February message from Governor Bob
Happy Mardi Gras, fellow Rotarians! The next few months will be filled with activities inside and outside of the Rotary world. The Olympics are underway. The first parades of the Mardi Gras season have rolled. King Cakes abound. Omicron appears to have peaked. The NFL playoff games were exciting, and the Super Bowl is coming up.
Click "read more" for Governor Bob's full message.
Inside Rotary, we enjoy all of these, but we have a focus on those whose conditions are less cheerful, who are still in need. Many of you have not interacted with Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta. Because of Covid, I have not met him. But he did a virtual meeting with our Zone in the first of the 2022 Conversations That Matter series from RI Director Elizabeth Usovicz. The link is here or here https://vimeo.com/673713342 if you need to paste it into your browser. He covers much of what is happening in the Rotary world and hits themes I have discussed with you. Each One Bring One where every Rotarian invites a potential member to a club meeting, service project or social will increase our numbers giving us greater impact in our communities and in everything we do. He discusses the progress of Polio Plus, only 5 cases last year in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan has not had a case in over a year now! We can be proud of that while we yet work to finally eliminate this disease. He discussed service projects and many other things. I encourage you to watch.
Here in the District, I pledged to help Clubs become better and have a staff of volunteers willing to pitch in. We have our impactful events upcoming. District Governor Elect Regina Wedig is preparing for her year. Rotary’s 117th Anniversary is February 23rd. The District Conference will begin with a Golf Tournament on Thursday, May 19th and run through Sunday the 22nd morning at Beau Rivage in Biloxi. There will be a Food Fest Friday night and presentations from Clubs about the year we have had and all you have done. The International Convention is in Houston, June 4-8. Register at https://convention.rotary.org/en/houston for a special rate that expires February 28th. Meeting Rotarians for other places is a fun and enriching experience.
To provide funds for future District and Global Grants, we have a campaign ongoing now for a Million Dollar Dinner. The first time I heard of this, seven years ago, it seemed crazy and yet then-DG Brian Hall and PDG Greg Lier raised more than $1,000,000 for the Rotary endowment fund and even though I thought it couldn’t be done, even I joined to Do Good in the World, the motto of The Rotary Foundation. Because almost all the money comes from pledges in wills, the effect is on future Rotarians. I had about $6,000 available from endowment funds to use for District Grants. Future Governors will have more and repeating this success will double its impact in future years. PDGs Brian and Greg are Chairing this for us and are happy to speak with any club or Rotarian who would like to leave a painless legacy to the Rotary Foundation and future Rotarians in our District. I have discussed this with my three children and they have each agreed to let me use $25,000 of their annuities for this effort. I believe in this so much that I have pledged $75,000. Please join me and contact Brian Hall at bhall@aim-technologies.com or Greg Lier at greglier@gmail.com to speak to your club or to you individually. I am happy to speak with you personally if you like.
I will have more thoughts for you in the next newsletter. Thank you for all you do for our communities and the for the less fortunate wherever we find them. Proud to Serve to Change Lives with you.
Bob