It’s here, another Rotary year, another theme and yet another Governor. The past themes were all well thought out and served us well. But for me there’s something special about Ian Risely’s theme and how his goals and the goals I have for the district are so much in sync. My head spins with new thoughts and ideas about how we, the ‘Best of Friends’ District, impact our communities and our world. We do make a difference. And when this year ends I’m hopeful that we will have contributed to a significant difference.
DG Reg MADison with Wayne Fyffe, District 7090 Canadian Chair of RI Convention promotion (Toronto 2018) are pictured together at this year's convention in Atlanta where they heard about President Ian's 2017-2018 theme Making a Difference.
Under IPDG Marlee’s leadership we had a wonderful year Serving Humanity. I know she is pleased and grateful for our support and the results in her year, particularly the outstanding Foundation contributions that allowed PDG Karen Oakes to achieve her goals and get our district back to a level that has been shrinking the last year or two. Karen developed a Foundation team that has served the district and Rotary well and we wish her well as she moves to her new role as Zone 24 East Foundation Coordinator. And I wish her successor John Teibert the very best as he takes the reins of the Foundation team.
We have a solid District Leadership Team but we do need volunteers to serve in a variety of positions to give us bench strength, provide experience in succession planning and build a stronger group. The proverb, ‘many hands make light work’ resonates as I think of where we could go. If you have areas of interest and would like to explore possible opportunities with the district team, please Email me at reg@d7090.org and we’ll arrange to chat about it.
Register before July 31st for the District Conference to have your name entered in a draw to have your room at the White Oaks Resort & Spa upgraded to a truly Deluxe Suite for free! Deluxe Suites feature a super cozy king size bed. If you feel steamy after soaking in your deep soaking tub you can cool yourself in your separate shower or step outside on your private balcony and watch the sunset.
This year, I’m hoping to provide more webinars, seminars, workshops and other activities and resources to help clubs achieve their goals for membership development. Although I think I know what the major challenges are for member recruitment and retention, I like to do a reality check every once in a while. So, I would appreciate hearing from Rotarians in our district about your perceptions of the biggest challenges facing your club when it comes to recruiting new members and retaining the ones you have. Please send your top three challenges to me at kevin@d7090.org. Your input will help us prioritize our membership development efforts this year.
Only 12 days into the new Rotary year, the new District 7090 Member Recruitment Committee has identified the minimum 20 charter members for a global Rotary E-Club of Social Innovators, who come from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Ghana, India, Liberia and the United States. We are continuing to invite more people around the world to join us as charter members to increase our numbers beyond the minimum 20.
So far, the high-profile people who have agreed to be charter members of the global Rotary E-Club of Social Innovators include:
TRAINING SESSIONS. Please save the following dates for the upcoming Rotary Leadership Institute Training Sessions.
September 23, 2017 – Niagara County Community College, Sanborn, New York
December 2, 2017 - Niagara College, Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus, Ontario
March 24, 2018 – (Tentative) Niagara County Community College, Sanborn, New York
If you have taken Part 1 or Part 2 of the RLI training we would love to see you at one of these sessions in order for you to continue on your RLI journey! Also, if you have been thinking about attending the RLI training but haven’t yet made the leap - here is your opportunity! Watch for an e-mail in early August which will have a link to register for the September 23, 2017 session. Invitations to the later sessions will be sent approximately six to eight weeks before the session. We would love to see you on one of these dates.
FACILITATOR TRAINING. Are you a graduate of the Rotary Leadership Institute training sessions? Are you passionate about sharing your knowledge about Rotary?
Rotary Club of Flamborough AM and Rotary Club of Waterdown celebrated their jointly held 8th Annual Ribfest on Canada's 150th Birthday. 50,768 people passed through the Ribfest gates for great ribs and entertainment.
Pictured (right) are some of the volunteer staff, consisting of Rotarians and friends, at closing. There were another 200 volunteers who are missing from the photo. Pictured (left) is a favorite volunteer who helped move (or at least hold up) the many chairs it took for so many attendees.
The weather held up great and the club is grateful to all who helped and attended making this a successful event.
District Governor Nominee Bob Artis and his wife, Corine, are pictured with Dr. Sylvia Whitlock, the first female Rotary club president. As DGN Bob recounts, "Corine and I were fortunate to meet her in the "HOF" House of Friendship at the recent RI Convention in Atlanta. She shared her quest for membership in Rotary and the long fight, all the way to the Supreme Court. She spoke eloquently and gracefully about her journey."
Paul Harris, a Chicago attorney, formed the first Rotary Club in 1905 so professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas, form meaningful, lifelong friendships, and give back to their communities. Today we, as Rotary, are an international organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.
The Rotary Club of Niagara County Central was chartered by Rotary International on June 23, 1987. Thirty years later the club is still active and supportive in the community. The club recently and proudly presented Past President Tom Grimm with a Paul Harris Fellow, the highest form of recognition for a Rotarian. Tom joins the remarkable company of individuals throughout the world, all recognized for their devotion to the ideal of good will, peace and understanding.
On July 4th, Buffalo Rotarian Ravinder K. Bansal set out from Buffalo on a solo flight around the world in this single-engine Cessna 400 to raise money for a hospital in his hometown of Ambala, India.
