August is Membership and New Club Development month. To celebrate, I would suggest you invite guests to attend your Rotary meetings and invite them to become a member. Also, for New Club Development, Immediate Past District Governor (IPDG) Andy Hagan is working on several new satellite clubs. One of them that should come to fruition soon is at Rancho Viejo in Olmito and will be a satellite of the Brownsville Sunrise Club. The year is just getting started but I already see some positive membership growth momentum. One of the symbolisms of the green theme shirts this year is positive growth so let’s be in the “green” at the end of the year.
Our first in District Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) Session 1 happened at the District Assembly in May and was a sold out event. And last month the first class of RLI Session 2 that was completely organized and facilitated by our District happened, also a sold out event. Thanks to IPDG Andy and PDG Debbie High for making sure that both went off without a hitch. Those who attended gave high marks and to a person they all agreed they walked away knowing a lot more about Rotary than they did before. In case you don’t know RLI is a three session Leadership training geared toward developing Rotarian leaders and increasing retention of members. RLI Session 3 will be held on August 17 and it too is already sold out. The sessions must be taken in order. There is a fourth session to become a facilitator if you so choose which we will offer on October 3. To keep the momentum going I am happy to announce we will offer Sessions 1 and 2 at the 4 in 1 Seminar on September 21 at Texas A&M Kingsville.
And speaking of the 4 in 1 please make plans to attend. There will be sessions on Rotary Foundation, Membership, and Public Image in addition to the RLI sessions. We are also honored to have the dynamic and entertaining PDG Dr. Eric Liu, our Zone Rotary Public Image Coordinator, as our luncheon keynote speaker. Not only is this an opportunity to learn more about your area of interest in Rotary but it is a great opportunity to meet and network with fellow Rotarians from around the District. I promise it will be a fun day. More information is available on the District website and registration should open soon. I hope to see you there!
Also coming in September we are going to “Connect the World” with a multi-district Project Fair at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art on Saturday September 7. This is a joint project of District 4130 across the border in Mexico and our own District 5930 led by the Brownsville Sunrise Rotary Club. It will be a full day of learning about projects from both countries. Rotary International Director Larry Dimmit will be our special visitor and luncheon keynote speaker. More information and a link to register will be on the District website soon.
Finally I want to thank the Rotary Foundation committee for coming together on July 13 to discuss Foundation matters and, most importantly, consider and approve our 2019-20 District Grants. We awarded District Grants to 16 clubs, two Costa Rica Scholarships, a Veteran’s Scholarship in a total amount of $65,215. These projects will be examples of how we are going to be further “Rooted in Service” this Rotary year. A listing of all of the projects will be posted on the District website under the Rotary Foundation tab.
Again, I hope everyone will bring a guest to your Rotary meeting or project this month and invite them to join you in Connecting the World!