Welcome!
|  Fellow Rotary family, it has been a great month of visiting Rotary clubs with my wife, Pat. This is definitely a highlight of being the District Governor, as we are able to attend club meetings and meet so many wonderful people. There is a common thread of members serving above self and doing fantastic projects in their communities and internationally. As an example, the 3 Rotary clubs in Red Deer recently collaborated with other service clubs and did 5 days of service for community needs. Each club has aspirations to increase membership with younger and more diverse members. Then, I was able to attend a Leadership conference with Rotary in Toronto a week ago, and there was a real focus on membership. I have learned from clubs and the leadership meeting that if we want to attract new younger members, we have to change how our meetings are held. Young people do not want to sit in a meeting every week. They want to get out and do service and socialize more. Some clubs have switched to one business meeting, evening social, and service project each month. It has also been recognized that we need to be more open to families and children attending some of our meetings and events. Each club in our district can Imagine Rotary and how they can have a vibrant club that will attract new members. |
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| We have now completed 3 months of our Move for Polio project and with one more month to go until the end of the campaign, we really need everyone’s participation to meet our goals. As a District, we now have 42,100 kilometres (once around the earth!) with a goal of 100,000 km; to record your kilometres click here. More challenging, we are at $11,000 raised with a goal of $100,000 towards #MoveforPolio. 13 clubs are participating in the moving for polio, and we can certainly make our goal for both kilometres and funds raised if we all get involved. Let’s get sponsors for our movement, and as we put a big push on for the month of October, to accumulate kilometres and reach the fundraising goal. CLICK TO DONATE. My wife and I enjoy biking, so we take our bikes with us whenever we visit clubs and have found some amazing bike trails in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Red Deer. We also rented bikes and went on some trails along Lake Huron while we were in Toronto. Our physical health and emotional wellness is certainly being strengthened as we exercise in the beautiful outdoors. |
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| Seeing the ongoing focus on Ukrainian refugees and Indigenous relations from clubs in our district continues to be fantastic. Many clubs are assisting refugees with household goods, adjusting to regulatory and licencing requirements and language training as they arrive. September 30th is recognized as the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. We hope that all District 5360 Rotarians took time to commemorate this date and even wear an orange shirt to promote "Every Child Matters.” As a Rotarian and person of action, consider having conversations with friends, families or colleagues about Reconcili-Action. Pat and I attended a Pow Wow at the Lethbridge Exhibition, and we were heartened to see thousands of Indigenous people from across our District, Saskatchewan, and Montana gather to celebrate their culture and dance to share their talents. |
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| A warm Rotary welcome to our new and members on the move over the past month: | First Name | Last Name | Club | | Alan | Hrehirchuk | Calgary at Stampede Park | | Lynn | Fabrick | Drumheller | | Heather | Harty | Lethbridge | | Rita | Zentner | Lethbridge | | Raquel | Austin | Lethbridge Sunrise | | Val | Boehme | Raymond | | Darryl | Gibb | Raymond | | Trevor | Hamon | Raymond |
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I am very pleased to see the goals of many clubs to grow membership and welcome new members into their clubs. We welcome all new members for the month of September.
See you out there!
Steve Leavitt, District Governor 2022-2023
Rotary Club of Raymond
