It’s training season! As our incoming Club Presidents prepare for their training for the next Rotary year, I too, completed my final formal training as a District Governor-Elect by attending Rotary International Assembly in Orlando, FL. At this event, District Governor-Elects from over 500 Districts, representing over 200 countries convened to learn, build upon common goals and strengthen our connections. Our District 5030, represents over 50 clubs in the Greater Seattle Area. It was truly an international event and we even had some breakout sessions in multiple languages with simultaneous interpretation.
We heard from our Rotary International President-Elect (RIPE), Stephanie Urchik, about the Presidential theme for the ’24-’25 year, which is “The Magic of Rotary.” This theme builds upon President Gordon McInally’s theme of “Creating Hope in the World” and moves into action. RIPE Stephanie encourages us to continue our work of the Rotary Action Plan to Increase our Impact, Expand our Reach, Engage our Members and Communities and Adapt. You can hear RIPE Stephanie Urchick’s speech at https://www.rotary.org/en/stephanie-urchick-celebrates-magic-rotary
The Rotary Foundation, through the help of all our members and champions, has a goal to raise $500 next year to reach $2.025 billion by 2025. Think about all the projects and impact we can do around the world and in our local communities!
Additionally, I was fortunate to attend the class of incoming Governors who are under age 50. There are 48 of us and we were united in sharing why Rotary is an important and valuable part of our lives. I’ve found mentorship, leadership development, friendship, personal development and the opportunity to have impactful service because of Rotary. Many of our established members joined Rotary when they were in their 40’s and 50’s, but we haven’t been reaching out to future generations. We were sobered by the fact that less than 20% of our membership is under age 50 and we need to share Rotary’s value proposition with this demographic.
Lastly, I leave you with a sneak peak of our upcoming Rotary year. In District 5030, we’ll continue to focus on:
- Engaging our current members and growing membership
- Offering Leadership Training. We successfully launched the RISE (Rotarians Inspired to Succeed and Engage) Leadership Training last fall. We will launch another cohort this Spring (focused on the North area of our District) and a third cohort in September (focused on the South area of our District). Clubs have used this program to engage new members, build their leadership pipeline, offer professional development opportunities to members, and attract new corporate members.
- Instead of a District Conference, we’re encourage members to attend the Big West Zone Institute, which is 9/11-9/15 at the Davenport Grand Hotel in Spokane. We considered cost and opportunity. If you’ve never been to a Zone Institute, this is your opportunity to experience a conference that is larger than our District (30 Districts), but smaller than the Rotary International Convention. We will share more information when registration opens.
- We will have an event on October 10th at the Doubletree in Seatac to celebrate our Rotary Foundation.
- In June we will have a dinner to celebrate our clubs
I’m excited about the upcoming year and I’m honored to take this journey with you. As we go on this journey, I ask you to share your Rotary story with someone. I’m inspired by the stories that I hear and I encourage you to share The Magic of Rotary with others.
Rachele
District Governor-Elect
One Comment
[…] DGE Rachele Bouchand provided an update on the Rotary theme and International Assembly, and she also expanded on how this will be tied to the three year strategic initiative in 5030 as she leads us through the second year of its execution. More details can be found here. […]
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