I hope you have enjoyed your July and August, and as we head into the hustle and bustle of activities in September and beyond, please take a moment to thank those you know who work in the broad area covering learning, coaching, education, or skill training. Ask them to tell their story. All these people will know the importance of Basic Education and Literacy — our September Rotary theme — as the foundation to a successful life. Whether it is working with newcomers, working with youth on financial literacy, or reading in a one-on-one session — I encourage you to work with your teammates to find out the range of initiatives in your area and determine the key area of need. Similarly, you can consider an international project — a key impact — or perhaps revisit a club project from a while ago to see if your investment has made a difference. I also challenge those of you who are passionate about this Rotary Area of Focus to explore BELRAG.org and get in touch with Phil Shames, our District’s Service Projects Chair, with your ideas of a service project in this sector.READ ON:
Buffalo and the Dare to Repair Cafe featured in this month’s Rotary Magazine
Lighthouse Award criteria for 2024-25 is now posted
District Conference has moved to Saturday, April 5th
Membership Workshop Oct. 26
DG club visits have begun
I think we all need to give a special shout out to folks in and around Buffalo and the Dare to Repair Cafe featured in this month’s Rotary Magazine. The cafe also went mobile to the public library in Akron for a local event. What a great spark of innovation and help that is also good for the planet! Is a repair cafe active in your area? Clubs can look to these doing good activities in their communities — from repair cafes, building little book lending libraries, tool libraries, and co-working where innovators meet and share office and creative space. Boost these initiatives in your community through your social media accounts and perhaps even spin up a road trip. If you and your club tee up a repair cafe let me know and I will join you with my busted leaf blower.
The Lighthouse Award criteria for 2024-25 is now posted on the District website and can be viewed by clicking here. There are a few adjustments for this year- there are three groups: General Achievements, Membership Development, and an area around Public Image, Social Media and our Areas of Focus. All the goals are there from last year, some clarified, and a few more have been added. I hope you will find these fun and meaningful.
I would like to think we can put together a Best of Friends Awards and Recognition Committee to look at all the awards that Rotary has to offer and to recognize excellence in what we do. Let me know if you are interested.
Please note that the District Conference has moved to Saturday, April 5th, 2025, to allow us to focus on membership issues workshop on Saturday, October 26th, 2024. Details and registration will be out mid-month.
A new District model to support the membership area in clubs is being developed and if you are as concerned about this as I am, I am asking you to step up to help. The workshop is ideal for your Club Membership Chair and team, and we will cover best practices across belongingness, attraction, retention, engagement, and events. If you want to help with organizing the membership workshop day, please let me know at 905-329-6026.
I have enjoyed attending many events over the past two months and have begun my visits to clubs. I look forward to seeing each of you at some point this year. I hope to hear about your Rotary journey, your ideas for the future, and to spend some time learning more about the history and achievements of your club. It’s pretty remarkable what we have done, and I know we are rising to the challenges of the future. This year is the last year for a RI Presidential theme — The Magic of Rotary — a fitting phrase of what happens when we work together.
- DG Dave Alexander