2019 District Conference

 

Good Day my fellow Rotarians:

Well, we are half way through our year!! Exciting things are happening!!! Our District Conference is this April 5 - 7, 2019, at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts!!! It will be a fun-filled weekend with the most amazing guest speakers!!

Friday night will feature a 1940’s theme with professional dancers from that era and a cocktail party! Find your costume attire!

Saturday morning starts with Dave Sanderson, the last person to escape the plane (Sully’s landing), on the Hudson River 10 years ago,  to a local teenager who has done some amazing things that started with just a blue lollipop and then we'll have a barbershop quartet to start our lunch, where our keynote speaker Rotary International Past Zone President, Dean Rohrs will send us off with a great message!!!

Then on Saturday evening, at our Top Hat Dinner, we will have current Rotary International Zone President, Jeffry Cadorette as our featured speaker!! You will be on the very edge of your seats with these wonderful speakers!!!! I wanted spitfire and firecrackers and by golly we have it!!

Saturday afternoon is free time - the first conference in a very long time you can walk out the hotel's front door and be in the center of the very historic town of Stockbridge and shop! Or better yet, we will have a package to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum!

Sunday will conclude with a very special speaker John Kramb, from the work of our Polio Chair, PDG Carole Tjoa!!

Another special benefit this year is we have a nanny for you to bring your children or grandchildren along! The registration flyer has the details! So mark your calendars!!

Behold, this past week our DGE Cindie Kish was in San Diego for GETS training!!! Yes, it is the week of the most amazing adventures!! We all wish her well from the District Team!

Rotary International President Elect, Mark Maloney's revealed his theme for 2019-2020, Rotary Connects the World. And his words “the goal of a true leader should always be getting everyone around you to achieve the most they can possibly achieve.” stuck home. I remember this vividly when I became President Elect of my club. One of my mentors, Joseph Moriello, a New Paltz Rotarian, had advised me at that point that they must follow you!! I can recall my fellow Rotarians of Highland always being on my left and right, walking together to accomplish any goal we set out to do!!! Remember “together everyone achieves more” TEAM.

The amazing thing about our great organization is every year a new Rotary International President designates a theme and goals for his/her year. They are the most colorful themes because let’s face it, we Rotarians are very colorful and exciting people! I am very excited for Cindie, as she will enter her year this July 1, 2019 and may we all CONNECT together to accomplish the great things that we do!

Another amazing accomplishment is Women in Rotary!! Our current RI President, Barry Rassin, stressed the importance of Interact and Rotaract but most of all more Women in Rotary!! I think our District has done very well as far as having women in leadership positions! With that being said, I am pleased to tell all of you that on May 5, 2019, PDG Sylvia Whitlock, the first woman to be a Club President in 1987,  after the Supreme Court decision. She will be with us to speak about her journey in Rotary!! It is a District event for all!!! Please make sure to mark your calendars and let District 7210 give her a very warm welcome!!

The seed was planted this year to get all Rotarians connected in their communities to the horrific outbreak of heroin/opiod addictions. The goal was to “PLANT THE SEED” in each club,  to get the driving force moving in the local communities that Rotary has joined the fight to save lives. I am very proud to say that many of the clubs in this District have “ENGAGED and EMBRACED” their communities!!!

Many clubs sponsored Narcan trainings and hands-on work has been done by our fellow Rotarians! AWARENESS was needed and then move out in local communities and educate!! “We can do anything we put our minds to”. “Can’t” is not word that is acceptable. Our District has a committee working hard to reach out to us with new tools to fight this cause. Our very own DGND Michael Polasek is the head of the committee and he will keep us all posted!

We are Rotary and “WE CAN DO IT DISTRICT 7210.” I am very proud of our District! We rock 7210!

 

Yours in Rotary,

 

DG Chrissy