Greetings Fellow Rotarians,
I can safely say we are all well and truly into a busy year already. There is so much happening around our district. I have completed most of my club visits and I’m now enjoying revisiting and taking part in some of your events. As I go from club to club I am impressed with the number of projects and fund-raising events being planned for 2023, and we certainly put ourselves out there as a district on Australia Day with most clubs providing a variety of activities for their respective communities. It was also great to see clubs joining together and pooling their resources.
DGE Christine Owen and I attended two very successful events last week where clusters joined together. The Riverside Cluster meeting provided each president the opportunity to talk about their projects. There was a real buzz in the room and the next joint meeting is already in the pipeline. The Hills Cluster invited their members to an inspiring speaker event with around ninety in attendance, all enjoying themselves as Rotarians love to do.
TEKKS (Terrigal, Erina, Kincumber, Kariong-Somersby) also come together regularly to enjoy good speakers and fellowship. I know there are other clubs combining on a more regular basis recognising that we are more powerful together than working in isolation. I like to think that the next step is to find a joint project that clubs can work on together and ‘increase our impact’ in the community. So many projects have similarities that have the potential to morph into something bigger.
The regionalisation summit held a few weeks ago for the DGEs, DGNs and any DGs who could get there was successful in getting everyone on the same page and comfortable with the process moving forward. The core team, who I am in awe of considering the amount of work they are doing, are extremely busy putting together a business plan for the RI Board. If all goes well we will be ready to start implementing the pilot by Jan 2024. A big part of the discussion was the importance of communicating regularly with our members throughout the zone. Please make sure you read the communiques when they start coming out, especially if you are in a leadership position in your club. It is up to all of us to stay informed in order to have ownership of the pilot.
Some important reminders:
- submit your stories for the RDU magazine. Our district will be featured in the July issue so send your contributions to Marilyn Kenney by mid-May.
- Register for PELD and District Assembly so that your club is up to date and ready for the new Rotary year.
- Join us at our District Conference in Cowra this month. The committee is doing a wonderful job and we have a great speaker line-up. Thank you to all who have registered so far.
- I know that the Melbourne Convention will also be a fantastic experience so I encourage you to register for that as well.
See you there!
And for those of you who hate acronyms:
DGE – District Governor Elect
DGN – District Governor Nominee
RDU – Rotary Down Under
RI – Rotary International
PELD - Presidents Elect Learning and Development
Mina Howard
District Governor 2022-2023