President Terri recognized guest Mr. Womack Stokes, a resident of Westlake who visited the Art Festival last Saturday and decided to attend our meeting. Mr. Stokes mentioned that he had two daughters at Westlake Schools with one on the tennis team and that he was an OB/GYN with the Cleveland Clinic.
President Terri then introduced our special guest District Governor David Jones. Terri had taken time to research David’s bio and gave a brief history of his life as well as his many accomplishments. She then turned the meeting over to the District Governor.
David started the meeting talking about being an Air Force BRAT and growing up at different bases every three years including bases in Spain, Japan, Germany, and England. He stressed that being an American was not easy, especially in Japan where at the time the Japanese people still harbored ill feeling toward Americans. The constant changing of his environment taught him that he had to adapt to the different customs and cultures of his new surroundings. David used the adaptation concept to segway into how Rotary has changed, and Rotarians need to adapt to change.
Did you know that Rotary President Jennifer E. Jones is the first women President of Rotary and that women were not even allowed to join Rotary until 1985!
David asked us to imagine and to adapt.
- Where we can be and what we can accomplish in the years ahead.
- How we can grow our local organization
- How we can make a difference in our community
- How we can provide our best services.
David then talked about some of the changes in Rotary and some of his goals as District Governor.
- New Rotary Website
- Foster continuity of Leadership within District Clubs
- To grow our district membership by 200 new members
- To make sure each Club’s accomplishments are shared district wide
He asked us.
- To use services to attract new members
- To positively meet community needs
- To think about charities
- To partner with other community organizations
- Pay attention to Foundation points
- Visit Rotary Direct to make monthly donations
David complemented our Club on the fine work we are doing and congratulated us on the recent Art Festival. He said that our Club was a district leader in donations per member to the Foundation and in the number of Paul Harris awards each year.
David mentioned that the District Foundation Gala is Nov. 7th at Window on the River, District Meeting will be April 27-30th at the Beachwood Marriott East, and that RYLA would once again be held at the Baldwin Wallace campus next year. He then took questions from the members.
We were happy to have Herb Hoppe in attendance at the meeting and Herb graciously awarded Paul Harris pins to Andrew Mangels, Doug Lawton, and Gary DiLillo
We had time for happy bucks with most members thanking the District Governor for taking time to attend our meeting and for his presentation.
Herb presented Paul Harris pins to Doug, Gary and Andrew at last week's meeting.
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