DG Vance's June Message

DG’s message for June 2103

If you have ever listened to someone who has just achieved a major accomplishment- like a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, or someone being granted an Honorary Doctorate for his or her special work, he or she talks about how they honored, grateful and humbled he or she might feel. Well, looking back at the Rotary year 2012-2013, I can’t help feeling honored at the fact that Monica and I got to represent such a vibrant District at so many different events and in so many different ways. I feel grateful for the warmth we received as we visited the 83 Rotary Clubs across our 10 islands.  Most of all, though, I feel humbled at the vast works of Rotary and that District 7020 continues to shine brightly in the Rotary universe.

 It has been a long and busy year. When the year started out, I must admit, I felt a little daunted at the thought that we would have to visit 82 clubs in 10 countries – with visits to 80% of them requiring travel through Miami from the BVI. Most District Governors can simply get in their cars and drive around their district visiting their clubs. For us, it meant numerous flights, layovers, and lots of organization on the part of the Assistant Governors.  Each trip, however, to the different islands was so unique and well planned that we couldn’t help getting excited about each trip. The clubs around our district have so many different personalities that it was great to get to know them all. We will never forget the amazing fellowships, the visits to diverse service projects, and meeting everyone.  These visits have proven to me that District 7020 is one of the most vibrant districts of Rotary.

 It is this vibrancy, this passion, that we have for Rotary that helps us to continue to grow in stature each year as a District. I’m especially proud to announce that we have chartered, several Rotaract, Interact and EarlyAct clubs, A Rotary Community Corps and two new Rotary clubs - including our first EClub for the District. And we have another EClub that’s on the verge of being chartered too! We have grown our membership by 2.5 percent without compromising quality and that is something we must all be proud of.

 Our Public Image Outreach has been so vast this year as well. The District has utilized social media, more than ever before, to improve inter and intra District Communication. We have reached out to younger Rotarians and prospective Rotarians through Facebook, blogging and, yes, even twitter. We now have hundreds of twitter followers of the District Governor. Also, District 7020 has the honor of having more clubs receiving the 2012 -13 Zone 34 Public Image Citation than any other District in the Zone. At the outset we decided to focus on improving our Public Image this year and we succeeded.

 We did not forget the Rotary Foundation either. As we prepared and trained for the transition to Future Vision, we increased our giving to the Rotary Foundation with increased giving to the Annual Fund and substantial contribution to Polio Eradication Initiative.

 Our list of successes as clubs and as a District is way too long to specify here, but I wish to thank everyone for your continued Service Above Self and for working with Monica and me to ensure that this District remains vibrant and passionate about Rotary. With all this work that we’ve done to improve and grow this year, I know our clubs are stronger for it and this makes our District stronger. We had over 500 participants at our exciting 39^th District 7020 Conference, PETS, and Assembly this year in the BVI. We experienced the passion of Rotary while we built Peace Through Service. That alone is a clear sign that we are a healthy, strong, and passionate District. This is something we all must be proud of.

 As we transition to a new Rotary year and a new District Governor - Jeremy Hurst, I request that you continue to be passionate about Rotary and that you Engage Rotary - Change Lives to build bigger, better and bolder clubs.

 Thank you District 7020 for such a wonderful – passionate year!