District Governor's
March 2010 Newsletter
THE FUTURE OF ROTARY IS IN YOUR HANDS
March is Literacy Month in the Rotary World. The end of the month is also the deadline for delivering Presidential Citation forms to the District Governor.
Clubs can qualify for a District Literacy award by completing five activities during the year; many of you already qualify and just need to document that qualification. Onc common activity among numerous clubs is the dictionary project. One special activity is to spend three minutes at each club meeting in March describing what your club is doing for literacy. Specific details for the awards are available on the RI website or by contacting the District Governor.
During February, I was privileged to attend two club anniversary dinners; Hot Springs Village and Arkadelphia Sunrise. The Rotary Club of Hot Springs Village held its event at Diamante Club House with excellent attendance. The event highlighted four of the “young” club’s accomplishments during its 25 years; (1) the ambulance story, (2) the benefit of scholarship, (3) the Veterans’ Memorial Story, and (4) a testimonial from a beneficiary of the Teen Challenge. Those in attendance were recipients of four very emotional stories for which the club can be especially proud to have accomplished. I noted during that visit that if some other clubs want to talk about turnover HSV has a great story to tell.
The Rotary Club of Arkadelphia Sunrise celebrated its 11th Anniversary at Camp Winnamocka on February 23rd, and sang Happy Birthday to Rotary International for its 115th on that same day. It was a great celebration highlighted by the recognition of the community Volunteer Service award to Mrs. Jackson for establishing a health clinic in the Arkadelphia area for those in the gap between insured and government programs. Kathy Carter, the club President took the opportunity to summarize the activities of the club during the year, recognize the Rotarian of the Year, and award two Paul Harris Fellows. The staff of the camp proved why it provides an excellent site for RYLA with its service during the evening. Altogether, two very fun evenings.
The end of February saw another opportunity for Rotarians to contribute to disaster relief with the earthquake in Chile. Rotary International has identified several experienced relief organizations for Rotarians to contact, such as UNICEF, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Doctors without Borders, ShelterBox, Aquabox, and the World Water Works. To learn more, contact relief@rotary.org. My favorite is Shelterbox, but there are so many worthwhile organizations that anyone can find a favorite. The key is to be generous to those in need of relief. It will be beneficial to all concerned.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camp in Arkadelphia is a few days away (3/25/10). Your campers should have been selected but may need an additional contact to remind them of the great adventure before them and that you will fully support their attendance. The campers probably are wondering about details that you take for granted. Why not reassure them at this time.
The Rotary Club of Stamps has applied for a community based Interact Club with the target charter date of April 12th, if baseball and softball games do not interfere with the date. Way to go Stamps. RI has broadened the age eligibility for school-based Interact clubs to include the ages of the school. Info was sent to club presidents.
The registration form and hotel reservation information for the annual District Conference are now on the district web site at www.ridistrict6170.org. We encourage all clubs to have representatives at this fun event, and it can be a great orientation to new club members. Why not encourage all club members to attend. District Conference Chair Tony Cifelli and his committee have outlined a fun conference. Mark your calendars for April 16 and 17, 2010, at the Austin Hotel in Hot Springs. If you would like to volunteer for a special part of the conference of particular interest to you, please notify Tony. He is listed on the district web page.
A significant Rotary event will occur in June, 2010: The International Convention. It is being held in Montreal, Canada, which is relatively easy to reach for most in our district.
The deadline for registration is fast approaching. Details of the convention are in previous newsletters and on www.Rotary.org. Please let me know which club members will be attending as I would like to seek them out at the convention and would hate to have missed any. Tickets to the Mid-America breakfast are available at a cost of $35 each by contacting the District Governor.
