Fellow Rotarians:
The past 3+ years have been a journey for Mary Jean and me. Like any journey, there are stages. First is the anticipation of an adventure, what will this journey be like, am I capable of leading such a group, will they follow, will we be successful together? Then comes preparation, training; RLI, GNETS and GETS and International Assembly, AG training, District Leadership Training, PETS, District Assembly, Grants and Membership Seminars. Enticing club presidents elect to set goals. Hoping they’ll enter them into Rotary Club Central. Extracting club goals to set District goals. Deciding how to allocate the DDF. Finally challenging us all to reach higher.
Too soon, comes that fateful second 11:59 and 59 seconds: We’re IT. Our journey begins, a mix of joys and trials, a whirlwind of club visits, area assemblies, ceremonies to honor special people, fantastic fund raising events, special events for polio eradication, months of planning for District Conference and more than 25 thousand miles driven. The conference is upon you, the program comes off well, delivering awards to clubs and Rotarians, the “band” is spectacular, the Sunday presentations tug at your heartstrings and finally its done, OVER. It’s downhill from here to International convention and finally the transition to next year.
As the journey’s end nears, it is time to look back to reflect, where we were, where we are, is there progress? How are we doing? I’d have to say pretty well. I challenged our clubs to exceed their goals. Polio Eradication, Rotary’s signature program, is a bright spot. NO cases in Africa since August 2014, only two cases in Pakistan in the past 5 weeks, never before so few cases there. Our donations to the Polio Eradication fund will top $120 thousand dollars. With the match, over 600,000 children will never have to worry about Polio. Membership, Rotary’s most urgent challenge in the US is improving. We continue to grow.
Annual fund donations to the Rotary Foundation are the fuel that keeps this district’s engine running. My goal was very ambitious and we won’t reach it. But we will reach the average for the past 5 years, hopefully well beyond. As we learned at the beginning of the year, reaching our average isn’t enough to meet our club’s funding expectations. Every Rotarian Every Year is our goal! All donations to the Rotary Foundation, this year, will reach close to 1 Million Dollars, a tremendous accomplishment.
We are making progress. Our journey has been part of a longer journey our district and Rotary is taking. We are making progress towards a coordinated District Rotary Public Image program. Our Membership Team is working to support our clubs as they engage and retain new members; working with our growing number of Satellite to ensure these new Rotarians understand what it means to be a Rotarian. Our clubs are doing amazing work in their communities, around the world. Our Youth Services are bringing more to Interact, Rotaract, RYLA, YRYLA, RYLAPlus, and Youth Exchange to develop leaders of the future, Rotarians of the future. We are building Rotary Community Corps and bringing Peace to Schools, we are collaborating with the Peace Corps. Our Technology committee, our Service Resource Committee and the Return on Rotary Committee will continue collecting the information on the service our clubs and Rotarians are doing in our communities and around the world. Information we will use to tell our Rotary Story.
Imagine the stories we will tell when we know all that we are accomplishing. Mary Jean and I are grateful for the opportunity to lead this district, one that Engages People, Changes Lives. That Lights Up the World. Let us all join together on this journey as we work to “Be a Gift to the World”.
Thank you all!
Peter and Mary Jean Ewing
