Fellow Super District 6400 Rotarians,

I can’t believe we are done with July. I hope you have had a happy and productive summer so far. Clubs are swinging into action with summer projects, preparing for their fall and early winter events and fundraisers. Maybe you have some personal vacation plans for the balance of the summer or fall as well.

August is Membership and New club Development month on the Rotary calendar. Now is the time to implement your plans for membership recruitment. There is no better way to introduce the community and prospective members than to invite them to a service project. I speak from experience as a Rotarian that learned about Rotary by being volunteer at the club fundraiser.

Are you looking to have a club with more flexibility? Rotary offers great support on the website at https://my.rotary.org/en/club-flexibility. Whether you are thinking about alternative membership models, meeting formats that better suit your membership or even starting a new club, you can find information and ideas there. Email me and I can connect you with our district experts for help or advice.

During the week of September 11-17, Rotary International is encouraging Rotary and Rotaract clubs to partner with local Kiwanis, Lions, and Optimist clubs on a service project that will have a long-term impact in your community.  Tell your neighbors — and us — about your joint service project by sending out a news release, posting on social media with #CelebrateCommunity. We can do more when we work together and harness the collective power of our four organizations’ 3.4 million members and Celebrate Community together.

I am having a great time visiting our clubs, meeting new friends, and hearing about all the great work Super District 6400 clubs are doing in their communities. I have also had the opportunity to induct 7 new members and it is only the first month! I am grateful that you have given me this wonderful opportunity and have been so welcoming when Barb and I came to visit. I have visited 8 clubs in July and have 17 scheduled for August. I look forward to seeing you soon!

Our district golf outing is coming up soon. Join me on September 18 at the Grosse Ile Country club for an afternoon of golf and dinner. If you aren’t a golfer, please join us for dinner. We also have sponsorships available starting at only $125. Remember, the money raised at this event is used for grants to the clubs. Register HERE.

Make sure to check out upcoming August events on the district website (Rotary6400.org) and later in this newsletter, including August 12 the Gibraltar Rockwood Kayak Poker Run and the Rubber Duckie Race, the August 20 Windsor/Essex County Clubs Day in the Park at Point Pelee, and the Livonia AM Touch-a-Truck event on 8/26. If your event is not listed on the website, contact Sue Goldsen to have it posted. We want to share the fun.

Have a great August. Don’t forget to celebrate National Watermelon Day on August 3. 

Yours in Service,

District Governor Russ

We need your club news!

Please make sure you email your club's news and upcoming events by the 20th of the prior month to sue@goldsen.com.

Registration for District Conference 2024 is now open! Click here to find out more & register!

Dearborn Heights

Windsor-Roseland

D-6400 Global eClub

Passport to Service

Windsor-WIDE

Grosse Pointe Sunrise

Happy August to you!

I'm very excited about this news from our committee's Grants Chair, PDG Rick Caron:

The Rotary Foundation District Community Grants have been Approved.

Congratulations to the 30 clubs involved in application for a District Community Grant from the Rotary Foundation. Approval for all the applications was received on July 21, 2023. You are now free to complete your project. This year we had 19 single club applications and 5 collaborative club applications. The total value of all grants received is $111,280, with $54,087 of that total given by the Rotary Foundation through the District Designated Funds earned by your contributions to the Annual Fund. All those that will benefit from the projects thank you for your contributions. See the complete list of the projects at THIS LINK.

Polio eradication remains Rotary’s number one humanitarian goal. While the number of polio cases in the world remain low our job is not done, millions of children need to be vaccinated against this disease. Our commitment is to raise 50 million this year to be matched 2 to 1 by the Gates foundation.

 As you know, so far this calendar year we have seen six cases of wild poliovirus infection. It is always so easy when giving out the statistics and the numbers to forget that this is not about arithmetic but about children’s lives. Perhaps we ought to say that so far this year six children are destined to a life of misery and paralysis. That is six too many.

And so Rotary and our partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative continue to work during this critical year to interrupt transmission of the wild poliovirus in the remaining endemic countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan and stop transmission of variant poliovirus type 2 in outbreak countries.

I ask that each club have a PolioPlus program and focus on the following points:

• Reaching our US$50 million fundraising goal through individual contributions, districts allocating 20% of DDF to PolioPlus, clubs committing US$1,500/year to PolioPlus, and increasing our membership in the PolioPlus Societies in our district
• Encouraging events around World Polio Day (24 October) and World Immunization Week (24-30 April)
• Raising awareness with members, the public and media of Rotary’s role in global polio eradication efforts
• Advocating with government officials the importance of achieving a polio-free world 

Thank you in advance for your consideration of including a session on Rotary’s top humanitarian priority at one of your Club meetings and engaging and educating our members on the role that Rotary has played in this historic effort.

What's a Passport club? The Rotary District 6400 Passport to Service club meets virtually twice monthly, giving members a more flexible club experience by encouraging its members to visit other clubs and participate in their club activities regularly. 

The Passport club also offers a relaxed attendance policy and offers a variety of meeting formats. If making meetings at traditional times is difficult for you, consider the flexibility the Passport Club. And the best part of the club is that it has members from around the district and beyond.   

The club offers extra hands and heart to clubs that are in our communities to help them with projects and service they are doing. Think of the them as an extra resource for your club!

Here’s what members say about the Passport Club:

• “The passport club was a great fit for me, as I moved and wanted to remain a member of District 6400 and stay connected with lifelong friends and I do service projects where I live.”  - PDG Sue Goldsen.  
• "The Passport club fits into my busy work and family schedule, giving me more time to participate in Rotary Service projects and enjoy fun Rotary Fellowship." - Therese Maggioncalda, LMSW, ACSW

For more information contact club member PDG Michael Duben, and visit the club at its website HERE.

Cottam

During Cottam's annual officer changeover event, IPDG Traci presented Dan Levy with his Past President Pin.

DG Russ also presented new Cottam club President Crystal Heinrich with her Club President pin.