I enjoyed sharing the District 5970 conference with 130 Rotarians from across our district.  Congratulations to Don Meyer our District Governor and the district conference committee that did a great job of pulling the conference together.

 

There were a number of wonderful speakers and topics, I want to highlight a couple.  One of the speakers was David Forward.  David was commissioned to write a book about Rotary for the 100^th anniversary of Rotary (Century of Service: The Story of Rotary International) and then was commissioned to write a book about the first 100 years of The Rotary Foundation (Doing Good in the World: The Inspiring Story of the Rotary Foundation’s First 100 Years).  His research gave him access to records few people have had access to.  His stories are great, I have ordered both of his books and look forward to learning more about Rotary and our foundation.

 

Another speaker that touched me was Amanda Goodman, the former anchor newsperson for KWWL.  She is currently the Executive Director of Family & Children’s Council of Black Hawk County.   Her life experiences and now her work with abused children is both inspirational and frightening.  I hope you get to hear her or her story.  She challenged my thinking and my values.  If you want a speaker that would challenge and shake up your club, see if she is available.

 

We got to hear Peter Teahen speak about how he and Past District Governor of District 6000 John Ockenfels are going to fly a single engine airplane around the world as a fund raiser for PolioPlus.  They leave May 5^th.  Please go to www.flighttoendpolio.com to learn more.  You can follow them around the world online.

 

Within the last month, Jim Coloff led the two District Grant training sessions.  Clubs who had a member attend the training session and have submitted a Memorandum of Understanding are eligible to apply for up to $5,000.00 of matching funds from the district.  For more information, please click here or go to the grants section of www.district5970.org website.

 

The duck pluck campaign tied to the district conference sold 884 ducks raising $4,420.00 for the PolioPlus Campaign.  The winners of a Paul Harris Recognition are James Brown of the Eldora Club, Dean Sturtz of the Prairie Gateway Club and Sarah Pinion of the Maquoketa Club.

 

Speaking of the PolioPlus Campaign, just under a year ago we started the District 5970 PolioPlus Society made up of people willing to commit $100.00 per year until the World Health Organization declares the world wild polio free. I am very happy to announce that membership in the society is over 100 as of today, meaning our district will be donating at least $10,000.00 towards The PolioPlus effort each year. Of course, we raise more than that but our average is going up.