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Every year, the leadership of Rotary changes. It has been said this is both the best and the worst about Rotary. We recently celebrated this transition during a lovely evening at The Academy, in Boulder. Mary Jean and I wish to congratulate Dan and Leslie on a great year of thinking outside the box and inspiring our district’s engaged Rotarians to change lives.
We are humbled by the opportunity to lead District 5450, one of the very best districts in Rotary. We have dedicated Assistant Governors led by Patricia Fiske as AG-at-large. We have a talented district leadership team, club presidents dedicated to leading their clubs and Rotarians committed to “Service above Self”. Together we will achieve new heights this year.
Gary Huang, RI President from Taiwan, has chosen as his theme “Light Up Rotary”. He quotes Confucius, “It is better to light a single candle than to sit and curse the darkness.” With so much darkness in the world it is easy to say, “I can’t possibly make a difference”, to curse the darkness, do nothing. That is not the Rotary way. A Rotarian lights a candle, one after another Rotarians light a candle, together we light up the world with the promise of Rotary.
I will have a short video message that will speak of our district goals for next year and will include an excerpt of President Gary’s speech at the RI Convention in Sydney, Australia. I hope you will all watch this short video.
While I have set several goals for this year, there are four I would like to highlight.
MEMBERSHIP: Our district is pledged a return to previous highs in membership. Dan’s year started us on our way. Our goal is to increase membership by 100 this year.
FOUNDATION: Every Rotarian should donate something every year. We will work towards becoming a 100% EREY District while increasing Sustaining Members as well. Growing our PHS membership will guarantee a strong Annual fund donation. Polio Plus fund support is critical. Educating and involving our communities in this effort is important.
CHANGE: Last year was one of change. Those changes continue. Area Assemblies and Service Resource Committee allow us to collaborate on projects. Return on Rotary allows us to tell our story to our communities. Individual club projects remain significant but together we can accomplish so much more.
LEADERSHIP: Rotary Leadership Institute and Zone Institute in September offer our district the opportunity to train our future leaders. I want to encourage everyone to attend and learn of the breadth and depth of Rotary.
Mary Jean and I are excited to lead our district and we look forward to working with all of you as, together, we “Light Up Rotary”.
Thank you for your support!
Peter
Photo of DG Peter Ewing and PDG Dan Himelspach at the D5450 Transition Dinner.
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As part of Rotary International President Gary C.K. Huang’s address to the International Convention in Sydney, Australia, he quoted one of his favorite poems, “The Power of One”. I think this message is very appropriate for all of us in District 5450. I felt connected also to its message and used it as the Moment of Inspiration for our District Transition Ceremony. I am adding it to the first newsletter of 2014-2015 and hope its message has meaning for all of you as well. 
Polio - Facts & Figures
On Saturday, June 21
With your candid input from the 2013 Area Assemblies, your assistant governor and club leadership are having fun planning your 2014 area assembly. As you shared projects and best practices with your neighboring clubs we all deepened the process of Rotarians collaborating for humanitarian service. Thank all of you that participated! If you were unable to participate, please talk to your fellow club members who did attend. Let’s have a collaborative goal of 100% attendance!
