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Rotary District 5500
Newsletter
Lighting up Rotary with news from District 5500
February 2015
Dear District 5500 Rotarians: We have lots of exciting news and upcoming trainings.
District Governor Nominee-Designate Joe Hentges: Congratulations to Joe Hentges of the Marana-Dove Mountain Rotary Club who will serve us as
District Governor in 2017-18. Joe is a 30 year Rotarian who is our current Membership Chair. He is a retired School District Administrator and has
been an Assistant Governor and a club President both in our District and in Illinois. He was selected by the Nominations Committee on January 11th.
This large committee consists of Past Club Presidents from each of our 13 Assistant Governor Regions, as well as 5 Past Governors.
New Clubs: We are also delighted to welcome two new Rotary Clubs so far this year. The SaddleBrooke Sunrise Rotary Club had their Charter Ceremony on January 17th at the Mountain View Country Club in SaddleBrooke. Dick Kroese is serving as their first President. The Eloy-Robson Ranch
Rotary Club had their Charter Ceremony on February 5, 2015 at the Robson Ranch Clubhouse. Bob Selinger is serving as their first President, and has
been assisted by Luis Castro in forming the club. In addition both of these new clubs are actively participating in our District events and their own projects!
Satellite Clubs: We have two Satellite Clubs pending approval at Rotary headquarters. These will be a first for our District.
El Tour Ride to End Polio Fundraising this year has exceeded our wildest dreams. Our “stretch” goal of $4 million was surpassed with a record-breaking
$9 million in contributions (after the Gates Foundation 2 or 1 match). Congratulations to Rotary General Secretary John Hewko and a team of staff
members from Rotary Headquarters who traveled to Tucson this year for the November 22 nd ride, and generated world-wide attention and contributions.
New Generation programs: The year started with the formation of our first Interact Youth Council, which was announced at the District Conference.
Under the leadership of Jay Ofori of the Tucson Sunrise Rotary Club, these young people elected their first Interact District Governor and GovernorElect, as well as area Assistant Governors. This was followed by the Chartering of a new Rotaract Club at Arizona Western College for Somerton-San
Luis, sponsored by the Somerton Rotary Club. Then Fort Yuma Rotarians, Keith and Kelly Boyd, headed a large and amazingly active committee of Rotarians who planned the largest and most enthusiastic RYLA in our District’s history – over 130 participants.
Club Scholarships & Rotaract: This year we are encouraging our clubs to recommend (not require) that our club college and workforce scholarship recipients consider joining a College or Community-based Rotaract Club. A new brochure about the Arizona wide Rotaract clubs is attached to this newsletter.
Rotary Foundation Programs: Your contributions to the Annual Programs fund have enabled our District to get grants funds of $58,700 to support both
local and international District Grants and for new Global Grants. We will have a separate report on these projects, as well as an enclosed report of
some very exciting planning being done in Uganda by Past Rotary International Director Phil Silvers. An in-person Grant Management Seminar was held
at the District Conference and a new on-line Grant Management Seminar is in the planning for this spring. A chart of the goals and giving history of our
clubs in District 5500 as of January 31st is attached as part of this newsletter.
Upcoming Trainings and Seminars:
PETS – March 6-7th: PETS this year will be limited to Presidents-Elect and Presidents-Nominee (who will have a new, totally separate training). On
Thursday, there will be “Electives” in the afternoon for those that want more intensive information.
RLI - March 7th and April 18th: Two more RLIs will be held this year. A special RLI will be held on Saturday afternoon, March 7th that will be open to
Rotarians from all three Districts. It will be held at the Hilton Mesa so that participants
ROTARY DISTRICT 5500 NEWSLETTER
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District Assemblies (newly renamed “Club Officer Trainings”) will be held on: March 21 in Yuma, March 28 in the Casa Grande-Coolidge area, April 11
in Sierra Vista, and April 18 in Yuma.
Four Way Test Finals – May 9th : This will be held at Pima Community College campus at 401 N Bonita Ave in Tucson.
Rotary International Convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil – June 6-9.
DGE Frank Presson’s Installation – June 28th.
As you can see, our District 5500 clubs are “Lighting Up Rotary” and we are all so proud of you.
Sally
Sally Montagne, Rotary District Governor, District 5500
ROTARY DISTRICT 5500 NEWSLETTER
Dear Polio Eradication Warriors,
Only one 2015 Polio Case reported this week. See the Polio case numbers, updated today, attached.
What is that Polio Picture? In today's picture, a girl in Syria shows her Purple Pinkie and celebrates the one year anniversary of what we all hope will be the last Polio case reported in her country on 1/21/14. Great strides have been made in Polio immunization coverage in the Middle East despite large scale population displacements.
The Pluses of PolioPlus - The health infrastructure we’ve put in place over the last decades to combat
polio is continuing to make a major difference to local health in many parts of the world. The labs, administration, data, and expertise that we developed in fighting polio have been crucial in the efforts to combat malaria, measles, and Ebola. We’ve provided a successful model for others to emulate in terms of health care, and
that model is being followed, with some very encouraging results. RI General Secretary John Hewko's address
at the 2015 International Assembly
Africa - It has been over 13 months since the last Polio case was reported in Ethiopia, over 7 months for
Cameroon, and over 6 months for Somalia and Nigeria. If Nigeria can go 12 months with quality surveillance
detecting no Wild Polio Virus, they will join the countries which have stopped Polio transmission. If after an
additional two years, no Wild Polio Virus has been detected, Nigeria could be certified as Polio - Free!
