Written By Pete Booker
It is a great honor to guide our district for the next year. This year, we will ‘Be the Inspiration”, and we will “Celebrate our Clubs!” You can “Be The Inspiration” in everything we do every day!!! With your loved ones, walking down your street or in your office. When you get to the Rotary part of your life, you can inspire your fellow Rotarians, our youth organizations, our community, regional and international partners and ultimately inspire yourself with confidence and a vision to achieve great things you never thought possible.
Rotary International President Barry Rassin has developed a very strong vision that supports our theme and defines the Rotary we want to be: “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change… across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.” That’s what we all should try to do, and it’s what Rotarians are known for doing.
I can’t think of a more tangible way for you to inspire and to be inspired than by embracing our 2018-2019 District theme: “Celebrate our Clubs”. Rotarians should enjoy and be stimulated by what we do, but other definitions and synonyms of “celebrate” include observe, recognize, proclaim, commend, honor, memorialize, and rejoice. Our office of District Governor is here to celebrate your work in all of those ways. All of the work of Rotary is done by Rotarians in clubs. Every club, whether a club of 20 or a club of 200, is doing that great work in its community. In every case, these are Rotarians – leaders – collaborating in a fellowship of service!
I hope you have an opportunity to truly experience the worldwide scope of Rotary, whether through your attendance at an International Convention, working collaboratively on a Global Grant or simply making up at a club somewhere else in the world. Please remember that you are a part of something very big and very significant that is changing the world, but that happens one Rotarian and one club at a time, and that is what we celebrate. But, you can’t have Rotarians in a fellowship of service without Rotarians. Rotary is not a service organization; it is a membership organization that does service. Every club must constantly strive to find new members, but as importantly, to help every current member get the most out of being a Rotarian.
Finally, I am asking you to do two things as a Rotarian; not for me, but for yourself and your fellow club members. First, set a near-term goal for your Rotary life… it should be achievable and have a reasonable time horizon, but it doesn’t necessarily have to happen in this Rotary year. My second ask is for you, in pursuit of that goal, to do one thing this year as a contributing member of your club in this Rotary year, or think of something your club could or should be doing to improve it’s service and effectiveness. How will you be the catalyst; how will you “Be the “Inspiration” to implement and sustain continuous improvement.
For my part, my goal is to create a usable 360-degree communication system that builds understanding, drives motivation and helps every club to achieve more and better results, separately and collaboratively. In order to achieve that goal, my one thing is really three things: one a, b & c… First, we will debut a new and usable website for both Rotarians and visitors. Second, we will edit and curate our District Facebook page in order to make it a true real-time community meeting place where all of our members can truly learn and share together about what our District 7630 clubs are doing. Finally, we are making our Rotary Reminders newsletter a regular publication that will be sent to every Rotarian in the District so that everyone will remain up to date on important issues and events.
Thanks again for the opportunity to serve you and our District. I look forward to working with you during this year. Please, “Be The Inspiration!”
