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Fellow Rotarians:
This Rotary year has been has come with a multitude of challenges, opportunities, and emotions. First, I would like to personally offer my condolences to all of you who have lost a loved one and/or club member to COVID-19 or other causes. I have been notified of many Rotarians we have lost through the pandemic even as recent as this morning. There are no words that I can use to fully express the sorrow and grief that I feel and know you are experiencing. I do look forward to the day when I can give each of you a hug and truly share in what you’ve all been going through, and honor together those we have lost and miss dearly.
We know the pandemic has affected everyone, and in different ways. Some with job loss, health issues, depression, loneliness, and so much more. So much has changed in Rotary as well. We miss our face-to-face contact. Due to the pandemic, most, if not all, of our events have either moved to virtual or been postponed. A positive in this, is that this has allowed for tremendous cost savings as a district. This includes both last year and this year’s district conferences being cancelled, the RI Convention in Hawaii moving to a virtual format, Club Leadership Academy as a virtual event and more. Though, we could hold the extra funds in reserves until the end of the year, we believe that it is best that the funds stay with you, the clubs - our members.
For that reason, the District 5495 Governor Line in partnership with our wonderful finance committee, Finance chair PDG, Terry Cowan and District Treasurer PDG, Jeanie Morgan believe it is in the clubs’ best interest to not assess District 5495 dues for the January 2021 through June 2021 period.
This “refund” equals $30 per member, which doesn’t sound like a lot. When you multiply that with the number of Rotarians in our district it is keeping $63,247 at the club level. In addition, since the pandemic began, two actual refunds of $10 per member took place totaling around: $44,000. That means since March of 2020, we have been able to keep over $107,000 at the clubs. We all hope this has helped, and that your clubs are opening opportunities all around!
Is your club looking for a Service Project to consider?
ROTARY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE
Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well and are having a great start to the new year!
Our speaker for the day was Barb Feder, the District 5495 Diversity, Equity and InclusionTask Force Chair. Barb, who has been a Rotarian since 1992, president of the Tempe club in 1997-98 and president of Tempe Downtown in 2016-17 also served as District Governor for D5510 in 2001-2. Her honors include Paul Harris, Major Donor and the Rotary Service Above Self award. Her husband Abe is also a PDG.
The Rotary Club of Scottsdale welcomed Rotarian Rachel Sacco, President & CEO of Experience Scottsdale as its keynote speaker at the Club’s recent hybrid meeting held via Zoom Meeting and on-site luncheon meeting held at The McCormick Scottsdale. Ms. Sacco joined the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce in 1986 to lead its tourism division, which became the convention and visitors bureau in 1987. In 2001, Experience Scottsdale was formed to become a stand-alone, non-profit organization with Ms. Sacco as its first president and CEO.
ROTARY CLUB OF GOODYEAR PEBBLECREEK, Goodyear, Ariz.- The Rotary Club of Goodyear PebbleCreek (GYPC) values strong schools and strong communities. This thriving service club prioritizes partnerships with Avondale, Litchfield, and Agua Fria School Districts, with emphasis on Title I schools where children from low-income families compose at least forty percent of enrollment. 
We know from living through 2020 that life is not always funny. 