Pakistan - Of the 305 Polio cases reported in 2014 in Pakistan, 178 were in the FATA & 68 in the
Khyber Province.
Saudi Arabia launched a vaccination campaign in Jeddah on February 8 targeting 230,000 children.
Vaccinators are visiting homes, health centers, shopping malls and other gathering areas in an effort to reach
every child.
ROTARY DISTRICT 5500 NEWSLETTER
District 5500 welcomes Saddle Brook Sunrise and Eloy Robson Ranch the newest clubs in our district.
Congratulations and welcome to the Rotary World.
New E-Club Forming Now in D5500
District 5500 will soon be home to a new e-club. PDG Teree Bergman and Marana
Rotarian Debbie Conover have been working on organizing the new club. So far
about 20 people have expressed interest in joining the club, tentatively called the EClub of the Sonoran Desert.
The club will have an active website within the next couple of weeks. The club is
particularly aimed at people qualified to be members of a Rotary Club but have
difficulty complying with the weekly meeting requirements. Teree & Debbie have
reached out to many former members of clubs in District 5500 to see if an e-club
would fit their needs. It is recommended that each member of the new e-club
establish a relationship with a land-based club. E-club members would occasionally
attend meetings of the land-based club as well as participate in service projects and
fundraising events for the club. The e-club also will have local in-person events from
time to time.
New members are welcome. Rotarians who have suggestions for new members
should send the names and e-mail addresses to Teree Bergman at
luvgoldens@me.com or to Debbie Conover at gdc511@msn.com.
ROTARY DISTRICT 5500 NEWSLETTER
Fellow Rotary Region 6 Presidents,
Oro Valley Rotary will host Anne Betteridge – Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the U of A. Anne will present on
Iran. She is married to an Iranian American, lived in Iran for three years and speaks fluent Farsi. She is an expert on the role of
women in Iran which will be of interest to many of our women members and guests.
You club members are invited to attend the presentation. The meeting is at Oro Valley Country club on Thursday April 16 at
6:45 am. We should be done no later than 8:15am. http://orovalleyrotary.org/
The charge is $15 per guest for breakfast.
Please let me know if you are planning to attend and the approximate number of persons no later than April 8th.
Hope to see you there.
I just received notification that the Eloy Robson Ranch Rotary Club has changed its meeting day and time from Thursdays atnoon to Tuesday mornings at 7:30. This change will take effect next
The meeting place remains the same -- Robson Ranch Grill.
Tuesday, March 3.
ROTARY DISTRICT 5500 NEWSLETTER
Please complete the following brief survey and return it to District Membership Chair, Joe Hentges at jthentges@aol.com.
SURVEY
1.
Please
indicate
any
community
or communities that you believe should be considered for forming a new Rotary
l,
Club:______________________________________________ .
2. Do any of these communities or areas already have a Rotary Club serving the area or part of the area? Which club (s):
___________________________________________.
3. Do you know of any person(s) who might serve as a key driver or spark plug in forming a new club(s) in this area(s)?
___________________________________________________.
4. Do you have any other comments or information you wish to share with the committee?
___________________________________________________.
Thank you for your time and input.
The District Membership Committee is actively involved in planning for future new Rotary Clubs in addition to member attraction, orientation, and assimilation. The committee is seeking the guidance and opinions of the Assistant Governors in identifying areas that are
ready for new clubs. This might mean an additional club in an area currently served by an existing club or a new area that can (should)
support a new club.
ROTARY DISTRICT 5500 NEWSLETTER
Rotary Awareness Month
January is Rotary Awareness Month. What a perfect way to kick off the calendar year, sharing the many service opportunities
available within Rotary and most importantly The Rotary Foundation (TRF).
The Rotary Club of Long Beach decided to experiment with a Rotary Information table at the entrance of our club meetings. We
sought out newer Rotarians who have a passion for the Foundation to man the table and help answer questions. Not only was
information shared but new ideas for projects were even cultivated between members.
We provided an inventory of information concerning “Ways to Give” which highlights the Annual Giving Fund, Term Gifts, the
Endowment Fund, Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus, Rotary Direct, Paul Harris Society, End Polio Now and of course, Every Rotarian
Every Year.
Recognizing the fact that roughly 30% of all contributions to TRF are from Paul Harris Society (PHS) members, it’s no secret that
growing this percentage of donors is a great way to increase the size and sustainability of the Foundation.
One particular Rotarian was accompanying a recent PHS member. When I asked if we could help with information on the PHS,
immediately the Rotarian said, “as much as I like to be able to give at the PHS level, I just can’t.” I asked her, “Can you give
$5.00 per week?” Immediately she replied “oh yeah, I can do that!” She took one of our Rotary Direct applications, filled it out,
and another EREY contributor was created, that fast.
If all 1,250,000 Rotarians became EREY members at not even $5 per week, just think how much change, how much good in the
world Rotarians would do on an annual basis. While creating new PHS members is wonderful, what’s even more important is
engaging every Rotarian at a level that makes sense for them. Rotary Direct is the easiest way to do this.
Along with the Foundation table, we have a Rotary Direct poster board. There are currently 50 members in the club signed up
for Rotary Direct at various levels and the goal is to encourage another 50 sign up. (The club currently has 315 members.) They
can sign the board for other Rotarians to see.
Through combining contributions both large and small, we as a world of Rotarians make a difference. The greater our awareness of this, the greater our ability to Light Up Rotary.
ROTARY DISTRICT 5500 NEWSLETTER