Happy Independence Day! It is hard to believe that our year of serving Rotary, our Communities and the World has begun. The value of all the planning now comes down to execution.
Over the past month Maureen and I have had the opportunity to celebrate the new Rotary year with so many of you. As we heard about club accomplishments for the 2021/22 Rotary year, it made me so proud to know that we will be working together to make our clubs even better. When you think of your club, I want you to think of your members. How can we add value to each of you? If you were not engaged last year, why not? Before we worry about growing Rotary, lets focus on retaining the members we have through engagement! Engaged members will recruit others!
2022/23 will be a history making year as we watch RI President Jennifer Jones lead by a clearly unique style that will culminate with the Rotary International Convention in Melbourne Australia May 27-31. If you are considering going but want to know more, I am happy to discuss.
We continue to get closer to eradicating Polio, but we need your help to continue to fight the good fight with only 10 cases so far this year! We’ve helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. So far, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
World Polio Day is October 24. What is your club planning to do to celebrate this event?
Our next RLI will be at Daytona State College-Palm Coast on Saturday August 6, 2022. Plan a carpool from your club and make the day of training into a day of Rotary Fellowship as well. We have scholarships available for Rotaractors and smaller clubs. Ask DGN Mickey Ulmer.
Our fall Vibrant Club Seminar will be held at St. Johns River State College-Palatka on Saturday August 20. Plan a carpool from your club and make the day of training into a day of Rotary Fellowship as well.
Each week we will try to update upcoming events that you share with me and recognize Rotary service and fellowship from the week before. Over the last several weeks I attended a number of wonderful club installations, but several things stood out to me at the Rotary Club of Edgewater as they imagined a trip to Paris. As PDG Rich Cooper handed out 10 new Paul Harris Fellowships, Edgewater became a 100% Paul Harris Club—Nice Job! I was excited to see the President and President-Elect of New Smyrna Beach were also in attendance, as were two of the Assistant Governors. We often think of Rotary having boundaries defined by our club, but throughout Volusia County this is never the case!
District Governor Jeff Michelman, Assistant Governor Hewitt Dupont (Port Orange/South Daytona), President Lindsay Malia (Edgewater), Past President Steve Holmes (Edgewater), President Kevin Para (New Smyrna Beach), Past President and Past District Governor CarolAnn Jeronimo (New Smyrna Beach), Past District Governor Rich Cooper, Assistant Governor Charles Miller (New Smyrna Beach).