July 2019 is now behind us, all our clubs have inducted new officers, sponsored a few new members, held a few meetings, come together in fellowship, conducted a fundraiser or participated in a service project that has benefitted the community. If you are like me, you have enjoyed the warm summer months, perhaps gone camping, fishing, hiking or enjoyed a barbecue or two. A reality of life in Alaska is that we are all beginning to think about our plans for the Fall.
July 2019 is now behind us, all our clubs have inducted new officers, sponsored a few new members, held a few meetings, come together in fellowship, conducted a fundraiser or participated in a service project that has benefitted the community. If you are like me, you have enjoyed the warm summer months, perhaps gone camping, fishing, hiking or enjoyed a barbecue or two. A reality of life in Alaska is that we are all beginning to think about our plans for the Fall.
I’ve had the privilege of visiting clubs and their projects in Ketchikan, e-Club of Alaska International, Eagle River, and the new Alaska ECO Satellite Rotary club. Ive felt firsthand the spirit and pride of Ketchikan and Eagle River Rotary clubs and their communities as they conducted their annual Rotary Duck Race fundraisers while expanding my vocabulary with words like, “duck butts” and “quacker sackers”. I’ve thrown out opening pitches at Anchorage Glacier Pilots and Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks baseball games.
Serving as District Governor enables me to learn about the many ways that Rotary Connects people, communities and the World. The many projects Ive seen thus far address a variety of community needs while positively impacting many lives. These local projects are possible because of district grants that are funded by member contributions to the Annual Fund. Half the donations each year come back to our Rotary District in the form of District Designated Funds that fund both local and global projects.
D5010 funded 22 District Grants this year that were submitted by clubs. We currently have several clubs participating in Global Grants in 2019-2020 with one or more partner districts, and all Alaska clubs have pledged to support our D5010 Global grant effort with D9141 to provide 1000 two seater desks in schools in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria, where currently students sit on dirt floors as they learn.
I've asked all club presidents to align their club goals based upon the Rotary Presidential Citation. The goals in the citation support RI’s strategic priorities. Club achievements toward their citation award are automatically verified through Rotary Club Central. Therefore, I’m asking that all presidents take time to reacquaint themselves with the citation requirements and align their club goals with the citation requirements (900en19-20_theme_citation_
August is Membership and Extension Month in the Rotary world. Making an impact in Rotary starts with our members. Rotarians make the world a better place, so impact begins with every member making a commitment to serve their club, their community, bring new members into Rotary and contributing to the Rotary Foundation. Rotary provides a way to connect our communities, opportunity to network with others who share Rotary values, share ideas and build strong and lasting relationships. The global community of Rotarians begins with membership. Rotary is very much a family and this year we must do better making Rotary possible and within reach to young leaders. Part of this means making Rotary more family oriented for young leaders. I am asking clubs to have a conversation with young leaders in their club about steps their club can take to establish reasonable expectations for busy young leaders.
Finally, I am pleased to announce the new D5010 Mobile APP is now available FREE in the Apple store and Google Play store. A separate e-mail will contain details about finding and downloading the APP. Only members of D5010 may download the APP. The APP has many features that will put Rotary at your fingertips, including a calendar of events, latest Rotary news, a Directory of clubs, Resources for Presidents, Clubs and new Rotarians with a great section on Rotary ABC’s and how to engage with Rotary. The APP links to a number of Facebook pages, including D5010, and there are links to Submit a news story, another to share ideas and provide feedback to district leaders. A number of volunteer leadership roles and opportunities are still available, so please check out the descriptors of our many committees.
Enjoy the remainder of the summer!
Sincerely,
Andre’ Layral
D5010 District Governor
2019-2020