The Meeting From September 1, 2022

Our speaker for Thursday, September 1, 2022, was District 5130 Area Governor Brian Reed. Brian’s topic was “2022-2023 District and Rotary International Goals.” Brian defined his role as interacting with the clubs in Area 9 (Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa East West, and Santa Rosa Sunrise), helping them solve problems, and promoting their club accomplishments. Brian is the President and CEO of Summit State Bank and a former president of the Santa Rosa East Rotary Club (2017-2018). He has been Assistant Governor or Area Governor for 3 years.

Rotary International’s 2022-33 President is Jennifer Jones of the Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland, Ontario, Canada. Jennifer is the founder of a television media company. She’s always wanted to carve her own path, from selling lemonade as child to fundraise for muscular dystrophy, to working as a rookie radio reporter, and to starting her own business. She remembers attending a club meeting as a reporter in her 20’s and being intimidated because all the members were men. Later, just as she started her new business, she was invited to a club meeting that changed the trajectory of her life. Brian showed us a short video of Jennifer Jones speaking. She started her talk pointing out that 50 years ago an anthem was recorded that started out with the line: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” She heard that lyric as a call to action. Imagine a world without polio, a world with clean water for everyone, a world where everyone is free of disease, a world where every child learns to read, a world full of  kindness, hope, and love and peace! And that’s our theme for 2022-23: “Imagine Rotary.”

The Imagine Rotary insignia has a lot going on. The circle signifies our connection to one another. The dots represent 7 people for the 7 areas of focus and the solid line underneath is a digging stick for the hard work that Rotarians do. Purple is for polio eradication and green is for the environment. The insignia is a representation of all the things that RI President Jennifer would like to do this year.

Rotary District 5130 runs from Petaluma to Oregon and includes 47 clubs and 2,005 members. The District’s clubs average 65% male and 35% female. Less than 7% of the clubs’ members are under 40. Sunrise is 67% male and 33% female. Our club’s members’ average years of service is below the District average, which means that we have done a good job of bringing in new members. Our District Governor, Jennifer Strong of the Rotary Club of Lakeport, is energetic, focused, highly organized, and has great ideas. Jennifer believes that there has been no better time to be a Rotarian. This is our time, as we are coming out of Covid, to reimagine ourselves and  turn challenges into opportunities. We need to focus on Rotary’s Strategic Plan to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt. Brian noted that these goals are good for Rotary, good for our businesses, and good for our personal life, in much the same way that the Rotary 4-Way Test can be used in all parts of our lives to help make the best decisions. Jennifer wants us to think of these things as we discuss our club’s future.

We also have some new ideas in our District, including an Environmental Citation Award, creation of new District teams (including the change from “committee” to “team”, that is, getting together to solve a problem), the District Leadership Academy, and a plan to have people tell their own Rotary stories at the next District Conference. Brian introduced key upcoming District and RI events, including the Foundation Celebration on October 8 (a daytime BBQ), the 2023 District Conference at Konocti Harbor Resort from May 4-7, 2023, and the 2023 International Convention in Melbourne, Australia from May 27^th -31^st.