Greetings fellow Rotarians,
I have just completed my first month as your District Governor. In that time, I have visited fourteen clubs and every visit has been a very rewarding experience with so many dedicated members who have been welcoming and friendly. However, it is the vast array of wonderful projects that have been a real eye-opener for me. Regardless of the size of the clubs, they are all achieving so much. I learned about SOKS (Saving our Kids from Suicide), the opening of a Preloved bookshop, a food drive that will support local youth support services and the Lismore flood victims, support for community projects such as Grace’s Place and Parramatta Mission and projects for Timor, Nepal, Vietnam and more. There are so many that they can’t all be mentioned here, and of course, there are many more projects being planned for this year and beyond. It is very heartening to see that our Rotarians are making a real difference in their communities and globally. The only disappointing thing about my schedule is that I have already had to decline invitations to club events, but I hope to get to as any as I can over the year.
It is good to see that clubs are carrying out surveys in one form or another to find out what their members think about their club. It is important to do this so that we provide a satisfying experience for all members. Engaged and happy Rotarians will stay the distance and attract new members.
Please think about providing a short session each meeting where your members learn something new about Rotary. Every member can share in this activity regardless of how long they’ve been in Rotary. The more we learn about our organisation the more we will appreciate its reach.
The Regionalisation team have been very busy visiting clubs and explaining the concept. I attended one session and was very impressed with the content of the presentation, the questions asked, and the answers provided. Thank you to PDG Kalma McClellan and the whole team for your diligence in carrying out this work.
For those of you who are Bunnings BBQ’ers don’t forget to thank your store managers for the opportunity and I hope that the $3.50 snag is increasing your profits. We don’t know if PDG Lindsay is solely responsible for this increase in price, having lobbied Bunnings, but if he happens to drop by you can thank him also.
I’m looking forward to continuing my official visits over the coming weeks. Enjoy what you are doing and don’t forget to book for the Cowra Breakout Conference 17-19 March 2023.
Mina Howard
District Governor 2022-2023