make a difference.”
There is no more appropriate theme for 2022-2023 than “Imagine Rotary.”
This is the time for change, historic, innovative change in Rotary – new meeting schedules, new club models, innovative and flexible club formats, welcoming Rotaract clubs as they become members of Rotary International, and a well-balanced membership that celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion. Over the past 2 years our membership has adapted, learned new tools to communicate, performed service projects, and held fundraisers in innovative ways. We need to engage our members again; we need to find the spark, the right connection with our members that will energize them to re-engage. Jennifer Jones stated, “It is our offer of hands-on service, personal growth, leadership development, and lifelong friendships that creates purpose and passion.”
We Rotarians are people of action as Rotary's "People of Action" campaign demonstrates. We share a unique perspective and a passion for taking action to improve our communities and the world. Where others see despair, we see hope. Where others see problems, we see solutions. Where others see challenges, we see opportunities. The Rotarians of District 6630 should be proud of the shelters, food, clothing, and medical supplies that were supplied over the past 6 months for individuals around the world that are facing their own challenges.
I am looking forward to working with our district Membership Committee and the club membership chairs to Grow Rotary in our district. Chair Peter Tuttle has worked closely with our clubs to Grow Rotary. The Each-One Bring-One campaign has had an impact (a positive impact) on our membership. I would like to encourage all clubs to work together to identify Rotarians that stepped away from Rotary during the past two years and encourage them to rejoin a club that best fits their schedule and can reignite their passion for Rotary.
Let’s Grow Rotary by developing new cause-based clubs through partnership with the Jaycees leadership and other service or civic organizations to create a Rotaract Club (thank you IPDG Larry for the idea) or promote Satellite Clubs to encourage the development of new Rotary Clubs.
Grow Rotary by getting the word out. Chair Tina Ingraham stated “Our District Public Image Committee is developing sessions to help clubs understand how to publicize their projects and events. As we continue to get better at promoting our clubs, our partnerships, projects and events; the community around us will know who we are and what our clubs are doing to support the community."
We cannot predict the future, but we can IMAGINE it. “You don’t imagine yesterday,” Jones said, “you imagine tomorrow.” The most certain way is to do it by working with young people and instilling Rotary values, building their leadership skills and developing their motivation and responsibility, helping them learn those skills for life. We cultivate and shape the future generations of Rotary. I encourage all clubs to get involved with the District Interact and Rotaract Clubs. Our young leaders enjoy service and they are waiting for us to inspire them to action. They are bright, energetic, and get things done! They are smart, faster, more effective, and impatient. They want to see results now and they will do the necessary work to get it done!We Rotarians of District 6630 need to cultivate and shape the future generations. We will work closely with Chair Chelsea Talty and our Interact and Rotaract clubs on service projects. Chair Marc West encourages our clubs to sponsor young leaders to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), Richard Cole and the Port-Summit Club are excited to host the District 4-Way Test Speech Contest and encourage students and clubs to participate. Who wouldn’t want to travel the world by participating in our Rotary Youth Exchange Program? RI cleared students to travel in 2022 and Chair Patrick Kelly stated, “we have 8 participants going to 7 different countries and they are excited for the opportunity to travel to new countries and learn about their cultures.”
Over the past year we have accomplished a lot in our district, Clubs are meeting in person and performing service projects, we are beginning to support our community partners and we had a fantastic turnout for our District environmental project. As I planned for my year as Governor, I have three Goals that I would like to accomplish.
MEMBERSHIP
- I want to increase membership by 200. It seems like a difficult goal but if each club were to bring in 4 members to their club, we will reach 200. This can be accomplished by encouraging the return of past members, seeking new members thru the “everyone brings one” campaign, and by growing Rotary by offering new or young members a reduced rate on their dues. Encourage the new development of Rotaract and caused-based clubs and get the word out about your club. What value does it bring to its members? What makes Rotary so unique and worth sharing with the world? What unique opportunities do we open for the people we serve and for us?
- For each new member brought in, the club should inform the district of the name of the sponsoring Rotarian. Their name will be entered into a drawing for a Paul Harris Award that will be drawn at the District Conference in April 2023.
SERVICE
- To raise awareness of Rotary in our world is to jump into action and help our communities through service. This is why people join – to do good in their communities and around the world and to make a lasting change for a better life. I encourage our clubs to seek out three new organizations or community partners to do service for or with. We can expand our reach, partner with other Rotary clubs, Rotaract, Interact and other service organizations. It is a two-way street – the more service we do, the more people we impact, the more this experience changes us. We join to do service, but we stay for friendship and fellowship.
FOUNDATION
This is the core value of our own being. Our work through our Foundation truly changes lives. Let’s continue our trademark project to End Polio Now. We must fulfill the promise that we made to the children of this world for a polio-free world. Currently, there are only two countries with new cases of the wild polio virus and unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in cases.I spoke with Chair Sandy Naragon of the Grants Committee, and she stated that “In the past three years our clubs have applied for more local club grants than ever before”. Our previous Foundation Chair Jim Lechko explained that the local grant funds the district receives is dependent on the donation to the Annual Fund Share that our Rotarians contribute. Our members and clubs can help by:
- Donating to the Annual Fund / Polio Plus Fund – for every dollar donated to the funds the member will receive Foundation points that can be donated to fellow Rotarians to help them reach a Paul Harris Fellow. You can donate to the funds through your club or through Rotary Direct. https://my.rotary.org/en/donate
- Increase the number of Paul Harris recipients in your Club but offering matching Foundation points to members who donate to the Annual or Polio Fund.
For more information on this program, you can contact the District Foundation Chair IPDG Larry Lohman or DG David Jones.
Important Dates for our district
Keep the dates open for our:
► Foundation Gala – November 17, 2022, at Windows on the River in Cleveland.
► District Conference – April 27 to April 30, 2023, at the Cleveland Marriot East. Let's plan to celebrate all that we IMAGINED during the 2022-2023 year, honor our community originations. partners and those we serve!
► 4-Way Test Speech Contest – Chair Rich Cole of the Rotary Club of Port-Summit are in the process of forming a committee for the Contest. The District contest will be held in early April 2023.
► RYLA – The participants this year where engaged and excited. It was great to be able to offer this program in person this year. Mark West, RYLA Chair and his committee are planning the dates for the 2023 RYLA Camp week.
Proud to serve,
DG David Jones – DEJRotary@gmail.com 330-603-4107