Posted by Andre Layral on Jul 01, 2019
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In July, Alaska Rotary clubs have come together to celebrate the service of current club officers and welcome incoming club officers for a new Rotary year. Besides being a great fellowship event, it is a hopeful time, providing an opportunity for every Rotarian to renew their commitment to their Rotary club and the enduring ideals that make Rotary the world leader of humanitarian service organizations. This planned succession of officers keeps Rotary strong, brings new ideas, engages our members, and makes Rotary unique.
 
 
 
 
On behalf of all Rotarians in D5010, I would like to thank outgoing 2018-2019 District Governor Diane Fejes for her dedication, commitment and leadership of our Rotary District.  In her outgoing letter to district Rotarians, Diane recapped the many accomplishments in her year as Governor, an impressive number of accomplishments.  Most of all I am grateful to Diane as a friend, mentor and leader whom I’ve had the privilege to work closely with for the last two years.  Diane is truly an exceptional Rotarian and she set a high bar as I begin my year on July 1st as 2019-2020 District Governor. Thank you Diane for Being the Inspiration for D5010 Rotarians.
 
I also would like to acknowledge the many Rotarians who have served our Rotary District, and the 38 presidents who served their clubs in 2018-2019.  In February, in Seattle, I first met all thirty-eight President-Elects for 2019-2020, and also two Rotaract PE’s. This is a fun group of club leaders, and I was immediately impressed with the degree of fellowship shown, and the range of their talents and interests.   This gives me great hope for a great year in 2019-2020.
 
As I began preparing two years ago for my year as your Governor, RI has asked us to focus on a number of priorities. RI President Mark Maloney has asked us to Grow Rotary, become more effective in Telling Our Rotary Story, Make Rotary more Family Friendly and help Rotary finish the job of Eradicating Polio in the world through donations to Polio Plus.  You’ll hear more about these as we get into the new Rotary year.
I proposed four District initiatives, intended to move our Rotary district forward in 2019-2020.  These are being funded with D5010 Excess Reserve funds, have been vetted by the Excess Reserve Committee, and recently approved by the Finance Committee:
 
  • Provide stipends for young leaders to participate in the 2020 District Conference,  Zone Conference and International Conference.  
  • Provide stipends for travel to clubs who commit funds to International projects and would like to send a Rotarian to experience the project firsthand. 
  • Provide training to club Public Image Chairs and make $200 available to every club in the district to implement a club Public Image strategy.  
  • Implement regional Rotary education and training events in several areas (eliminating the annual Training Assembly connected to the district conference) to better prepare club leaders.  Part of this strategy will be to train Resource Leaders (Membership, Public Image, Foundation and Grants), in all five regions of our district, to help us implement this education and training. DGE Joe Kashi and the above committee chairs will help me implement this.
Lastly, DG Diane recently led an effort to complete updates to our district website so it is more user-friendly for non-Rotarians and easier to find information. I’m pleased to announce that we will also be rolling out a district Mobile APP (targeting August 1st) which will link to the D5010 website, while providing an opportunity to more efficiently communicate with members in our district.  Provided at no cost to all D5010 Rotarians, members will have access to information, resources, district calendar at their fingertips (on their favorite mobile device - phone or tablet), and be able to share ideas, receive notifications, get alerts, get involved, contribute stories, post Rotary events, and find D5010 clubs/meeting times.  Clubs will have the opportunity to use the APP for their club (with a full suite of features), for a $100 annual fee, matched by D5010.
 
The Rotary Theme for 2019-2020 is Rotary Connects the World. I invite each of you to connect in fellowship and engage in Rotary, locally and around the world, to help share Rotary’s story as we Grow Rotary in D5010.
 
Sincerely,
 
Andre’ Layral
2019-2020 D5010 Governor