District Newsletter

Greetings!

 

October 24 is recognized as World Polio Day, and it was established by Rotary International to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, an American virologist, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.  Eradicating Polio is a long-standing goal of Rotary International with help from the Gates Foundation and support of the World Health Organization.  India was once thought to be one of the most challenging places to end polio.  Fortunately, India was able to achieve three full years without a case of polio caused by the wild polio virus and the World Health Organization certified the region polio free. In Nigeria sustained efforts to vaccinate children, who previously couldn’t be reached because of a lack of security in the country’s northern states, finally resulted in that country reaching the three-year milestone. This year thirty Wild Polio cases have been reported worldwide, this past week Mozambique is the only country reporting a case of Wild Polio. A big thank you goes to Judy Boggs, chairperson, and the district Polio committee for all their efforts this month!

 

November is recognized as Rotary Foundation Month.  Club Presidents, I hope you take this opportunity to share the importance and benefit of donating to The Rotary Foundation with your club members.  Set a goal for your club to achieve EREY status (Every Rotarian Every Year donating to TRF).  Rotarians, keep in mind you can set up an automatic donation to TRF on the RI website.  Club Presidents, I would be delighted to honor every club in 5440 as an EREY Club and present your club with an award at the 2023 District Conference - every dollar counts!    

 

District 5440 is a member of the Big West Zone that includes 30 Rotary Districts in the western United States and a small section of Canada?  Vicki Puliz is the Rotary International Director for the Big West Zone.  Each year, the Director of the Big West Zones assembles a Rotary Institute which brings together members and guests from throughout the western United States and Canada. The Institute features:

This week the 2022 Big West Zone Institute is being held in Salt Lake City!  In the course of the Institute, District Governor Elects and District Governor nominees complete their training classes and a graduation celebration honors the District Governors Elect.  This year at the Zone Institute, District Governor Elect Steve Sehnart will complete his training and be part of the Governor Elect graduation ceremonies.  District Governor Nominee Julie Johnson Haffner will complete her Governor Nominee training and celebrate with her classmates! Congratulations to District Governor Elect Steve Sehnart and District Governor Nominee Julie Johnson Haffner! 

 

I would also like to recognize three Rotary members from our district that are participating in the Emerging Rotary Leaders session: Dan Carter from the Scottsbluff/Gering Rotary Club, Joe McCarthy, from Rotary Club of Fort Collins Breakfast, and Lisa Scroggins, from the Casper Rotary Club.

 

In August I received an email from Bob Waltermire, the International Service Chairperson from my club, the Rotary Club of Fort Collins Breakfast. He was letting me know about an opportunity for our district to apply for a $25.000 Rotary International Disaster Relief Grant (DRG) to help the Rotary Club of Kyiv International build shelters for people who had lost their homes during the conflict with Russia.  I contacted my Governor colleagues in the Big West Zone in hopes that we could join together and apply for multiple grants. Several of the Districts in our Zone were already engaged in the process but three districts: 5470, 5390, and 5180 replied and joined us which increased the total DRG to $75,000.  Bob created the grant application and started the signature process immediately.  During the processing of the DRG we were able to stay in contact with the Kyiv International Club President.  Our District Foundation received the funds from RI for the DRG on October 25^th.   The funds were transferred to the Kyiv club and immediately used for beds, blankets, and other necessities for the people who have lost their homes and are living in the shelters.  My DG colleagues, Bob Waltermire and I want to keep applying for DRG until December 31^st to help the people Ukraine.  I’m hoping that we’ll be able to process two or three more applications for DRG. 

 

I don’t need to “IMAGINE” that this Rotary Year for District 5440 will be amazing! Our Leadership Team is talented and very strong.  And every club in the district is compassionate, active, reaching out and making a difference in their community, in the district and in the world.