District Governor Martin Harvey

 
District Governor, Martin Harvey
By Michael Pierson
 
Club Member and Past District Governor Garth Toombs introduced our guest speaker Current District Governor Martin Harvey.  Garth Toombs took a moment to recognize the abundance of leadership and outstanding contributions that are made at the District level by members of the Rotary Club of Calgary.  Many club members are currently working on committees and contribute in a variety of ways.  We are also privileged to have past District Governors in our club. Martin Harvey has a background in Banking with the Bank of Montreal.  He is a member of the Rotary Club of Calgary Heritage Park. He is married with two children.  He loves to travel and also to sing. 
 
DG Martin Harvey began his message by trying to lead us to believe that our Club’s amazing rendition of “Blue Suede Shoes” earlier in the meeting went viral.  As gullible as some might be, this was stretching it!  On a more serious note, he referenced the long history of our Club, the basis for anchoring the District and the many initiatives that are attributed to the Rotary Club of Calgary. 
 
DG Harvey then spoke of the Rotary International President from Sri Lanka, KR “Ravi” Ravindran and his wife Vanathy, whose company makes over 1,000,000 tea bags each day.  President Ravi is a humble man who likes to see action.  His call is that we need to “do things”.  “Our time is finite and is always shorter than we think” says President Ravi.  Under his leadership, the goal is to be vibrant.  He is encouraging some introspection and asks the following questions:
  • Do we engage our members?
  • Do we ASK?
  • Do we wear our pins proudly every day?
  • Do we welcome?
  • Are we using the new branding?
  • Are we enrolled in “My Rotary”?
 
DG Harvey encouraged us to embrace our members.  “Come as you are” and “Give what you can” are two important messages to share. 
 
With about 5% of Rotaract members becoming Rotarians, there is much discussion about how to increase the number of students who participate in Rotary to Rotarians as they mature.  DG Harvey reviewed the differences between Rotaract, Interact and Early Act.  These are three club categories for youngsters:
  • Rotaract (University age), 4 clubs in Calgary
  • Interact (Ages 12-18), 14 clubs in Calgary
  • Early Act (Ages 6-12)
 
Past President Ron Esch thanked District Governor Martin Harvey and presented him with a Certificate showing that a contribution was made on his behalf to CAWST, Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Treatment.
 
DG Harvey concluded his message by sharing information about next year’s District 5360 Conference to be held in Canmore - “Be a Gift to the World”.  It promises to be good fun, great speakers and generally very rewarding.
 
 
Our speaker, DG Martin Harvey