Our District Governor-Elect Jim Hogge and his wife Carla have been in San Diego this week for the annual DGE International Conference. Every year at this time DGEs from all over the world convene the meet the incoming RI President and get training for their DG year. 

 

Jim sends this report:

The International Assembly was an outstanding learning experience.  First, the speakers were incredible with messages that inspired and motivated.  Second, I met with more than two hundred of my colleagues from around the world.  I found that we have more in common than I would have guessed.  We are facing the same issues--membership growth and engagement are issues in most of the world.  Third, I made some new friends is Australia, Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden.  It is amazing that we met these couples and I think we have the 

opportunity to be life long friends.

Rotary International President Elect John Germ announced the theme-- Rotary "Serving Humanity."  I like the theme. It is clear and it describes what we do in Rotary.  I will share more with the Club President Elects at PETS in March.   John wants us to "do good in the world" and to have fun doing it.  He is truly engaging and very approachable.  We have a great leader at Rotary International for 2016-17. 

Last Saturday night the Eagle/Garden City club held its second annual Chocolate tasting event in Meridian. Too soon to tell, but it sure looked like a huge success!!

A bomb blast outside a polio eradication center in Quetta in southwest Pakistan killed 14 security personnel and one civilian and injured 25 on Jan. 13, 2016. The bomb exploded outside the center shortly before vaccination teams were scheduled to travel to neighborhoods as part of a three-day immunization campaign.  This is once again sad news from Pakistan, one of only two remaining endemic countries in the worldwide fight against polio.  Our hearts go out to those dead and injured who would make the world a better place.

It has been four years since a case of wild polio in India and one & one-half years since a case in Nigeria.  There have been no new cases occurring in 2016.  72 cases were reported in 2015 – all in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- in contrast to the 359 total cases in 2014.  Will 2016 see the end of the wild polio virus?  The first $35 million in Rotarian donations is being matched 2:1 this year by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Won’t you give now?

Look out Yotes, there’s a new Service Club on Campus!  One of the initiatives of the District 5400 Membership Committee, was to explore the possibility of new Rotaract Clubs.  One great place to find masses of younger people, is of course a college campus.  I set my sights on the College of Idaho and requested to have a booth in their lobby to promote Rotary and identify potential candidates.   As it often works in traditional Rotary Clubs, you’re invited to join by someone you know.  As luck would have it, in walked the daughter of a friend, Lauren Smyser, and she recognized me.  We visited, I asked about her interest, and she had previous exposure to Rotary….I had my target. 

 

The next step was identifying a campus advisor and a sponsoring Rotary Club.  I asked the girls to pick a campus advisor they felt comfortable with.  They approached her, and she willingly obliged.  The natural “Sponsoring Club” was of course Caldwell.  I contacted their club leaders and they were immediately on board.  Mike Dittenber will join me as a Co-advisor, with the help of other Canyon County Rotarians (it takes a village).

With the help of Lauren and her tennis teammate Melissa, we began to promote a “Discover Rotaract” event, with the promise of free pizza (incentives never hurt).   At our launch event, we had 15 interested people show up, including one foreign exchange student from Spain who wondered if he could find Rotary when he went back home….which of course we assured him, definitely!

 

 

Rotary leaders need to be sure to remember the dates of these upcoming events:

RI President-elect John F. Germ chose Rotary Serving Humanity as his theme for 2016-17. Noting Rotary’s unique ability to bring together committed professionals to achieve remarkable goals, Germ believes that “now is the time to capitalize on our success: as we complete the eradication of polio, and catapult Rotary forward to be an even greater force for good in the world.”

A secret committee has been formed to test each Rotary Club's "internet presence". They have developed a report card to test for such things as websites, bulletins, facebook, etc. They'll be grading on content, attractiveness, currentness and Googleness (are those words?).  Once the study is completed, they'll produce a report which grades the District as a whole, which they will share with us. They won't disclose the results for any individual club, unless they ask for it. The objective of this project is to encourage clubs to examine their "internet presence" and appreciate that its a very important element in the ongoing challenge of recruitment and retention. The members of the committee will not be disclosed to avoid any possibility of malfeasance. 

Rotary Global Rewards offers discounts on vehicle rentals, hotels, dining, and entertainment. Products and services from companies around the world are being added every week. Log into My Rotary and check back often to see what’s new in Rotary Global Rewards.

 

Congratulations to Kenton Lee, a member of the Nampa Rotary Club. He was featured in the January 2016 issue of the The Rotarian with a story about his invention he calls the "Shoe That Grows". Since 2014 more than 8,000 pairs of his shoes have been distributed in Africa, South America and Asia. 

The Boise Centennial Rotary Club, with about 25 members, has decided to sign up for Club Runner, the on-line club management and communication software. Jim Martin, club President, invited John Biggs, our district PIC and ClubRunner "guru", to make a presentation to their board last week. John explained how ClubRunner can assist in club management chores like attendance, event calendars, dues invoices, emails and much more. He showed examples of websites and bulletins that can be produced. 

 

The issue that the club wanted to address was the fact that many of the club documents, archives and records are scattered all over town on individual member's computers, or in Google files that people don't know how to access. They want to be able to consolidate everything in one place.

 

For a club their size, the cost of ClubRunner is about $30 per month plus a one-time set-up fee of $199.00.

 

Boise Sunrise Rotary has initiated a Rotary International Global Grant in support of the people surrounding Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park.  This grant will be in partnership with the Rotary club in Beira, the closest Rotary club to the Gorongosa Park.  The grant will improve the health care of the 200,000 people living in the area around the park by supporting the training of additional medical staff, promoting preventative health care programs and funding the purchase a vehicle to extend the reach of these programs to areas beyond the reach of the current fleet of vehicles.

 

The grant compliments the work stated in 2004 when Greg Carr, a Idaho Falls native, who donated $30 million to restore the ecosystem and economy of what had been one of Africa's crown jewels for wildlife and tourism but had been destroyed after 25 years of warfare.  This grant will align the resources of District 5400 with several other Idaho based initiatives supporting Gorongosa's renaissance including Zoo Boise, Boise State University and the University of Idaho as well as other international partners including USAID, the government of Ireland and Mt Sinai Hospital.  

 

 

Join us on February 26th for a fun event! This year we're featuring samplings from four local wineries and a brewery. Tickets include an engraved wine glass, wine tasting,