Here it is the first of April and we are three quarters of the way through this Rotary year. It’s also April Fool’s Day. There is much that could be said in regards to that, but I will forgo that nonsense.Our clubs have accomplished a lot this year and they continue actively working toward achieving all of their goals. Many clubs will be holding events in April. You should check the District calendar to see if any will be of interest to you. It’s always a great idea if you can support some of your fellow clubs in their efforts. In April there will be a Golf Outing, a Lobster Fest, and a Rock ‘N Roll dance. Hey, at the Rock ‘N Roll dance you could tune up your dance moves for the District Conference where we will feature the Southwest Surfers, a Beach Boys tribute band, on Friday evening June 21st. I am also excited about the charter night for the newest club in our District, the Surprise Sunset Rotary Club. This club was chartered on February 14, 2019 and will hold its charter night celebration April 2, 2019.
Periodically, as part of the chores a DG is expected to perform, I spend some time on Rotary Club Central. Yes, even the Governor uses that tool. I recently was on Club Central and noticed in the District Reports section that in all metrics that Rotary International measures we are down significantly. I don’t really believe that to be the case. Rather I think we have become very lazy in getting information entered into Rotary Club Central. This is unfortunate as Rotary Club Central is the primary tool for RI to measure how a District is performing and the health of the District. As mentioned earlier, our District has accomplished much this year, but we are not letting this be known. So if your club has been lax in using Rotary Club Central, maybe you would like to take an opportunity at the ¾ point of the Rotary year to bring your Rotary Club Central information up to date. There is nothing wrong in pointing out your accomplishments.
In addition to looking over club metrics on Club Central, my main purpose for visiting Club Central is to review Foundation giving. We are making progress but we as a District are not where I would like to see us. Thus far (thru March 23, 2019) we are at 55.5% of our total a year ago in regards to investments (donations/giving) in the Annual Fund. The District is doing better in the PolioPlus Fund. We are at 75% of our total from a year. That’s good if your goal was just to match last year’s total. My goal was to exceed last year’s total by quite a bit if one considers the request for an investment in the Polio Fund of $50 per member. So maybe we are lagging in Polio giving also, maybe not. I guess it depends on who is doing the review of the numbers. District Foundation chair Jim Bissonett keeps telling me not to worry – that we get a lot of investments (contributions) toward the end of the year. Being a worrywart however, I tend to worry about where we are in our investments to The Rotary Foundation. (Def: worrywart – a person who tends to dwell unduly on difficulty or troubles.) That’s your grammar lesson for this month.
Marty and Doc have made progress on the DeLorean. That have it running again and they have it traveling through time again. But there is still a glitch or two. It appears this month that I have made it back to the Western Hemisphere – somewhere in the Caribbean. But I’m not sure where. However I might be in a port somewhere getting ready to embark on a pirate cruise. I wondering though, how do you hide the DeLorean in a Caribbean port? More details on my time travel next month.