DG Andre's Message - September 2019
In this month's message I share a little about the club visits I have taken thus far on my 2019-2020 DG journey. I reflect on the challenges our state faces, but the opportunities these challenges provide to our clubs for service projects. I celebrate our progress on forming a new Satellite club in D5010 and recent growth in membership since July 1st. I look forward to district efforts providing Rotary education and training for club officers. I talk about district plans for the $200/club Public Image stipend that will be provided this year. I mention the roll-out of our D5010 Mobile APP and progress by the five pilot clubs who are currently using the APP. I invite clubs to share their stories and also send their feedback. I mention plans for World Polio Day and encourage clubs to take action to celebrate eradication efforts. Finally I share that several districts have approached D5010 about opportunities for Rotarians to be a part of Rotary Friendship Exchange in 2019-2020 and 2010-2021. If you have interest in this, please contact me.
DG Andre's Message - September 2019
As the Labor Day weekend comes to a close, I reflect on the first two months into this Rotary year. Two issues immediately come to mind: Economic uncertainty for our state and the many summer wildfires that continue to impact so many communities in Alaska. With recent budget vetos, Alaskans have faced uncertainty for much of the summer and are now adapting to a new economic reality as we look to the future of Alaska. And while this summer was one of the warmest on record, many Alaskans were (and continue to be) impacted by smoke, water emergencies, changed travel plans and worries about their property.
With Hurricane Dorian devastating the Bahamas in the past 24 hours and threatening parts of the east coast, my thoughts are with the many citizens who have lost loved ones and property, but are now safe from this historic storm. Look for an e-mail from Rotary with details. Whether you want to help Past RI President Barry's home country or donate to one of the southern states that are awaiting the storm, there are a number of ways Rotarians can donate to the Hurricane Dorian relief fund.
A hallmark of Rotary is providing service to community, helping others less fortunate and implementing projects that improve the quality of life for our communities. There is no shortage of future opportunities for Rotary clubs in Alaska to step up and make a local impact to help seniors, the homeless, youth servicing organizations and community organizations at their greatest time of need. How we as Rotarians and Rotary clubs respond will speak volumes about what we care about and who we are as Rotarians.
Since July, my Rotary journey has taken me to Ketchikan, Eagle River, Anchorage, Kodiak, Kenai, Soldotna and most recently Nome. These club visits have allowed me to meet dedicated Rotarians (#PeopleOfAction) both young and old, who embody Rotary’s enduring values. Ive had opportunity to see current and past club projects and participate in lively and fun club meetings, fundraisers, parades and social events. I even got to throw out opening pitches at a Glacier Pilot game and Alaska Goldpanners game.
As part of my club visits, I have been sharing my Rotary story, the Rotary vision of RI and goals established by 2019-2020 President Mark Maloney. I’m also sharing details of several D5010 initiatives and projects for our district that are intended to strengthen clubs so they can be more effective in achieving their goals.
Congratulations Keith Green, President of the Rotary Club of Anchorage and Marti Buscaglia and Louise Russell for the newly formed Rotary Satellite Club of Anchorage ECO, Alaska. If you would like to learn more about the club, their meeting format, please contact (marti.b@alaskaecorotary.org).
Our District membership on July 1st, after losing our two Whitehorse clubs, was 1653 members. On August 31st (at the conclusion of Rotary Membership Month) was 1670, so we are up 17 new members in our first two month. Congratulations to all our clubs that have increased membership since July 1, 2019. Our district goal of 5% net gain in membership (82 new members) in 2019-2020 is off to a good start.
As we head into September you’ll begin to hear more about future district efforts to provide Rotary education and training about Rotary and roles of club officers. I’ve asked our AG’s to talk with club presidents about the education and training needs of their clubs, so we can personalize the training needs by region. This year we will be offering some regional training assemblies and also some online education sessions as an effort to help Rotarians new and old learn more about Rotary - it’s values, programs and resources. We will start with offering a training session, hopefully in September, for club Public Image officers, a pre-requisite for taking advantage of the $200 stipends being offered to clubs in support of their club PI efforts.
In August we launched the new D5010 Mobile APP. All 1600+ district Rotarians can download the APP from the Apple iOS store (https://apps.apple.com/us/
Currently five clubs are piloting the club version of this APP, and soon it will be offered to all other clubs in the district for $100 each. Clubs interested in using the club APP will be asked to provide the name of a member of their club who we will train in how to enter club information into the APP.
Using the new D5010 mobile APP, there are a couple features for members to use for sharing stories about their club (Open the APP, under Latest News buttonthe feature is called Submit a News Story) Please provide copy ready content and images and submit. Stories that are shared will be put into ClubRunner, and you’ll find these as well in the APP under Latest NEWS or on the D5010 Facebook page (under Social Media button in the APP).
To share ideas (or any other feedback) with D5010 leadership (Open the APP, under Share Ideas button, select Send your Feedback, complete and submit).
Clubs should be planning now to celebrate World Polio Day on Thursday, October 24, 2019. In a separate e-mail you will receive information on how to participate and celebrate this important day. We encourage clubs to work with local media outlets to promote this important event. I’ll also forward the most recent Polio Plus Institute PowerPoint, which clubs are encouraged to share in early October. I have issued a challenge to all club presidents in D5010 to have 100% of their members donate $25 minimum to Polio Plus in October so we can match the district donation made earlier this year. This will raise an additional $35,000 towards that match. I have suggested each club include the $25 Polio Plus donation as part of their quarterly or monthly member dues invoice in October.
Finally, I have received several requests from other Rotary districts about having a Friendship with D5010. This is a reciprocal Rotary program, funded entirely by the individuals who participate, involving 4-6 couples visiting Alaska for 7-10 days, then 4-6 individuals/couples from D5010 visiting their district the following year. As a host district, housing, meals and sightseeing is provided by Rotary host families. Travel and personal spending is provided by the guests. If you have interest in helping to organize the planning for a group visit here in 2019-2020 or 2020-2021, please let me or DGE Joe Kashi know. Generally this involves visiting one community in Alaska, but may also involve attending another community or the D5010 district conference.
Sincerely,
Andre’ Layral
District Governor 2019-2020