2017-06-01 Danny's Final Fireside Chat
Dear Rotarians:
Well it is June and this will be our last Fireside Chat. The year has passed quickly with a year full of Rotary events, fundraisers, friendships new and old and a greater knowledge and respect for all our district clubs do for their communities and the world with the work they do every day. Thank You.
The final 5490 District Conference was outstanding with some fantastic programs, breakouts and was well attended. I am sorry if you missed 5490’s final conference as it was the last of it's kind and I would like to give you a short recap.
On Thursday evening, we cruised the Colorado River and dined with our Rotarian brothers and sisters.
On Friday we had great presentations from RI President’s Rep PDG Maureen Merrill and a Key Note from PDG Pam Russell on The Rotary Foundation, with certificates given to those Rotarians who worked so diligently all last year on all of our grant projects and promoted TRF throughout the year. We also started our fund raising efforts for TRF and our Interact Leaders who would be taking a container of mobility devices to Africa on behalf of Crutches For Africa this summer. In the evening we celebrated with a FellowShip party full of pirates and nautical types of all kinds. Great fun.
On Saturday we had presentations from New Generations Service Exchange, ROTEX, Interact Crutches for Africa Project, Global Grant Water Project in the Navaho Reservation, Project C.U.R.E. and a Keynote by our two Rotary Peace Scholars. This was followed by four break out sessions for folks to enjoy. In the evening we started with a Parade of Governors. It included the current DG’s from all three of Arizona’s current districts. The DG line for District 5495 and PDG’s from 5490 and 5510 as well as from California and Australia. During dinner we enjoyed the music of the Shari Rowe Band and a few folks took the opportunity to dance a bit.
After dinner we gave out three major awards. Our Leadership for the Second Century Bell Award, recognizing our District Rotarian of the Year, which went to Robert ‘Bob’ Murray, Jr., a member of the Sun City West RC.
Next we awarded The Rotary Foundation’s Meritorious Service Award which went to James Dowler, also from Sun City West RC.
Lastly, we gave out the highest award a Rotarian may receive. The Rotary International Service Above Self award. It went to a well deserved recipient – Charles ‘Chuck’ Fitzgerald a member of the Peoria RC.
On Sunday we held a Celebration of Life on the banks of the Colorado River. The names of those whom have left us this year were read and a Rotary bell struck. At that point a beautiful floral arrangement was released into the Colorado River for each name read. Each bio-degradable arrangement would float down the river out of our sight so only our memory of the person remained. Returning to our meeting room, we had a nice breakfast followed by a small ceremony welcoming our new 5495 District and its incoming officers. Our RI President Representative, PDG Maureen Merrill gave us a farewell talk.
Lastly I announced a special guest would come forward and sing a farewell song. The song “The Curtain Falls” was the closing song for Bobby Darin for many years. It fit well with our closing ceremony. Our special guest was Steve Cervantes, an accomplished singer in his own right who made Bobby Darin sound great again. We made one wording change at the end of the song. Bobby Darin would sing, “People say I was made for this, Nothing else would I trade for this, And just think I get paid for this.” Steve sang, “People say we were made for this, Nothing else would we trade for this, And just think we don’t get paid for this.”
The BIG event this month is our Rotary International Conference in Atlanta. Where we will celebrate 100 years of The Rotary Foundation. My last count was 48 folks from our district were planning to attend. 5500 and 5510 have some higher numbers going so Arizona will be represented by over 150 attendees. The second BIG event is on June 23 & 24 when I encourage you to attend the District 5510 Conference in Flagstaff at the Little America Hotel. A number of us are already signed up and we will even host a Hospitality Suite. Registrations are still open and I hope to see a good showing of 5490 folks to mix and mingle with our new sisters and brothers from 5510. Register here.
And Lastly,
I wish you all a great summer as I walk into another sunset with Baxter. It has truly been my honor to serve you as 5490’s last District Governor (not a planned event when I started the DG journey). My term may be ending, but my service to Rotary and Arizona is not – as I look forward to being one of the two newest PDG’s in District 5495 along with my Rotary Sister, Tonya Watson from 5510.