After ranging far and wide to prepare for his term as District Governor, and traveling the length of District 6420, Steve Kuhn has seen up close what the other Rotary Clubs in our district are doing to help their community, and their world. But after all that, he's glad to be back with his home Rotary Club.
Steve paid his official visit to the Sycamore Rotary Club on November 1st, customarily saving his own club for last after making official visits to every other Rotary Club in the district on behalf of R.I. President Ian Risley. He says this is the most important aspect of what District Governors, do, and that supporting local clubs is crucial -- because what local clubs do is far more important than what happens at the District or Rotary International level.
He says the End Polio Now campaign continues full force, and says he wants Sycamore, along with all the other District 6420 clubs, to step up its contributions to the Polio Plus fund and make the final push to wipe out this disease.
He also addressed one of Rotary's newer international initiatives, in combating human trafficking; he says an estimated 46 million people around the world are victims of human trafficking, becoming slaves, servants or sex workers against their will. And Illinois is not immune to this problem; Rockford now rivals Chicago, and other cities in the United States, with its problems in such trafficking...especially with prostitution, many of whose victims are underage.
DG Steve lauded the Sycamore club for its efforts in Foundation contributions, in youth services and in public image -- three of the four main objectives R.I. is pushing for local Rotary Clubs. And he hopes to see a badly-needed surge in membership, for Sycamore and for Rotary across the District.