You can follow his trip on http://raviworldflight.com/ where he will write on his blog and include photos. He estimates the trip will take about 6 weeks. His hometown and the hospital are unaware of his mission, the mission being to bring awareness for cancer and raise $750,000 to buy an urgently needed MRI machine for 'Rotary Ambala Cancer and General Hospital' in Ambala Cantt.,India.
Once a month, members from the Rotary Club of Hamilton Mountain spend their lunch hour cleaning up their adopted park, the McQuesten Community Park.
On June 10th, the club participated in a concession street festival on Hamilton Mountain. Rotarians distributed free water to festival attendees. There was quite a bit of interest displayed at the tent and especially in the Gift of Sight display of the global grant project that the club did in partnership with the Rotary Club of Navsari, Gujarat, India (District 3060).
The Rotary Club of Niagara County Central recently held its officer installation dinner at Knead the Dough in Ransomville.
Pictured is the board of directors for 2017-2018 as follows: Sitting (left to right) are Dave Evans, Marsha Emmons, John Cooper, Assistant Governor (not a board member), and standing (left to right) Chuck Ventura, Dave Seaman, Pat Sullivan, president, Amy Kauderer, secretary, Roger Anders, sergeant at arms, and Tom Grimm.
The club's 2017 ‘Rotarian of the Year’ award was presented to both Dave Evans and Chuck Ventura who consistently exhibit “Service Above Self”.
The Rotary Club of Fonthill was able to make a $5,000 donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Niagara from the proceeds of the Pelham Mudfest Challenge 2017.
Pictured are Rotarians Frank Adamson, left, Paul Allen, second from left, and Paul Snack, far right, making the check presentation at a recent club meeting, to Barb Van Der Heyden, representative of the organization.
Rotary Club of Lancaster-Depew is pleased to announce that it gave out five college scholarship awards this past month. The scholarships were presented to the following graduating seniors: Joanna Budzynski, Daniel Buscaglia, Dominic Occhino, Christopher Stein, and T'Ahjan Willis.
Following that, Brian Williams (pictured right) was thanked for his service to the club this past year as president and the gavel was passed to Robert Benzel (left) for the 2017-18 year.
Pounds of pennies and stiff competition among the Chautauqua Lake Central School students in grades 7-12 during a recent “Pennies for Polio” penny war week resulted in the CLCS Student Administration, event sponsor, raising $934.48 for the Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville’s PolioPlus Challenge. The winning grade level was the freshman class. In addition to the penny war, information about polio and Rotary International’s efforts to eradicate the crippling disease was disseminated to CLCS students, faculty and staff.
At the June 19 check presentation event were (pictured left to right) CLCS Superintendent and Rotarian Ben Spitzer, SA Co-Adviser Jennifer Davis, Rotarian Sue Hammond, SA President Samantha Gleason, SA Co-Adviser Michelle Rowe, Rotarian and PolioPlus Challenge Chair Jim Wakeman and CLCS Secondary Principal Josh Liddell.
At the District 7090 DG Changeover and Awards Luncheon held on Sunday, June 25, 2017 at the Brantford Golf & Country Club, it was announced that 2016-17 Rotary E-Club of Southern Ontario – Western New York (SOWNY) President Gordon Crann had won 3 awards.
Gordon is pictured on left with fellow Rotarian PDG Aziz Memon of Rotary Club of Karachi.
As the club reflects back on its award winning 2016-17 Rotary year, its successes held commonality in increasingly connecting District 7090 to Rotarians, Rotary Clubs and Rotarian Action Groups around the world, as follows:
The newly merged Rotary Club of Dunkirk-Fredonia held a very successful Fly-In Breakfast on Sunday, July 9 at the Dunkirk, NY Airport. The Fly-In Breakfast was the 53rd rendition and attracted 1,200 attendees which made the club more than $4,000 for local charitable projects.
More than a dozen private planes flew in for the event, with many providing sight-seeing flights. Several helicopters and historic Ward War II planes also were present. More than thirty club members worked to make the event a big success.
On Monday, June 19th, Andrea Scibetta was sworn in as President of the Rotary Club of Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC). Andrea is a charter member of this club, which was founded in 2014, and within three short years has become one of the largest clubs in District 7090. She is the third president to hold this office in this club.
Pictured is Andrea with RI President Ian Riseley at the Atlanta Convention.
The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has raised money to support the Health Sciences Charter School, Anti Malaria Foundation, Himalayan Health Care, Bihari Relief Foundation, Amor & Heritage, Kevin Guest House Expansion Security System, Ride for Roswell, Polio Plus, Rotary International Foundation, Moot Center Carden, and YIMBY Community Event. They also join Rotary's mission to eradicate polio from the world.
Andrea will be serving a one year term, and is looking forward to leading her club in Making a Difference in their community!
It’s here, another Rotary year, another theme and yet another Governor. The past themes were all well thought out and served us well. But for me there’s something special about Ian Risely’s theme and how his goals and the goals I have for the district are so much in sync. My head spins with new thoughts and ideas about how we, the ‘Best of Friends’ District, impact our communities and our world. We do make a difference. And when this year ends I’m hopeful that we will have contributed to a significant difference.
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e some of the volunteer staff, consisting of Rotarians and friends, at closing. There were another 200 volunteers who are missing from the photo. Pictured (left) is a favorite volunteer who helped move (or at least hold up) the many chairs it took for so many attendees.
month, members from the Rotary Club of Hamilton Mountain spend their lunch hour cleaning up their adopted park, the McQuesten Community Park. 
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