Rotary International District Governor, Dave Thomas
If all goes as planned, my last Club visit will happen on 10/30/2019. What a wonderful and eye-opening experience it has been. I find that I finish this phase of my Governorship with a profound sense of gratitude. We are blessed to have so many kind and generous fellow Rotarians in our District. (At the time of this publication, DG Dave notified me that indeed he has completed his club visits!)
The Month of November, in my faith, begins with All Saints Day. A time when we remember those of our faith that have “Gone to Glory” over the last 12 months. As we reflect on the lives of those we will not see, until we join them, we are inspired by their stories. We pledge ourselves to fulfilling and or carrying on their legacy. The same is true as I visited with the clubs in the District. I heard many stories. Some Common – Some Exceptional. On the common front, I plan to bill the state of Michigan for an estimated 150 miles of Highway that our clubs collectively keep clean. Likewise, I’m proud of the Exceptional work that our District does in raising tens of thousands of dollars for the Salvation Army, and numerous food and shelter needs of those less fortunate. Our support of the Youth will certainly build stronger communities.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE DISTRICT 6290 FOUNDATION GALA "BURLAP & LACE" Saturday, November 9, 2019 Park Place Hotel and Conference Center 300 E. State St. Traverse City, MI
**Reserved Seating** tickets $125 per Rotarian ~or~ $100 per Rotarian
Park Place Hotel over-night accommodations can be made directly with the hotel with a special rate of $109.95 plus taxes at 1-855-216-3808
Key Note Speaker: Michael K. McGovern Chairman of the International PolioPlus Committee
Rotary conducts the Membership Experience Feedback Survey every year to monitor trends in membership. Our last two newsletters featured what we learned from prospective members and current members.
This issue focuses on feedback from the final group: former members. Here are their top three reasons for leaving Rotary:
Cost or time constraints
Club environment and culture
Unmet expectations
Does your club know why its members leave? Use the Understanding Why Members Leave exit survey to find out and then develop a plan to address any issues the survey reveals.
by Sarah Sanderson, Rotary Peace Fellow, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan
As a Rotary Peace Fellow, I had been looking forward to my summer applied field experience, which is self-designed by the peace fellow. So I was thrilled when I was accepted for a summer internship position at the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique.
The goal of a Department of State internship is to expose interns to a broad picture of how a U.S. embassy works. Because of this, over a ten-week period I was able to rotate through three different departments including: financial management, consular, and public affairs.
In financial management, I learned how the embassy budgets for not only the State Department but also for the CDC, USAID and PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), all which have a huge presence in Mozambique. In the consular department, I learned how to process non-immigrant visas for Mozambicans who wished to study or travel in the U.S. And in public affairs, I saw how the embassy managed the press and media and how to host large events for the ambassador or for international visitors.
Networking opportunities
But without a doubt, the biggest highlight and privilege of the summer was getting to know and spend time with Ambassador Pittman himself. Rotary’s Peace Fellow program affords valuable opportunities to network with high-level individuals working within their fields of interest and see first-hand what the work is like. I had lunch with the ambassador and talked about his past career, took part with him in different press meetings and photo shoots, and accompanied him on trips to different parts of the country. Some of the trips that we took included visits to peace corps volunteers’ projects and schools, local NGOs that trained women in entrepreneurial and business skills, and events to celebrate marine research in line with Secretary of State John Kerry’s oceans initiative.
Equally interesting was to spend time with Ambassador Pittman’s partner, Chris Milligan, who previously directed the U.S. relief efforts in Haiti and was USAID mission director to Burma in 2012.
The ten weeks with the Foreign Service in Mozambique was an incredible chance for me to grow personally and professionally and I’m grateful to Rotary for making such an applied field experience possible.
Wawa had a successful Bake Sale in conjunction with their Senior Citizens Club. They coordinated baking goods and sold them at the Wawa Goose Club! We had posters in the windows, posters inside and a combination of Senior Citizens and Rotarians working together to bring awareness to the community regarding Polio in the last vestiges of our World! They raised $363 in donations and $540 from Club members for a total of $903.00! We will continue to raise funds throughout the year as well!
The Rotary Club of Ludington celebrated World Polio Day with club members donating to the cause in honor of our members Chrissie Hall, whose mother had polio, and Wayne Buskirk, who is a polio survivor. Club member Patti Klevorn, center, pledged to donate a base amount plus an additional dollar for every club member who donated to the cause, which inspired fellow club member Jim Jensen to do the same. We raised $641 in cash and checks during our meeting on Thursday, Oct. 24, with additional donations given online at endpolio.org/donate.
Blind River held our Polio Day events in July and August - music, BBQ, bubble-making for kids
A successful joint effort between the Frankfort and the Benzie Sunrise Rotary Clubs to raise awareness of the Polio Plus effort to eliminate polio worldwide. Carol Marsh, President of the Frankfort Club, John Grix and Scott Harrison of the Frankfort Club and I met with Rick Schmitt, owner of Stormcloud Brewing in Frankfort to see if he would run a Pints for Polio campaign during Frankfort's Beer Week (10/7-12). He agreed to provide $1/pint of beer sold for the entire week (we had asked for one night). Carol then led an effort to develop posters and table cards to publicize the event and encourage people to stop by to "beer it forward". I worked with the newspaper to get a press release published and pre- and post-event articles written (see attached).
At least one member of both Clubs was present each evening to talk about Rotary, socialize with the guests and contribute to the cause by enjoying Stormcloud's great product.
The event exceeded our expectations with $882 raised through pint sales which was matched by both clubs. The net result was $2652 raised for the Polio Plus campaign. With the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation match of 2:1, we raised a total of $7956. Needless to say we were very proud of this inaugural effort not only for the money raised but for the teamwork between our two Clubs.
This group of Interact kids makes impacts in big waves with even the seemingly smallest ripples of contributions. They just transformed $400 raised for their 💜 Fall Purple Pinky Campaign 💜, to completely eradicate polio from planet earth, into $2,400.
$𝟐,𝟒𝟎𝟎! 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭! 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞. 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃. 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓. 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍! Rotary changes lives. And when Rotary and their partners join together on a cause there are substantial revolutions that happen locally, regionally and globally.
These young, vivacious, passionate Rotary Interactors practice the belief of #𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 on the daily. Thank you Elk Rapids High School Interact Club.
👏🏼 JOB 👏🏼 WELL 👏🏼 DONE 👏🏼
Rotary Club of Cadillac
The board donated $300 from a recent fund raiser and challenged the club to raise another $1200 with a purple pinkie event with a couple of Junior Rotarians at our October 22 meeting. We raised around $400 at that event, so we are now at $700
Celebrate World Interact Week this 4-10 November with nearly half a million Interact club members around the world! How will you share the power of Interact and celebrate this special occasion?
Interested in celebrating but not sure where to start? Check out these daily activities you can use to join the party, and share your celebrations with #WorldInteractWeek!
Rotary Foundation Month. Clubs and Districts call attention to the programs of The Rotary Foundation and frequently cultivate additional financial support for the Foundation by promoting contributions for Paul Harris Fellows and Sustaining Members.
Want to know more about the history of the Rotary Foundation? Click HERE for details
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