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Submitted By: Debra Warner, District Governor 2017-2018Hello Rotarians, Rotaractors and family of Rotary!
What an honor it has been serving this year as your District Governor! As this year comes to an end, I reflect upon the incredible journey that I have been on for past 3½ years and the very best part of this journey has been visiting clubs. It has been my goal to visit clubs whenever possible to get to know you, to see firsthand the great things you and your clubs are doing and to understand your needs so the district may better serve you. Ed and I have been wholehearted welcomed at every club we visited, and we say thank you for the kind reception wherever we went. What a year it has been with over 200 visits! It has been our pleasure to travel District 5580 to visit and learn about how all Rotary clubs, regardless of size, are “Making a Difference” in their communities and many in the world as well; I am so proud to be a member of District 5580! I want to thank each one of you for all that you do in your service to Rotary.
We are a vibrant district with strong district programs, committee chairs and committee members and I thank each of you for your dedication to help run this district! This was Gloria Mink’s first year as our Executive Secretary and I want to say thank you to you Gloria and to tell how much I have enjoyed working with you; your positive attitude and cheerfulness helped to keep my stress level down! A big thank you to our District Treasurer Elaine Hansen who volunteers her time beyond the call of duty! We are certainly blessed to have such a talented woman looking after our district finances.
A huge thank you to my husband and Rotarian Ed Williams who supports me in everything that I do. Ed was able to visit 59/66 of the official club visits with me and attended many other events as well! I couldn’t have done this without his support.
I have accepted the position of Assistant Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator for Zone 28 next year and will be assisting 3 districts in our Zone in Foundation. The Zone exists to support our district as our district exists to support our clubs. Also, I will also be our District Endowment Fund Chair next year so I look to working with your clubs in fund development!
I feel confident that our district will continue to be strong under the leadership of District Governor Blaine Johnson. Rotary’s theme next year is “BE THE INSPIRATION”. Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we can be”. Blaine has many great ideas and I look forward to seeing how his ideas for change will inspire us and positively impact our district. Also, he has assembled many great Rotarians to be on our district team.
During my official club visit I challenged each of you to think about your WHY for being a Rotarian and when someone asks you “What is Rotary?” you respond with a story that truly embodies why you are a member, what you are passionate about so they can see why Rotary is an attractive and an exciting club to join. Please continue to tell your stories!
I have many wonderful stories that I love to tell about my Rotary work in my community and on international service opportunities but I will leave you with a major why from both Ed and me. When we started this journey 3 ½ years ago we had many acquaintances in Rotary and now we have many life-long friends. Again, thank you for this honor of serving you as District Governor!