|
|
|
|
|
-
District Governor's Message
-
PETS is a priority!
-
Sneak peek: District Conference features
-
Interact Clubs: Gaining members and momentum in District 5950
-
GMS fulfills your club’s requirement
-
From the Local to the Global – our District Peace Fellows
-
February: Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution Month
|
|
|
|
|
|
Greetings, District 5950 Rotarians!
A DG’s greatest reward is meeting and seeing those who accomplish all we do. You are the team that uses your time, vocational talents and all available resources to make our communities and the world a better place. You make District 5950 stand out.
All we accomplish starts within our 62 clubs whose collective efforts make us one of the most productive and efficient districts in the world. We have been in the top 10 giving districts in the world three times in the past 10 years. Last Rotary year, DG Jim Nelson and DRFC Chair Sandy Schley accepted recognition for District 5950’s first-place ranking in our Zones 27-28 pair that includes 28 districts and 1700 clubs. We won for Annual Fund Giving, Per Capita Giving and overall giving. This happens through outstanding efforts by Foundation Fundraising Chair DGN Bob Halagan and Foundation Programs Chair Don Stiles. Programs resourcefully use our giving.
-
District Grants allocated $160,922.21 to fund
14 local and eight small international projects. Twenty-eight of our 62 clubs participated in projects.
-
Global Grants have $1.6M of projects approved and underway. Our District’s anonymous million-dollar donation allows huge leverage; $534,602 remains in that fund.
-
Peace Scholars are five young adults studying for MA degrees in Peace and Conflict Resolution programs. Our sixth scholar begins classes this fall.
-
Global Scholar Grace Petrie leaves for Universita Cattolica Sacro Coura in Milan, Italy this fall.
- PolioPlus tracked 340 cases in the world in 2014, 70 in 2015, and zero YTD 2016. We are This Close!
In the other areas of District focus:
-
Club Support & Visioning completed eight visioning sessions with three more in the pipeline.
-
New Generations added one new Rotaract Club and a half dozen new Interact Clubs in the past year. This is huge in our quest to attract young professionals to Rotary.
- Membership is flat after the January 1 house-keeping window. We hover at 2,800 -- 200 members short of our goal.
- Our clubs through the Northstar Youth Exchange partnership with District 5960 are hosting 60 inbound students. Sixty outbound students are studying around the world.
-
PR & PI tracked 90 known media placements by 5950 clubs. PI grants totaling $5,600 are helping our clubs implement RI’s new image guidelines.
-
Executive Administrator Diane Confer retires on June 30th following a January-to-July transition period with Carol MacDonald, our new District Executive Director. How blessed we are to have them both through this transition. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, May 19 when we celebrate Diane and thank her for giving us 38 years.
District 5950 clubs can stand proud! We truly are one of the top-performing districts in the world. There is no doubt that each of you is A Gift to the World.
--DG Murph
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you are a Club President-Elect, don’t miss President-Elect Training Seminar (PETS) this March 10-12 in Rochester! It is required training for 2016-17 Club Presidents and optional for 2017-18 Presidents-Elect.
Click here for more information and to register.
|
|
|
|
Posted by Jody Kern (Edina), District Conference Chair
|
|
Take a look at what's waiting for you this year when you attend the District 5950 & 5960 Conference on May 12-13 at the Mystic Lake Conference Center!
District Golf Tournament at “The Meadows at Mystic Lake” on Thursday afternoon. Proceeds will benefit PolioPlus.
Done-in-a-Day Service Project: Assemble 450 feminine hygiene kits for Days for Girls during any breakout session.
Featured Speakers & Entertainment:
-
Ross Bernstein, inspirational speaker and best-selling sports author
-
Chris Heeter (with dog, Tuuweh), founder of The Wild Institute
-
Stevie Ray, co-founder and executive director of Stevie Ray’s Improv Company
Breakouts Extraordinaire: Choose from 30+ topics focused on Rotary, technology, health and wellness, business, and life.
|
|
|
|
Posted by Anne Voas, (Chanhassen), Interact Chair
|
|
 Interact is a club for young people ages 12-18 who want to join together, tackling community issues that they care about.
Several District 5950 clubs recently added or re-engaged in Interact club efforts, bringing us to 10 active clubs! These proud Interactors are working on local and international projects. They are tomorrow’s leaders -- practicing service and leadership.
