Posted by Doug Fleming on Nov 06, 2017
District Governor Rick Istead was in attendance for his annual club visit and was introduced by Assistant Governor Dave Panabaker. DG Rick started his speech by stating Rotary is the oldest and largest service club in the world and has been Making a Difference in the World for 112 years. He also congratulated our Club for being around since 1918 and looked forward to helping us celebrate our 100th Anniversary in June 2018. DG Rick highlighted some of Rotary's achievements, in particular our fight to end polio through our Polio Plus campaign. In 1985 when Rotary set out to eradicate polio there were 350,00 case of polio in the world, today there are 12 cases in 2 countries and we are "that close" to ending this terrible disease. Rick related a story that when the idea of eradicating polio was first proposed, people said it couldn't be done.  His comment was never tell a Rotarian it can't be done.
 
DG Rick when on to discuss of some of the initiatives being undertaken at the district level. Last year district conducted a Member Survey which was completed by 40% of the district membership. Feedback from this survey was very valuable and the District Executive are working on strategies and actions to  address issues raised. He also reiterated that District Committees are there to serve the local clubs. Rick then touched on the issue of membership and pointed out the fact that Rotary's biggest problem is not recruiting members rather retaining them. RI and District are working on strategies to allow more flexibility in clubs to keep members engaged and appreciated.  
 
Rick then turned to a discussion of The Rotary Foundation (TRF). First of all, he thank our club for being a District 5360 leader in supporting the  Rotary Foundation.  He encouraged more Rotarian to make TRF their charity of choice 'To Do Good in the World'.  In 2016, The Rotary Foundation was rated the #1 Foundation in the world and for the past 8 years has received a Top 4 Star rating from Charity Navigator. 97% of money donated to TRF goes to Rotary projects, with 50% going to Global Grants and the other 50% coming back to our District to be allocated through a variety of District Grants. 
 
In closing DG Rick thank Rotarians for donating their Time, Treasure and Talent to Doing Good in the World. He then suggested we consider registering for the District Conference in Calgary in May and the International Conference in Toronto in June. Apparently the RI Conference in Toronto is closest it will be until 2025 when it will be held in Calgary.
President Karen thanked DG Rick by presenting him with one of our Medalta coffee mugs.