(DG Janet Tenreiro with Rotary International President Elect Jennifer Jones and district governors from neighboring districts.)
November is The Rotary Foundation Month. The Foundation is the vehicle for Rotary to do good in the world.
There are global grants, district grants, and the PolioPlus Campaign to eradicate polio. Our goal in the district is Every Rotarian, Every Year to make a contribution to TRF. Sustaining Members contribute $100 annually, and Paul Harris Society Members $1000 each year. Bequest Society Members will donate $1000 upon their death. TRF is a four-star charity, very worthy of your generosity.
Our Foundation Brunch is being held Sunday, November 7, from 11-2 at Ventosa Vineyards in Geneva. Register here to attend this event. Please join us for this celebration of our Foundation and to acknowledge and honor new Paul Harris Fellows and Major Donors since our last event.
While RI president in 2017-18, Ian H.S. Riseley challenged every Rotary club to plant one tree per member as a way to increase Rotarian involvement in environmental issues. He estimates at least three times that many were planted, likely more than 3 million trees. “I was really thrilled at the way in which the Rotary world embraced my request,” he says. “Everywhere we went, they were planting trees.”Riseley and his wife, Juliet, a past district governor, are Rotary Foundation Major Donors and Bequest Society members. They live on seven hectares at Moorooduc, where they practice their personal philosophy of sustainable and organic living.
We had a very successful PolioPlus Dinner in Syracuse on Friday, October 29th, with Jennifer Jones as our keynote speaker. She is an inspiring individual, and I am looking forward to great things from her next year as our first woman RI President!
By the time this column is published, I will have completed visits to all 65 clubs in our district! Only one meeting was virtual – all the rest were live and in-person. I will say that it was truly a great deal of fun to visit the clubs. Every single one was different, and yet every one had Rotary’s motto of Service Above Self as part of their DNA! And I can say from experience that that holds true across the country and around the world. It has been my privilege to be invited to several events above and beyond my official Governor visits, and I have enjoyed much fellowship and a lot of fun. Saturday morning I got to meet Rochester Rotarian and Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter, as well as MC Deputy Green, and Ogden Police Chief Chris Mears, as Spencerport Rotary donated hundreds of bears for patrol officers to carry for children caught up in bad situations. It was an excellent example of Rotary’s commitment to community and civic responsibility. I hope that every Rotary club in our district does something positive to “Back the Blue.”Sometimes the handcuffs just have to come out.
Thanks, Todd!