Rotary District Governor David Bills shared his goals and objectives with Sycamore Rotarians at this week’s meeting. Bills is a member of the River Cities club from northern Rock Island County which includes six small river towns (five on the Mississippi and one on the Rock). He spent 42 years as an educator, coach, administrator, and school superintendent. He said he is spent five years getting ready for his District Governor term but never expected to be doing Zoom meetings rather than face-to-face meetings for his final training.
Bills gave an overview of Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta’s “service above self” approach to making an impact in his native India. This included expanding hospital care as well as his club’s membership (going from about 100 to more than 1,000). Educational opportunities for young girls are also a priority for Mehta. As International President, his priorities are:
- Adding 100,000 new members to Rotary (the “Each One Bring One” campaign)
- Growing service activities (do more to grow more)
- More education for young girls (worldwide only 36% of young girls have access to more than an elementary education)
- End Polio (as of January only one case was found in Pakistan but recent turmoil in Afghanistan may be cause for alarm)
- Protect the environment.
Bills said that financially District 6420 is healthy because of two years without any conferences or assemblies. However, membership is falling from its traditional 2,000 level to a current 1,487 Rotarians as of July 1. Bills wants everyone to work aggressively to change that membership curve because it negatively impacts community service and foundation support. Regarding the Rotary Foundation, Bills and his team have created a “World Series of Giving” to promote friendly club competition. Divisions have been created within the District and clubs will be ranked by aggregate per capita giving to the Annual Fund and PolioPlus. The winning club in each division receives a specially made Louisville Slugger bat (which Bills passed around for club members to see). The overall winning club receives an award yet to be determined. Bills also said he will oversee creation of a five-year strategic plan for the District to build momentum for the future rather than have future District Governors beginning each year with only a 12-month development window. He also announced plans for an in-person District Conference being planned for the Quad Cities with high-level environmental speakers being lined up. Save the dates from April 29 – May 1 on your calendar.