Our newest chartered club is Brooklyn Park. Apple Valley will soon join the roster. Other clubs are in Chanhassen, Eagan, Eden Prairie, Edina, Minnetonka, Monticello, Mound, and Waconia West Carver.
High school youth are a very inspiring group – busy, interested, visionary, engaged, and looking for an outlet to put their ideas into practice. At the recent Mid-term Assembly, Interactors met to network and share project ideas. This event launched a group messaging effort, a log to post projects and ideas, and plans to reconnect Rotary-style to be inspired. Great Rotary stuff!
Is your club ready to support an Interact club? Check out Rotary International’s Interact Handbook or the official Interact Facebook page for information. Locally, contact Anne Voas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Each club should identify at least one member to attend a Grant Management Seminar.
(GMS) and then lead your grant submissions during the 2016-17 year. To qualify for a matching grant from District 5950 and RI, the applying club must have at least one member attend a Grant Management Seminar (GMS) each year.
GMS sessions that fulfill that 2016–17 Rotary year requirement include:
New Ulm - Saturday, March 19, 8:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (4-hour complete class)
Golden Valley - Thursday, March 31, 3:30-8 p.m. (4-hour complete class)
U of M/Mankato/Edina location - Saturday, April 9, 9:15-11:45 a.m. during the District Assembly (2-hour refresher*)
Golden Valley - Thursday, April 14, 5:30-8 p.m. (2-hour refresher*)
Golden Valley - Saturday, April 23, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (4-hour complete class)
Monticello - Thursday, April 28, 3:30-8 p.m. (4-hour complete class)
*Only previously-trained individuals may take the abbreviated refresher class. Please register promptly!
|
|
|
|
Posted by Ellen Kennedy (Mpls-University), Peace Fellows Chair
|
|
Rotary Peace Fellowships are fully-funded scholarships for students to receive MA degrees in Peace and Conflict Resolution at one of Rotary’s five global Peace Centers: Duke University in the US; University of Bradford, UK; University of Queensland, Australia; University of Uppsala, Sweden, and Tokyo Christian University, Japan.
 Worldwide, only 50 fellowships are given out each year to candidates nominated from more than 500 Rotary districts. District 5950 has had more successful Peace Fellow candidates in recent years than any other single district, and our students are at each of the five schools!Gada Roba, Duke University, studying in fall 2016
Rachel Beecroft, University of Queensland, graduating in 2016
Dragana Vidovic, University of Bradford, graduated in 2014 and is now a doctoral student in the UK
Christie Nicoson, University of Uppsala, graduating in 2017
James Petermeier, J.D., University of Uppsala, graduating in 2017
Hilary Caldis, Tokyo Christian University, graduating in 2017
Guled Ibrahim, University of Queensland, beginning in fall 2016
Whitney Hough studied as an Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Bradford several years ago and completed the Peace Fellows master’s degree.
|
|
|
|
Posted by Rotary.org
|
|
Less than two months after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, a nearby event focused on peace: the Rotary World Peace Conference. During the two-day meeting, more than 150 leaders in the fields of peace, education, business, law, and health care led over 100 sessions about: achieving peace through education, combating human trafficking, and identifying the role of media in eliminating conflict.
Hosted by Rotary districts in California and attended by more than 1,500 people, the conference is an example of how Rotary members are taking peace into their own hands, said RI President K.R. Ravindran. “We can’t wait for governments to build peace, or for the United Nations. We can’t expect peace to be handed to us on a platter,” said Ravindran. “We have to build peace from the bottom, from the foundation of our society. The valuable information you leave with at the end of this conference will aid you in managing conflict in your personal lives, local communities, and potentially around the world.”
Rotary is inching the world closer to meaningful change, said the Rev. Greg Boyle, executive director of Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles-based gang intervention and reentry program. “Rotary decided to dismantle the barriers that exclude people,” said Boyle. “You [Rotary members] know that we must stand outside the margins so that the margins can be erased. You stand with the poor, the powerless, and those whose dignity has been denied.”
Rotary’s most formidable weapon against war, violence, and intolerance is its Rotary Peace Centers program. Through study and field work, peace fellows at the centers become catalysts for peace and conflict resolution in their communities and around the globe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
