Friends, one of my mantras in Rotary has been do more, grow more. I am sure you are adopting this mantra. Do more, as in bigger and impactful service projects, and grow more, as in increasing our membership.
There is so much excitement across the Rotary world about our Each One, Bring One effort. Everywhere I travel, club presidents, district governors, and Rotary members — both veteran and new — express appreciation that their membership efforts are inspiring the Rotary world.
We are growing more, and I cannot wait to celebrate all of this success with you at the Rotary International Convention in Houston in June. There is still time to register and make your plans to join us. We are looking forward to a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will unite our members after far too much time apart.
Rotary International's monthly theme for April is Maternal and Child Health!
Every day mothers risk their lives giving birth and millions of children die each year from treatable, preventable causes. At least 7 million children under the age of five die each year due to malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. To help reduce this rate, Rotary provides immunizations and antibiotics to babies, improves access to essential medical services, and supports trained health care providers for mothers and their children. Rotary’s projects ensure sustainability by empowering the local community to take ownership of health care training programs.
On behalf of the Host Organization Committee, we cannot wait to welcome Rotarians and guests to Houston and the great State of Texas for the 2022 Rotary International Convention. The saying goes that everything is “Bigger”, “Better” and “Friendlier” in Texas, and the goal of the Houston Host Organization Committee is to have each of you feel that every moment as our guest while in Houston! From the humble beginnings of this great city, Houston has been led by “People of Action” who have taken this City to great heights including, to the moon and back.
Submitted by: Herb Schmidt, D5580 Foundation Chair
April is Rotary’s Maternal and Child Care month. Our district has a great Maternal and Child Care project in progress. Global Grant 1980712, Prenatal Care for Indigenous Women, was approved by The Rotary Foundation 04-26-2019. Because of covid, all programs that were just getting started within this project in 2019-20 had to close down. These programs to provide education and educational materials, social interaction, and mentoring contacts for indigenous women are now being re-initiated.
WE CAN ONLY SHARE YOUR CLUB'S NEWS, IF WE KNOW ABOUT YOUR CLUB'S NEWS!
The number one thing most clubs want to know is what is happening around the District, but we can't help spread the word if we don't know what your club is up to.
Please submit a summary of your club events, news and projects to Renae Ronquist and Gloria Mink by the 10th of each month. We can include information in our Monday Minutes and in our newsletter.
Dickinson Rotarians Read Ukrainian Folk Tale to Head Start students
The classic Ukrainian folktale, ”The Mitten,” as retold by Jan Brett, was selected by Community Action Head Start teachers as the book for Dickinson Rotarians to read to the 94 students ages 3-5 on March 31st. Reading at Head Start is a decades-long tradition and a cornerstone of the club’s youth and literacy emphasis. The project has been chaired for the last several years by Rotarian Glenice Hansen. This year, the book was read virtually by Rotarians Urja Aryal, left, Angie Rabbitt and Deb Barros, not pictured.Each student received a copy of “The Mitten” as a gift from the Dickinson Rotary Club.
INTERNATIONAL FALLS ROTARY CLUB
(L - R) Jeff Hardwig, project leader and Carol Grim participated in the cone collection at the black spruce logging site in Koochiching County, Minnesota.
Protecting the environment is one of six Rotary International causes and opens an opportunity for each club and member to participate in doing something to support the environment.
Rotary members are tackling and supporting environmental issues the way they always do: coming up with projects, using their connections to change policy and planning for the future.
Rotarians in International Falls, Minnesota, chose collecting black spruce cones to support the environmental. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources put out a request for black spruce cones and offered to pay $85 per bushel. Black spruce, Picea Mariana, tends to be a tall, slim, slow growing evergreen tree native to Minnesota wetlands. The cones were collected at a logging site where the timber had been harvested and the tops left in the field.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in the biggest refugee crisis in Europe in post World War II history. Currently an estimated 10 million Ukrainians are displaced by Russian atrocities, most of them in Western Ukraine, but an estimated over 2 million in neighboring Poland.