On August 21st, 7870 Rotary District Governor Jonathan Springer, Esquire, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding Rotary District 7870. He has been meeting with district clubs since July 1st. This joint meeting includes the 38th and 39th clubs visited, He mentioned having trouble finding some of the locations. He stopped in a small local market for directions and asked the clerk where the Rotary Club meeting was being held. The clerk did not know but a man in line overhead him and said that was where he was headed and to follow him. Once outside the man mentioned that he did not feel attendance was going to be that good because the District Governor is scheduled to speak.
He highlighted how much Rotary is making a difference because of all of the activities clubs are engaged in. He has gathered information from clubs to profile just how much has been accomplished. Although some data stills needs to be collected, the following statistics were presented:
$1,282,570 raised in the district through Club efforts
172 Service Projects
48,578 Rotary Hours committed to projects
The DG also noted that these numbers could actually be one third higher. He visited the Derry Rotary project at the home of a WWII veteran that was destroyed in a fire 16 years ago. One member of the club saw the need for them to rebuild the home so that he and his family could return there to live. This is how one Rotarian can make a difference.
The 7870 District Golf Tournament was held this month with 32 teams from 23 Clubs and 22 additional sponsors had a great day. The net proceeds will hopefully exceed $15,000.
The Polio effort will be a major focus for the district. 3 new cases of polio have increased to 9 found in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. On October 24th every newspaper in district 7870 have an advertisement about Rotary and our efforts to eradicate polio. In 1953 there were 320,000 cases of polio in the United States. In 1954 Jonas Salk introduced the Polio vaccine and started to vaccinate young people in school. In 1960 polio was eradicated in the United States.
1985 Rotary International took polio efforts worldwide. Since that time, Billions of dollars have been invested in fighting this disease. On October 28th, Rotarians are asked to set up collection stations at locations in their town to collect “Pennies for Polio”.
International President Ian Riseley is focusing on the environment and how to improve the world around us. He asked that on April 27th Arbor Day, Rotarians consider planting a tree to help support his efforts.
Jon highlighted the Presidential Achievement Award and the District Governor’s Award and how Clubs can benefit by working to gather needed points to be successful.
The Joint District 7870 and 7980 conference is scheduled for June 1-3 2018 in Burlington Vermont at the Burlington Hilton. The event will include a train ride (optional), Dinner Cruise on the Ethan Allen and two nights stay and more. The cost is $750 per couple and $495.00 single.