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Don Meyer, District 5970 Foundation Chair.png){kind=logo}
Dear Rotarians,
Whew! We made it through another Rotary year, and it’s always a flurry (I’m hoping that word will help you cool off) during the month of June to make sure we make our club Foundation goals by June 30. Thank you to all the Presidents, Presidents-Elect, Club Treasurers and Club Foundation Chairs for promoting and processing the Foundation giving in your club this past Rotary year. It takes teamwork, and your efforts are greatly appreciated. Thanks also to those on our District Foundation Team—John Wasta, Fundraising Committee Chair, and Amy Weber, PolioPlus Committee Chair—for their work promoting the Annual Fund and PolioPlus Fund across the District. It will be a few weeks before the final totals are in as it takes the Foundation staff longer to record the large number of gifts they receive at year-end.
- Spencer Rotary Club becomes a 100% Paul Harris Fellow Club
- Global Scholar Update
- Outstanding response to District Grant Applications
- Waverly Rotary Club partners with Self Help to provide safe water in Nicaragua
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nternational is launching a campaign called, “Countdown to History.” Goals were set and pledges were made, the and we can’t do it without you, as Rotarians. We are asking for Rotarians across District 5970 to give a minimum of $40 to End Polio Now. This will get our District to the goal set by Rotary International.
#flatpaulharris watches Chief Strategy officer, Tom Thorfinson of Rotary International talk about Rotary's Vision Statement.
District 5970 revealed Flat Paul Harris at North Central President Elect Training this past weekend in Ames, Iowa. Flat Paul Harris is a public image project based on the popular children's books about Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley has been entertaining young readers for generations ever since being flattened by a bulletin board in his bedroom in 1964. He maintains his popularity by traveling around the world, having friends log his travels with photos from places near and far.
District 5970 has given each club a Flat Paul and we want to see where you take him! Please honor Paul Harris' legacy and celebrate the accomplishments of Rotary by including him in photos with your club! Post the photos on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) and use the hashtag: #flatpaulharris. Please also tag District 5970! Click here to download your own #flatpaulharris to take with you on your travels and post on social media!
Mark Daniel Maloney
President 2019-20
July 2019
I love to travel! I even enjoy the mundane process of getting from here to there. But last year, my wife, Gay, and I had one of those experiences that would strain the optimism of even the most cheerful traveler. We found ourselves with six hours to wait, at an airport where we were not scheduled to be, on a day we had not planned still to be traveling, having woken up that morning at a hotel unknown to us the night before. It was one of those days.
As we waited at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, Gay and I took a walk to people watch. We went from one end of the terminal to the other and back, looking at every gate, every destination, every group of people waiting for their flights.
Each gate was its own island of humanity. When we walked down the center of the concourse, we were in New York, moving along with everyone in one river. But when you veered off into those seats, you left that current and landed on an island. You were already in Delhi or Paris or Tel Aviv.
As we started our walk, I thought: "All these different people, all these different countries, all in one place. This is like Rotary!" But as we walked past gate after gate, I realized something. It was not like Rotary at all. Because everyone in that river was heading for an island. And every island stayed an island. The people heading to Taipei might be talking to one another, but they were not talking to the people heading to Cairo or Lagos.
Contrast that with Rotary. Rotary allows us to connect with one another, in deep and meaningful ways, across our differences. It connects us with people we would never otherwise have met, who are more like us than we ever could have known. It connects us with our communities, to professional opportunities, and to the people who need our help.
Connection is what makes the experience of Rotary so very different from walking along that concourse at JFK Airport. In Rotary, none of us is an island. All of us are in Rotary together, whoever we are, wherever we are from, whatever language we speak or traditions we follow. We are all connected to one another — part of our communities and members not only of our clubs, but also of the global community to which we all belong.
This connection is what lies at the heart of the Rotary experience. It is what brings us to Rotary. It is why we stay. Please join your fellow Rotarians on this journey as Rotary Connects the World.
