Ten Months Down! With the month of April passing, I have now served TEN MONTHS as your District Governor! Time is passing fast, but we are getting a lot done! Rotary International President, Stephanie A. Urchick, challenged ALL Rotary Zones to grow by FOUR CLUBS and have a net gain of 100 Rotarians during her calendar year of 2024-2025. With two months to go, we have THREE new Rotary Clubs in the pipeline and have increased membership from about 1350 to about 1470 Rotarians - - - great job by ALL of OUR CLUBS!
As we move into the final stretch of 2024-2025, I continue to extend my year long PERSONAL CHALLENGE to each club:
- Expand Rotary locally and internationally
- Increase your Service to Others
- Leave a Lasting Legacy
Start where you are!
Use what you have!
Do what you can!
During April, PDG Ted Huffhines coordinated the development and delivery of our district’s first Rotary International Legacy Campaign! On Friday, April 25, forty-eight District 5830 significant Foundation Contributors celebrated at Tyler’s Hollytree Country Club. Rotary Major Gifts Office Shelly Hill provided a heart-felt thank you from the Rotary Foundation with an additional “thanks” by Greg Lier (Zone 31 Endowment / Major Gifts Advisor). Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator Pamela Stewart added words of appreciation for District 5830 successful campaign efforts, which has accumulated at least $1,122,210 with two more months to go. Ted and Jeff extended a special thank you to all the “campaign” captains and “legacy dinner” team for the extra efforts to make our efforts so successful.
Our 2025 Rotary FOUR WAY Speech Contest was conducted in Mt Pleasant during May with SEVENTEN presentations by youth in our Region. A special thanks to the Mt Pleasant Rotary Club for hosting again - - - the “on-site” team, including John Jetter, Diane Kavanaugh, Karen Maines, Lee Montgomery and Jeff Johnston, were all impressed with the preparation and delivery of the FOUR WAY speeches!
May 2025 has been designated as Youth Service month by Rotary International. D5830 clubs have a very diverse mixture of Youth Service examples. I challenge each of you to learn more about how your fellow members are currently serving and potentially “step up” to serve the youth in our communities.
Please remember - - - with only two months to go, it is never too early to make plans and REGISTER for the 2025 Rotary International Convention which will be in Calgary, Canada June 21-25, 2025. We are CLOSE to our RI Convention “registration goal” but there is plenty of room to still register. If you’ve never been to a Rotary International Convention, the 2025 Canada event would be a great time to expand your horizon and see how Rotarians from around the world SERVE SERVE SERVE!
Thanks for allowing me to SERVE as your DG for 2024-2025
Jeff W Johnston
