District 6630 Rotarians and friends,
It is with a feeling of deep appreciation and admiration of the work of Rotary District 6630 Rotarians that I write my last newsletter article as District Governor.
All of us as Rotarians, in this difficult year of a worldwide pandemic, have taken the opportunity to stretch and learn new habits and develop new ways to reach out and lend a hand.
This certainly validates R. I. President Holger Knaack’s theme “Rotary Opens Opportunities”.
As District Governor, the plan on behalf of the district quickly became the following - which I have shared all year with each club:
MY VISION: This remained the same as the vision of Rotary International. “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.”
- I felt so strongly that I had a banner made with the R. I. Vision statement and the Core Values of “Fellowship, Integrity, Diversity, Service, Leadership. The banner was used in every official visit with clubs and events.
- Clubs have continually focused on uniting, acting, and creating change with others who share the same core values for over 116 years.
MY GOALS: To help each of our clubs and members remain connected and engaged while keeping the District strong and focused in its support of Clubs. To help achieve this, we:
- Offered to reimburse virtual software licenses for each club.
- When preparing our 2020-2021 Club Presidents and Officers, our LEAD Team (Leadership Education and Development), led by Ryan Knotts and Steve Zabor in conjunction with Assistant Governors, pivoted to virtual sessions. They incorporated topics to help our Clubs prepare for the unknown situation Clubs were facing with the pandemic.
- Provided training of Zoom and other virtual technology.
► I am happy to report our district Rotarians did not stop! As Presidents began their year after completing their training, all clubs continued to meet virtually, except for one very small club who met in person.
► They each continued to care for each other, figured out ways to do service projects and fundraisers and even inducted over 100 new members.
MY OBJECTIVES:
1. To share with each member the opportunities, resources and support that Rotary International, the District and clubs can provide to each other.
2. To ask how we, in our clubs, and in the District, can take this time to review our committees, events, fundraisers, goals, and activities to effectively continue to be of service.
► Have completed 46 official visits thus far. This has been an opportunity to:
- Acknowledge all each club was doing to still meet and serve others – even during a pandemic.
- Share latest R.I. and District updates, resources, events.
- Share creative ways with each club what other clubs were doing for service projects, virtual fundraisers and ways to incorporate fun into virtual meetings.
► Celebrated at the virtual Multi District Conference, how District 6630 clubs, including Interact and Rotaract, never stopped and continued to “Unite and Take Action”.
► Even in a pandemic Clubs:
- Supplied PPE to communities, hospitals and schools, hosted blood drives, food drives, collected cloth and made masks for distribution, provided educational supplies, set up free book libraries, purchased and delivered refrigeration and sanitation equipment, participated in environmental projects both globally and locally.
- Many clubs took the opportunity to learn ClubRunner and expanded their ability to communicate via Club Bulletins.
- Public Image expanded its reach via more social media outlets using integrated software.
MY STRATEGIC DISTRICT PRIORITIES:
1. Membership – Continue momentum and develop a three-year plan.
- The plan is developed and implemented with a strong leadership team, chaired by Peter Tuttle.
- E-ClubNEO a virtual club chartered in June 2020 as a satellite of Northampton-Cuyahoga Valley held several service projects and continues to add members.
- Mentor chartered a satellite club, The RC of Lake County Sunrise.
- The District 6630, 6600, 6650 Tri-District Membership Seminar was held virtually with several hundred attending.
2. Bylaws and Manual of Procedures revised and updated.
- Bylaws completed and approved by Board of Directors Feb 27, 2021 and the clubs at the annual meeting on April 22, 2021. The Manual of Procedures presented and approved June 8, 2021. Chaired by PDG Mike Davanzo.
3. Strategic Plan to update the District Strategic Plan of 2015-2018 and to align with the revised Rotary International Strategic Plan of 2020-2023.
- Visioning workshop with R. I. Director-Elect Elizabeth Usovicz and District officers, chairs January 9, 2021. The District 6630 Strategic Plan 2021-2024 presented at the June 8, 2021 board meeting by Chair PDG John Bosco and Vice-chair Steve Zabor. Progress will be reported at all future Board of Director’s meetings by the Strategic Plan Champion Sandy Naragon. Click to view the Strategic Plan Initiatives.
4. Youth Safety and Protection Policy.
- The amended policy by Chair PDG John Reyes was approved on June 8, 2021. Information about the policy is in this newsletter edition.
I am happy to report that with the leadership of District officers, chairs, assistant governors, and the leaders in every Club, we have a strong district with strong clubs and our official district documents are current.
All is in good order and ready for the 2021-2022 District Governor, Larry Lohman, and the Clubs in Rotary District 6630.
Due to all of your efforts in following the CDC, local health departments and R.I. guidelines, I feel overjoyed that we are now able to meet in person and love seeing all the wonderful upcoming in-person events and activities in this newsletter.
Thank you each for your dedication, commitment, and service.
I wish you a phenomenally successful, fun, exciting 2021-2022 Rotary year!
Yours in Rotary Service,
Pat Myers
