From the feedback I received, we had a successful District Conference in late April 2022.  More than seven hundred Rotarians and guests came out of the Pandemic, enjoyed fun and fellowship, with music throughout the entire weekend, learned Rotary, and were inspired by speeches from Rotary Senior Leaders at the Conference.  The joy of in-person gathering has enthused and motivated our District Rotarians to grow their clubs as we have inducted new members since the District Conference.  Further, it stimulated donations to the Rotary Foundation as our District has received more than $100,000 in additional contributions to The Rotary Foundation after the Conference.
 
As of today, we have a net growth of 163 new members since July 1, 2021.  We are now sitting at 4,053 members districtwide.  As we are closing out our Rotary year, we want to encourage the clubs to use their best effort to retain their members.  One way of doing this is to show comfort and care to the club members and prospective members and to seek and value their opinion about the club.  The more valued they are, the more likely they will engage and stay active and involved in Rotary. 
 
One example of retention focused by one club is what the Rotary Club of Gilroy After Hours has done.  The club has a certain elder couple who were engaged with the club and attended all the meetings.  Unfortunately, the husband member is not very mobile.  He walks with a cane and his balance is off.  For this reason, he was unable to participate in many of the club’s volunteer opportunities.  The club decided to assign him some responsibility to keep him engaged by asking if he would be willing to take over managing club members’ name badges.  He was very  excited to manage that task.  To some, it is a small duty.  To him, it is his way of being able to help and contribute to the club.  He now not only attends every meeting, but he is usually one of the earliest to arrive.  To keep members from being disconnected, the club believes that it is important to get every member a responsibility no matter how large or small as soon as possible.  It is a way to turn members into owners by assigning them a task and they will take ownership of the task assigned to them.  Our club is our business, and our members are our owners and customers.
 
I have officially visited 61 Rotary Clubs in our District.  Throughout the year, I have stressed the importance of staying connected with our members, especially as we are continuing to be challenged by the Pandemic.  One story I heard is from our Past District Governor Ron Sekkel about a woman named Kathy.  Kathy has been or might still be a Freedom Rotarian.  She has done marvelous things.  She is a nurse.  She used to work for six months in the United States and then she would take her saved funds and go to areas that have no medical care in India for six months.  She would provide medical care specifically to the women who would need it, such as pregnant ladies.  She would hand out certain medical kits to them.
 
When she had not been seen for over a year, everyone thought that she must be in India. Well, that was not the case. 
 
In a project that Ron was doing for Rotary, he called everyone in the Freedom club, including Kathy.  He needed to know something about the club.  He called her and left a message.  A few days later, Kathy returned his call.  When entering the conversation, Ron asked where she was.  She told him that she was not in India and has not been.  Instead, she has been residing for over a year in a rehabilitation place in San Jose.  She had a terrible accident.  She slipped and fell and hit her head in her home.  She was out cold on the floor for two days.  Her landlord found her and called an ambulance. This was serious.  She was on life support.  Her sister and doctors were talking about unplugging her life support when Kathy moved her eyes.  Today, she can walk and talk, and she sounds strong in her voice.  The worst thing that she is experiencing . . . she is lonely.  No one knew from her club that she was there so no one visited.  
 
It would be wonderful if members of the Rotary Club reach out to members who they have not seen in a while, to stay connected with them, and ask them to return to the club and re-engage.  We must CARE for our members.