Hello Rotarians. Maybe spring weather is here? Whether we have some more of that less warm weather coming or not, Rotary is an all-season sport and I’m glad we continue to serve year-round. Thanks for all you are doing in our communities and our world.Rotary Means Business. Last night about 60 people gathered for Rotary Means Business (RMB) at the Rolls-Royce Museum in Mechanicsburg. What a great event! The museum has 30 vintage Rolls and Bentley cars, including one that is 100 years old. We had some tasty food supplied by the Market St Deli, heard everyone’s “elevator speech” about their business, and enjoyed pleasant conversations connecting with like-minded servant leaders. Thanks to PDG John Anthony (Mechanicsburg-North), for leading the event and to the Rolls-Royce Museum Foundation for hosting. Thanks to the club sponsors for the event: Mechanicsburg-North, D7390 Passport, Yellow Breeches, and West Shore. Also helping last night were DGN Mary Brunski (Carlisle), PE Scott Stevens (Harrisburg) as the emcee and circle leader, and VP Rob Altenburg (Mechanicsburg-North) as drink meister. Thank you to all for your efforts last night. RMB continues to thrive in District 7390 under the leadership of PDG Alden Cunningham (Carlisle) and his team. We are always looking for clubs to sponsor an RMB event in their area. You are welcome to attend any RMB, but hosting one in your area is a great way to connect with businesses and people in your own backyard – and it is a great Rotary recruiting event. You are welcome to visit an RMB to see the format and speak to the organizers. Alden has a great method to make the event smooth and successful. Give it a try.
District Learning Assembly. There are 30 people registered for our in-person learning event on the morning of 23 March at Central Penn College. Plenty of room for you to join us. There are 14 topics to choose from and each attendee can attend up to three classes, one per hour. We have instructors from various rotary clubs and a couple from outside Rotary. For our newer Rotarians, we have one class set as a new member orientation to help them see Rotary in all its facets. A panel of leaders from three of our clubs who are growing in membership will help us see some of what’s working for their membership efforts. And we have several classes focused on key positions in our clubs, such as secretary, treasurer, foundation, youth programs, and membership, to help strengthen our clubs and share ideas to make these areas of responsibility run smoothly. All the classes are listed on the district web site with the link for registration. The small cost of $22.50 covers a light breakfast and the facility rental. Central Penn is a great partner for us and continues to provide us good food, good facilities, and friendly support. We are lucky to have them right in the middle of our district. Come out and let’s learn together.
District Conference. We have a great set of events for our annual district conference 19-20 April. We have 20 registrants thus far. Jump on in and sign up. We’ll have a special guest with us that weekend as RI President Gordon McInally has approved us to be a district to have one of his official representatives attend our conference. He’ll share with us some of the happenings at Rotary International. It has been at least 10 years since our district had a President’s representative in attendance. The conference will have three parts. Part 1 on Friday evening, April 19th, will be at the Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle. We’ll tour the facility and learn how they support with various historical programs and data sources. Then we’ll have a buffet dinner and hear our 4-Way Speech and Essay test contest finalists. This is always a great event to see our young scholars wow us with their speeches and essays. Then we’ll have remarks from the RI President’s representative and our featured speaker, dr. Michael Lynch, a historian at the army war college and a published author who will speak on history’s leadership lessons. Then on Saturday morning Part 2 will be some service projects in several locations. Come on out and perform some hands-on service for our communities. Then we’ll gather for Part 3 on Saturday afternoon at the Heritage Hills resort and hotel near York to have three learning sessions followed by a reception and dinner where we’ll give out some district awards. Our learning sessions will be on talent development by the director of talent development for PA Governor Shapiro’s office, a talk on environmental issues by a War College professor, and our RI President’s representative will hold a session to hear about RI programs and field questions from you on anything Rotary. Over the two days we will have an eventful, informative, and impactful conference. So sign up, bring your family, and bring your club mates.
I love Rotary! See you around the district.
DG Fred.