Club visits and accompanying service projects the past month have brought me so much joy. I wish I could properly convey how pleased I am with our District. I love the uniqueness of the clubs, including when and where they meet, what they eat, the makeup of the clubs, projects completed, the clubs’ social environment/chemistry, and the true love of Rotary I have experienced on my travels so far. You guys are magical!
In last month’s newsletter I bragged that at the August Roundtable we packed 27 boxes weighing 629 pounds for our port stop in Costa Maya, Mexico on the District Conference International Service Cruise. But…then at the September Roundtable, we crushed those numbers with 47 energetic Rotarians and guests packing 53 boxes weighing 1,144.8 pounds!!
Plus your donations continue to grow. We have raised $3,025 for my spouse's charity Alzheimer's Association and $1,350 for the cruise expenses. If your club would like to donate to cover the cost of the U-Haul, boxes, $6 Days for Girls hygiene kits, and school supplies, please make your checks payable to "District 5810" and write "Book Brigade 2025" on the memo line. Contact District International Service Chair Jerrica Anderson at jerrica.anderson@hotmail.com regarding collecting and dropping off your club’s donations of recycled books, shoes, school supplies and sporting equipment. Thank you for all your support of these two great projects. Cabins on the Regal Princess for our January 12-19th cruise are filling up fast; see https://www.rotary5810.org/sitepage/district-conference for details and contact PDG Bill and Lisa Dendy at rotary5810@gmail.com to sign up.
Has your club started keeping track of potential new member visits and new members for our exciting Membership Drive and Raffle that was announced last month? I hope so! We are still gathering raffle prizes now, but we do know the Grand Prize will be a 7 day oceanview cabin on a Princess cruise for 2 in June, 2025!
How do Rotarians enter to win? Raffle tickets will be new member related and distributed with:
* 1 ticket for your first invite of a potential new member 18+ aged guest to a Rotary meeting (which includes District Roundtable) or a club service project. (Note other Rotarians will not receive tickets if they later invite the same guest.)
*10 more tickets for you as the sponsoring Rotarian if your guest is inducted as a new member.
*5 tickets to the new Rotarian who joined.
*1 ticket for the Club President and 1 ticket for the Club Membership Chair (or designee) per month when they timely report all the guest visits and newly inducted club members on the prescribed form to the District Membership Chair Reyna Castillo at reynarotary@gmail.com by 11:59 pm on the 7th of the next month.
These details and the monthly form to complete are located at https://www.rotary5810.org/sitepage/membership-drive for future quick reference. We have extended the contest, and it will now run from September 1st to June 30th with the drawing for prizes in August at the Annual Awards Ceremony. (The winners must be current active Rotarians in District 5810 to win.)
Don’t forget that each month we will also celebrate New Member Champion Clubs. Based on Rotary International’s records, for the month of August we are excited to announce the following winners:
Irving Las Colinas Rotary Club= net +3
Rotary Club of Plano= net +3
Plano Community Rotaract= net +2 which was 20% growth
Congratulations!
Continue to enjoy the friendly competition each month. We will see if these 3 clubs can be back-to-back New Member Champion Clubs next month. Don’t forget to enter in your new members with Rotary International or ClubRunner (making sure it syncs with RI) by the end of each month so we can receive the updated club counts. We will recognize our monthly Champions who have successfully extended the spirit of Rotary at the Annual Awards Ceremony and then name our GRAND New Member Champion Clubs.
We have several great upcoming District events that I would like to bring to your attention so you can plan to attend:
Saturday September 28th Walk to End Alzheimer's at Grandscape, 4001 Destination Dr, The Colony-Please join our District 5810 Team by contacting PDG Max Duplant at mduplant@gmail.com to sign up and walk with us. There is no cost to walk. We will be a sponsor team with a table, and it will be lots of fun. The Walk Village opens at 7:30 am; the Promise Garden and Opening Ceremony are at 8:30 am. Please try to meet at our District 5810 table by 8 am so we can attend the opening together and then walk together. You have your choice of a 1 mile or a 5K walk. Strollers are allowed.
Roundtable on Saturday October 12th: 9:30 am light breakfast and 10 am-12 pm meeting
Saturday October 26th Club Presidents’ Halloween Party—6 pm to 9 pm in Farmers Branch. $25 per person includes a tamale dinner and drinks. Costumes are optional. We want to offer you a chance to relax, check in with your classmates, and celebrate 1/3 of the year complete. We will send out a link to all club presidents to register.
Don't forget September is Basic Education and Literacy Month. Have you contacted your Interact Clubs? Contact District Interact Chair Sandy Liu at sandy@liuattorneys.com with the details of your Interact club(s) and sponsor(s) as soon as possible so she can assist them.
Thank you so much for all you continue to do each month.
Yours in Rotary service,
District Governor Regina Edwards