Here it is the first of May, ten months into this Rotary year. Well it is not really May 1st as the newsletter is getting out late this month. Seems the newsletter editor needed some R&R.May is Youth Services Month. As we all know, District 5495 has vibrant Youth Service Programs. Our Interact program is among the best in the country with over 90 Interact clubs serving somewhere around 2500 youth. Interact’s major project is Crutches for Africa and an Ambassadorial team will be heading to Kenya in July. The District also has a very active RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) program with two RYLA camps – one at Camp Pinerock in Prescott and one at Camp Ponderosa in Heber. The camps this year served about 200 students. Our Rotaract program is on the rebound and you can expect to see growth in Rotaract clubs and programs in the years going forward. And let’s not forget our wonderful Rotary Youth Exchange program. Youth Exchange is a very complicated program with a lot of moving parts and the District is fortunate to have such a fine leadership team in place. This year our District is hosting 13 inbound exchange students. The District will be sending 10 students abroad in late July or early August. The outbound students’ adventures will last about a year.
Recently I had an opportunity to review our District’s performance in its investment support of The Rotary Foundation. As of this date, April 28, 2019, six clubs have achieved 100% Foundation giving and five clubs have achieved EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) status. This compares with 14 and 13 respectively in all the 2017-18 Rotary year. Our District wide giving to the Annual Fund SHARE thus far this year is $220,275. That’s 63% of our total from a year ago with only two months remaining in the year. Our investment in the End Polio Now – Make History Today fund is at $50,812, 78% of the year ago total. Twelve clubs have reached Rotary’s requested goal of $1500 per club compared to 14 clubs reaching that goal a year ago. However, we have 25 clubs that have contributed nothing to Polio this year. You may recall from my visit to your club that it was stated I would not push clubs to support these two funds – that I couldn’t force you to participate in the investment (giving) process. In retrospect, perhaps more should have been asked of the clubs as I know our clubs are capable of more than what’s been seen thus far this year. As I stated in one of the recent videos, you may not think that this is important now, but it will become important in three (3) years when fewer funds are available for Grants and DDF. Let’s step it up for the final two months of the year so we can say we knocked it out of the park.
In the last month I have been attending various club and District activities when invited. These activities are eye opening and make one realize how much is going on in the District, in many cases under the radar. As the weather warms up, I understand that there will be less happening. But if asked, I will join you at your event, barring a conflict.
By the time you read this missive another very successful Club Leadership Academy will have taken place. That leaves only one major event remaining for the year, our District Conference on June 21st and 22nd in Scottsdale. The Conference will be packed with interesting sessions and loads of fun. Get registered now if you have not already done so. You won’t be disappointed. Continue to watch the DG videos for further information on the conference and snippets of our scheduled guest and keynote speakers.
The DeLorean has been repaired and has made it back to California, Acton, California to be exact. However, a minor glitch brought us out of time travel too soon, in the year 2010. Only have one more month to get back to the present. (Or is it future?) Hopefully we can make it.