I am honored to serve as your District Governor for the 2018/19 Rotary year. I look forward to working with you and being an inspiration through Rotary. 

 

Let's thank Immediate Past District Governor Una Martone for her leadership during the 2017-18 Rotary year. What an outstanding year it was!

 

Many of us recently returned from the International Convention in Toronto where we heard many inspirational speakers and met Rotarian friends from all over the globe.  A number of the keynote speakers’ presentations were recorded and are available by clicking here.  I encourage you to take time to watch the videos.  They are informative and inspirational.  One, which I found very interesting, was a presentation by Marie-Paule Attema, a Rotary Peace Scholar who was a young girl in Rwanda during the time of the genocide.  This is an example of Rotary Foundation dollars at work.

 

There was also an update on the eradication of polio from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General World Health Organization.  He reported that last year there were 22 cases of polio in 2 countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  This year the work will continue in Nigeria and hopefully it will be the next country declared polio free.

 

In the closing session, Barry Raskin, 2018/19 RI President, said the beginning of everything in Rotary is INSPIRATION.  INSPIRATION to make the world a better place, to make the future better for our children and to give hope to those we will never meet. 

 

Each of us needs to be INSPIRED by what we can accomplish together and be the agent for change in our clubs, our communities and around the world.