Kevin Crouse, District Governor, October 2013
DG Kevin's October Message
New Awards
Be a proud Rotarian! Celebrate your years of Rotarian service by filling out your Rotary Engagement Resume today and give it to your club president for incorporation into your club’s Engagement Assessment form. This will allow your club president to determine your club’s engagement Assessment Quotient by dividing the total number of “yes” responses by the number of members in your club. Presidents are reminded to return the names of members who qualify for the Head, Hands and Heart award and your Club Engagement Assessment Quotient to me no later than October 18. Keep the individual forms for future reference. Since this is the first year for this new award, Rotarians may include any club or district type of involvement they have had throughout their years of involvement. Recipients may also include any planned events such as The District Conference or Foundation dinner that they plan to attend this calendar year. At least three of these involvements must have or will have taken place in this calendar year. Because this is an engagement award, recipients must be present at the Awards ceremony on October 27 to receive their awards.
Many thanks for your ongoing support of our youth attending the district conference this year. Since this is a new procedure, please register these young people with Reg Madison, Conference Chair regmadison@bell.net, Reg Madison, 22 Carmichael Crescent, Brantford, Ontario, N3R 8A8. Your registration should include your club name, the student(s) name, length of stay, and a cheque to cover expenses. Make the cheque payable to Reg Madison, District 7090.
The full cost for the three days, all meals and two nights’ accommodation is $282. If the student is staying for only one day and one night the cost is $150. For students attending for meals only on one day, the cost is $100. If you are unsure, simply send the name and club of the individual concerned and Reg will bill the club for the balance owing.
Since Youth is now our fifth avenue of service, it is essential that we involve these future members as early and as often as possible in Rotary fellowship. R.I. President Ron Burton is providing three international conferences for youth this year to promote the inclusion of young people in Rotary programs. Young people can teach us all about the value of exploring new ideas, promoting the Rotary dream, and engaging current and future Rotarians in Rotary programs. Please help us to honour their contributions by sending two of your finest to this year's District Conference at the Marriott Gateway on the Falls, Niagara Falls, Canada on October 25 - 27. If you are looking for young people to sponsor, please contact Youth Services Director, Greg Norton at greg@t-mark.com. He may be able to provide you with names of young people still looking for sponsors.
Rebecca and I look forward to meeting you all at the conference to celebrate all the great things Rotary clubs are doing to make this world a better place.
This year our district is contributing 20% of our District Designated Fund - $35,000 to support the End Polio now campaign. Because the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is matching all contributions on a 2 for 1 basis, that means we will have a $105,000 impact on eliminating the scourge of Polio from the face of the earth.
If you are a supporter of Rotary’s effort to eradicate polio – or simply want to learn more about it – you won’t want to miss World Polio Day: Making History, a special live stream event presented by Rotary and Northwestern University’s Center for Global Health, beginning at 6:30 p.m. EDT on Oct. 24 (World Polio Day).
This 90-minute program before a live audience at North Western’s John Hughes Auditorium in downtown Chicago, brings together a panel of experts to discuss the progress of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative -- the ambitious public-private partnership spearheaded by Rotary, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with additional support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – and the many ways that members of the general public can help make history by supporting the final push needed to end polio forever.
Confirmed speakers include Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO assistant director-general for polio emergencies and country collaboration; Dr. Robert Murphy, director of the Center for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; and polio survivor and world-class Paralympian Dennis Ogbe, an ambassador for the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign to promote childhood immunizations.