Happy New Year to the Family of Rotary of District 6630!

Rotary Year 2018-2019 has kicked off with excitement and a true spirit of inspiration. The Rotary clubs in District 6630 haven’t missed a beat and I have already witnessed firsthand what I already knew – that we are the premiere district in the level of our dedication and commitment. There is not a day that goes by that a life is not better for having been touched by Rotary.

I am honored to be your District Governor and privileged to be guided by a team of Club Presidents “on the move” who are truly People of Action. They are a force to be reckoned with…they are energized and committed to working hard and having fun while doing it. They are diverse in almost every way imaginable representing a multitude of generations, vocations and avocations… all with a single goal in mind. They all want to leave this Rotary year a little bit better than they found it and it is my goal to help them do just that. When you receive their call – please answer it. They can’t succeed without you and I can’t do it without them.

Rotary International President Barry Rassin “believes Rotary still is the organization Paul Harris originally envisioned…a place where people from every corner of this earth can come together to become something greater than themselves.” He wants the impact that we have on our communities and around the world to be sustainable and is committed to strengthening our public image and the use of digital tools to maximize Rotary’s reach.

President Barry believes in our youth…as we do in this district. One of his focuses this year is to strengthen Rotaract and encourage Rotaract Clubs and their members to “take the next step.” There are already plans under way for two new Interact Clubs and we are committed to a renewed focus on our involvement in the Youth Exchange program. See President Barry’s letter and use this link to be connected to his speech at the Rotary International Convention in Toronto (On to Hamburg, now, of course!)

Our District 6630 kicked-off the new Rotary year on July 12 with our annual End Polio Now event at Progressive Field with the Cleveland Indians! Once again, the Children of the World “won” because of your generosity even though the Indians didn’t. Those darn Yankees! We are so appreciative of the participation from our surrounding sister districts, but especially District 6650.

Last Thursday, July 19 was a wonderful gathering of the Family of Rotary and the incredible leaders we have in our district. Governor Amy (2017-2018) and I appreciate so many of you being in attendance to honor those who were committed to Making a Difference last year and to celebrate those who will Be the Inspiration in 2018-2019. It was also a very special opportunity to be able to recognize and honor so many of our Past District Governors and their spouses and partners who have stood by their side. The August Newsletter will include coverage of the event! Thank you to my Home Club – the Rotary Club of Cleveland - for all your support.

We have another extremely important celebration coming up that doesn’t occur very often within the life of a district and that is the chartering of a new Rotary club. Please come and support the Rotary Club of Green on Friday, August 10.  We are honored that RI Director Robb Knuepfer will be in attendance to officiate over the charter ceremony. This is a unique example of membership extension as it is a result of a partnership between District 6650 and District 6630! All the details are located on page three of the newsletter.

We all know we are at an important crossroads whereby Rotary as a whole, particularly in North America, needs to continue to find ways to engage its members and grow its membership base. Additional “hands and voices” increases our influence and ability to “do good in the world.”

Since I promised our Club Presidents “the how” (they already know “the what and the why”) we kicked off the year with the first of several membership initiatives by conducting a brainstorming session on the “state of membership” in District 6630.

We will be sharing these results with you as well as the plans that are in process for a regionalized Membership Summit joining together with Districts 6600 and 6650. In the meantime, a recommendation they felt particularly strongly about was to include in our monthly newsletter, effective immediately, a feature entitled “My Rotary Defining Moment.” This is that moment in time in our Rotary journey when it became clear as to what Rotary truly means to each one of us – why we stayed, what ignited our passion and inspired us to do more. And isn’t that what we should each be doing...helping our new and newer members to find their own Rotary Defining Moment? See page thirteen for the first installment! Our August newsletter will contain information about additional district programs that support membership development and engagement.

Rotary started paying it forward about 100 years earlier than it was fashionable…we not only join to serve a need in our communities and around this incredible and challenging world of ours…but we also join to take care of each other and we always receive more than we could ever give. That is what a family does. That is the gift called Rotary.