Submitted by: Debra Warner, District Governor
Greetings Rotarians, Rotaractors and Family of Rotary,During the Holiday season, we become more conscious of our family and focus on what we can do to spend quality time with them. Many clubs will have Holiday parties and invite their family members. Often, in Rotary, we see our life priorities as family, work and then Rotary. However, I am recommending that we do all we can as Rotarians to incorporate our family into Rotary activities and not isolate the two from one another.
For many years I took pride in being the youngest member of my Rotary Club. At 27 my closest competition was 15 years my senior. After holding the title for far too long, a young woman appeared at one of our club meetings and sought to join. As a teacher new to the community she was not aware of the club’s scholarship program, its history of hosting Rotary Youth Exchange Students, or that it sponsored the community’s fine arts banquet; but she knew Rotary. Her father was a Rotarian. She grew up with Rotary. She recounted seeing the Four Way Test displayed on his desk at work for all to see. The Rotary values of service, integrity, goodwill and peace were instilled within her from a very young age. Her story is one that I have taken to heart as a parent and as a Rotarian. If I can pass the same Rotary values on to my own children, I will have made a difference. More importantly, my children will have benefited and will be inspired to also make a difference in their own communities and the world. 
Tom Dinndorf has been a member of the Baudette Rotary Club for nearly 50 years and is a Paul Harris fellow. For years his daughter, Ann Ellis, resisted invitations from her dad to join. As far as she knew, it was a bunch of older businessman that got together for lunch, and she was busy. 
This past June and July, 10 members of the Grand Rapids High School community traveled to Sidi Moumen, Morocco on a service learning trip and social awareness trip. The trip was sponsored by the GRHS Interact Club which promotes global service and learning. While in Morocco students spent two weeks living with Moroccan families and helping with activities and lessons at the Sidi Moumen Cultural Center. It was an amazing trip filled with incredible learning and opportunities and the trip has had a huge impact both on the GRHS participants and on the Moroccans who hosted them. GRHS participants were students Lucas Berard, Liliana Cannella, Jordin McCartney, Preston McNamar, Mohammed Siddiqui, Nicole Sorenson, and Seth Washburn, and teachers Jinnea LaRoque, Eric Northard, and Nancy Northard .jpg)
As my family and I prepare for a season of celebrations together I reflect on how truly blessed we are. We have each other. We have a warm home, food, clothing, and, most importantly; we have good health and access to quality healthcare. 
Greetings everyone. I am a little overdue at introducing myself and I apologize for that. It has been on my to do list for a while. My name is Richard Bricker, but I go by Rick. I have been your District Governor - Nominee since July 1
Our District Conference in 2018 will host many opportunities to “build bridges of goodwill and friendship”. Our speakers are at the heart of the Conference. They have much to share about building bridges of understanding peace and we are honoured to welcome them. 
The importance of all types of Literacy is very apparent in today’s world. Beginning with young children Early Childhood Literacy is critical. Years ago the Storytime programs were fairly basic: instill in the children a love of books, reading and sounds in stories. Now Storytime programs are evolving to include math skills, recognition of shapes and spaces, vocabulary words, etc. while still being a time during which children learn to love books and reading.
The Perham Rotary Club is undoubtedly like many Rotary Clubs in that it provides "Service Above Self" to a number of local and international causes. One project that goes beyond service are the four annual blood drives that are held in partnership with the Red Cross. Knowing that blood is in high demand and that every 2 seconds someone in this country needs blood, the Perham Rotary Club with a membership of about 60 men and women, conducts 2 blood drives in the spring and 2 in the fall. The fall drives held this past October 16 and 17 was especially important due to the hurricanes that impacted thousands of lives in the United States and Puerto Rico. 
Rotarians David Andersen, Ed Ranson and Irene Weis recently boxed more than 35 band instruments for shipment to Ecuador.
New Organizational Membership Committee Structure! 
Dates: Two Options: