DISTRICT GOVERNOR BOB HALAGAN: ROTARY - MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Bob Halagan, Rotary District 5950's Governor, shared his message about the how Rotary can make a difference in our communities and the world. Bob posed this question: Why are you a Rotarian? Bob stated that he is an “all in” Rotarian. He attributes much of this to his mother who as an immigrant to the United States and faced many challenges including being widowed at an early age. She persevered through hard work in the mills of New England. And along the way she served others without judgment. Bob benefited from his mother’s immigrant experience and was inspired to serve. He saw Rotary as a platform to make a bigger difference than one can make alone. Bob spoke about the divisiveness that seems so common today and the efforts of those that seek to keep people apart. And then he put forth this thought: Rotarians see a problem and then they fix a problem. Rotarians work together regardless of political affiliation, race, religion or nationality. We bring people together.
District Goals: Every Rotarian give $365.00 each year. 300 Paul Harris Society members (currently there are 280). Every Rotarian give $50.00 more this year than they gave last year. These increases will aggregate to over $1 million!
Polio Plus: We were so close to eliminating polio in the world. Down to 5 cases but then in war torn Syria 17 children were diagnosed. With a match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $450 million will be put towards ending polio.
New challenges: Track hours and dollars given in local communities. Plant 1.2 million trees worldwide—one for every Rotarian. Increase the number of women members in Rotary. Add 1000 women to the district in the next three years—15 per club—only 5 per year. Very doable. Let’s go from 30% female membership to 50%. To do so we need to focus more on issues important to women such as opioid abuse and human trafficking.
Bob left us with this thought: If you want to reach out to someone about Rotary, reach people with a message that resonates. Talk about how Rotarians see a problem and fix a problem, Talk about how we all work together regardless of our differences.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Sell Vino Classico tickets. Mike Kraines suggests that your office purchase sets of Vino tickets to raffle to employees interested in attending. There is need for silent-auction items and donated bottles of wine. Elaine Larabee will do your wine shopping for you. All she needs to make this happen is your cash. Golf packages make great silent auction items. We need volunteers to sign up to set up the Vino and to assist with the end of the night clean-up. Team sales: Chablis has the lead followed by Shiraz and then Zin. Chard is a note ahead of Merlot and rounding out the barrel is the Fighting Cabs, Pinot, and Riesling—all still corked.
- Our past RYE student from Finland will visit our club on October 24th.
- Ride for Water: September 17th
- Reminder: Log your hours volunteered and dollars donated on behalf of Rotary. We’re trying to measure the impact of Rotarians on their local communities. One Rotarian logged 31 hours this past month! 8 people volunteered 15 hours for Meals on Wheels.
HAPPY FINES
- Bill Gaddis: Proposed to his partner and is now engaged.
- Mark Weber: Prairie Brewfest was a success with record attendance of over 600 and fantastic weather.
- Frank Sherwood: While in Dallas, Frank attended a screening of “Same Kind of Different as Me.” Great film—highly recommend.
- Irene Kelly: Response to her video request was excellent and Loren stepped up to assist.
- Visiting Chaska Rotarian: In an effort to involve more women in Rotary the Chaska club is holding a scotch and cigars event on October 2nd at Hazeltine. Tickets are $100.00. For more info contact chaskarotary@gmail.com