A message from your District Governor Sharon Bloodworth:
As I write this, tears of happiness are flowing on my keyboard (probably not a good thing) as we look back on our 24-25 Rotary year.
I am sure every District Governor says this, but I truly felt our 24/25 year had the best presidents and just amazing club achievements and activity. This year was fun with a capital F!! We are solidly post COVID at this point and marching towards our apex - the Rotary International Convention in Minneapolis 2028. I am happy to report our district clubs are vibrant, growing and thriving.
Top ten memories (in no particular order):
- Incoming DG Mark Shockey saying that he thought we had saved more clubs from closing this year than any year prior. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of those members. You are rock stars!
- Having the Assistant Governors deliver a rose to every District member for Valentine’s Day. I don’t know if you all know how loved and appreciated you are! Our District is proudly one of the leaders in the entire world!!
- Winning the bid for the Rotary International Convention for 2028. This was a coordinated effort by many people, over many years and multiple districts. We cannot wait to make this the biggest Rotary party ever!
- Proudly witnessing how collaborative our clubs are. Global Travelers knocked it out of the park on membership and St. Cloud knocked it into the next universe on fund raising – and what did those clubs do?.... they shared their “how to” in our newsletter to help every other club thrive. We are a district of 2,500 members and there are at least 2 million prospective Rotarians in our geography. We don’t compete, we help each other.
- Opening our year at the Minnesota State Fair. My husband will only go with me for one day as he hates crowds. I thought my heart was going to explode with joy taking 300 of my closest friends there. I will remember that day fondly for the rest of my life.
- Prior District Governors turning up to everything and being very present. Knowledge does not get reinvented every year in our District – the past DGs remain very helpful and were a wonderful source of comfort. Thank you!
- Sitting on the Rose Bowl parade float. 6.5 miles of parade route meant having plenty of time to reflect on our District’s Rotarians, their accomplishments and future goals. Everything’s coming up roses!
- I have never laughed so hard in my life. MN State Fair done in a day stinky project. Oh, our poor Rotarians faced with sorting through the most stinky trash on a hot summer day. It was so worth it, but it was so terrible that I can still recall the smell and laugh instantly. The final report will be delivered to our Eco Club and is available for anyone to read!
- Winning amazing silent auction prizes. My husband says, “You paid for them” and I say, “I won them.” Your clubs have amazing auction items! I encourage you to visit each other’s clubs to look at what is to offer! My husband has a police ride along, I am going to meet Donny Osmond, I won Barry Manilow’s guitar and took 30 of my clients on a private tour of the Twin’s stadium.
- Most dialed number – Alexa Rundquist. Our amazing Executive Director was a joy to work with. Her membership event in a box was truly transformational and brought in many members in the last month! We are so lucky to have Alexa, the heart of our District.
- And just one more – the new friends I have. I have 520 new District Governor friends, 68 new President friends and about 2,300 new District Rotarian friends!! Friend me on Facebook to stay in touch! I love to follow what you are doing!
A few final lessons - if I can do it – you can certainly do it:
Sometimes things look harder than they actually are. If this short little bossy British- accented lady can do it – you can do it too!
- Please consider being a President or a DG: Our district is full of amazingly talented can-do people. You can make it work for your life. This year, in addition to being DG, I worked full-time in my business and had the second most profitable year in its almost 40-year history. You can have your Rotary cake and eat it!!
- Raising huge funds for The Rotary Foundation or your club’s foundation. In the past two $1 million dinner campaigns, we raised more than $4.1 million for The Rotary Foundation in addition to our annual giving of roughly $1 million per year. Prior to these campaigns, I have never done any fundraising. We also taught many other districts including in Australia on how to run the campaigns.
- Going a little crazy on getting new members and creating different kinds of clubs. I also never sat on any membership committee prior to having to lead the charge for new clubs. Rotary provides every resource and piece of knowledge you need to do the job. Any single person in our district can start a whole new sub club!! As of the beginning of June we were up 40 members according to PDG Lloyd Campbell. That is an amazing number. Thank you for working so hard on this.
I wish I could be your DG forever. I now know how it feels to be a beauty queen (minus the beauty) handing over the crown after a year, with a smile on my face. It is the hardest thing to do. I have truly had the time of my life with all of you, my most amazing friends. I leave you in the most capable and wonderful hands of the DG line – DG Mark Shockey, DGE Leif Hagen, and DGN Sam Thompson. They are amazing and wonderful and will do our District proud. They were the nicest people to work with and I look forward to supporting them in anything they need. You are going to love them!!! Lastly, thank you to Minneapolis Club #9 for giving me the opportunity to represent you. I hope I did you proud.
To my District Rotarians, thank you for this opportunity. It has truly been one of the best years of my life. I love you all to the moon and back!!
