Category: District Governor

If You Are Not Criticized, You May Not Be Doing Much – What a great line to remember if you are a leader breaking away from the buffalo herd! In the South, there are creatures called Blue Crabs. Let’s say you catch a bunch of Blue Crabs, and you put them in a bucket. You can walk away, leave your bucket, and you don’t have to worry about any of the crabs escaping, because when one of those crabs gets up to the top of the bucket rim, another crab pulls it back in the bucket.

Rotary clubs around the world are experimenting with club flexibility and membership types, but how does a club go about offering an alternative membership type? Before making changes, clubs should ask themselves questions like:

Why do we want to offer this new membership type?
How would our club benefit?
What membership issues do we expect it to address?

If a club wants to engage family members, then offering family memberships may be a strategy to consider.

District 5710 in Kansas has a provisional club almost entirely designed around family memberships. A parent is listed as the active Rotarian, but the annual fees cover participation for the entire family. Meetings are held on Sunday afternoons and children are invited to attend meetings, projects, etc. The club also appoints an unofficial leadership role to one of the children, which rotates between the kids over time, to help them build leadership and responsibility skills. At the start of the year, eight families were participating and interest is growing!

Would you like to enjoy a taste of French culture without traveling to France? You can do that right here in North America by attending the upcoming Rotary International Convention in Toronto, Canada, on June 24 through 27. You will rub shoulders with Rotarians from around the world at the convention. The convention schedule is filled with general sessions featuring reports by Rotary leaders and dignitaries as well as smaller breakout sessions on Rotary topics during which you can ask questions and contribute to the conversations. In addition, there will be time available when you can visit the House of Friendship where there are literally hundreds of booths publicizing club and district humanitarian projects, dispensing Rotary materials, advertising tours abroad, and selling a wide variety of products from around the world, including Rotary clothing, jewelry, logo pins, and more.

From all accounts, District Conference was a success. Attendees heard sessions on Rotary service, the Rotary Foundation, Visioning, Polio Plus, and reports on international humanitarian projects. It seemed that everyone had a favorite session. One Rotarian observed that she had not heard such a thorough explanation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, while another person marveled at the outstanding international projects underway in the District. Still another person was persuaded to push his club to hold another visioning session this year. Attendees heard presentations from visiting Rotarians Brent Rosenthal from Columbus, OH and Elizabeth Usovicz of Kansas City as well as persuasive speakers from District 6080. Youth Exchange, RYLA, Interact clubs and Rotaract clubs were also featured. Special thanks goes to all those who led sessions and those were involved in planning and assisting at the Conference.

Notes from the Governor

It is with a tremendous amount of emotion that I write my last Governor notes. I feel a bit like a marathon runner who has been on a record pace, but only by seconds. The finish line is so close there is nothing left in reserve and yet finishing the race at this record pace is the difference between success and failure. This has been the experience of a lifetime. Being Governor has shaped my life in ways that I have yet to even appreciate, and I owe all of you a debt of gratitude. I have had the privilege of seeing things and gaining perspective that only a few have been afforded.

I wish I had the words to give you the perspective that I have been afforded by serving you this year. It is truly humbling to see how many of you tirelessly go about the work of Rotary while people like me go around and take the bows for all your hard work. Words can’t express how grateful I am for your service and your generosity. Please know that what you are doing matters. If the world is going to be a better place tomorrow, it will be because you made that happen.

I am so proud to be part of a District that doesn’t just excel in the local mission of Rotary, you are making a huge difference in the international mission of Rotary as well. So much so that we have run out of money to do global grants. We now have global grants that are waiting to be funded. However, there is more good news, we are on the verge of a record breaking year for Foundation and Polio Plus giving, but only if we finish strong. The ability to fund all our local and global grants with Foundation dollars is hanging in the balance. It’s all coming down to the last few days of the year. Let’s finish this year like we started it. “Let’s do this.”

David Bixler