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This is my last newsletter piece as DG. I have had one of the greatest experiences of my life in supporting and leading the District this past year. I want to thank each Rotarian for their hospitality, friendship, service, and leadership.As Rotary’s first binational District I am proud of how we continue to work together to support the effort of our clubs and the amazing things that everyone does on behalf of our communities. Our Best of Friends tag is apt. Each and every visit to clubs, all the organizing and meetings, and the support from people who balance their club work with serving others across 7090 is much appreciated and worthwhile.
I wanted to say to our club leaders: finish strong. Get your club goals into ClubRunner and get that Rotary Club Excellence Award! You deserve this. Work with your AG and others to get this done. Also, almost all clubs have given to the foundation, but if your club has not, a minimum donation of $100 US to the shared fund signifies you and your club get the importance of what we do as Rotarians in general including accessing the grants process that benefits us all.
From the bottom of my heart I want to again say thanks to those Rotarians who stepped up and worked with me to bring the vision of a new kind of District Conference to life. We did find that the theme of Working Together Works Better applied to our team and to working with our community partners. Acknowledging the efforts of volunteering and telling the stories about volunteers is a great way of bringing the community together to address our challenges and to provide leadership to the work we do. I really think that we are onto something…
The theme for this month is Fellowship. As part of your Rotary journey, commit to one of the groups in the following list here. HAVE FUN! Joining a Fellowship deepens your Rotary experience - and I can also say it essentially pays for your membership. A little more involved than Fellowships is participation in a Rotary Action Group. I have to say that joining a RAG made the biggest impact in who I am as a Rotarian today. Find your global friends through a RAG. If you want to make a difference in those around you, have an impact on the cause you believe in, make new friends, and amp up your Rotary experience, join a RAG.
The most important thing you can do this month is work with your club teammates to ensure that everyone in your club is returning for another year. If someone decides to leave, please ensure that you have had every opportunity to find out why, and to thank them, and then use that feedback to make any changes necessary. Spend time with each other, become better friends, and treasure these moments. I also hope that you continue to do the amazing work you do and find new opportunities and new friends to take on this coming year.
Speaking of that, I hope clubs are setting clear goals for 25/26 and committing to being consistent and yet innovative. I hope that you are stitching in ways to engage with each member and value everyone’s service to the community. I would be happy to help you map out all those Friends of Rotary connections you have in your community - to serve as a funnel towards regular engagement and hopefully membership. There are great visioning resources and working with your AG and others to do a reset might be a cool thing to do.
Well, later this month it’s off to the RI Convention in Calgary for me and then two weeks of decompressing. As IPDG Scott told me a few weeks ago…I am IPDG Elect! I am looking forward to supporting those DGs that are coming after me: Aaron Carlson, Joanne Serkyn, and Paul Gibel. If you aspire to a club or District role and you want to talk about your Rotary journey you are welcome to reach out. As for my next steps I will be working on supporting our membership team this coming year and I am taking on the role of Fundraising Chair with our Foundation Committee. I remain available at any time to talk about you and your club, attend future events, and hope that my visit and support was meaningful. I want to continue to have conversations with people about a few important things I have discovered along the way in the last 12 months including starting up an Awards and Recognition Task Force, updating our District History Book, curating the history and records of a club, evolving a US Cluster Fund project, and continuing the conversations we began at the District Conference. Just a bunch of little tasks;-> I hope to see you at District Changeover on June 14th and that our paths cross at some point in the future.
DG Dave