DG Donna Schmidt's Visit to the Adrian Noon Rotary Club
ADG Angie introduced DG Donna who “always has a smile” and has been an active Rotarian of the Allen Park Rotary Club since 1991 and was also a member of the Monroe club. Donna was the former superintendent at Monroe Jefferson Schools, is now retired but serves on the Board of Reagents at Baker College. Donna, who met personally with our board prior to today’s meeting, began by thanking all members for their service to this club and expressed that it was a privilege to serve the district as their Governor. Her role, she said, was simply to support and serve Rotarians at the club level. She went on to say that if any club needed her help that they should not hesitate to call on her.
Donna said that RI President, Ron Burton’s theme this year is “Engage Rotary – Change Lives” and she knew from speaking with our board earlier, that we have had experience doing that very thing at our club “by having offered help in this community in the past on a regular basis”! She quoted Ron on what he said about the theme he’d chosen: “When you make the decision to truly engage Rotary to bring Rotary service and Rotary values into every day of your life, that’s when you see the incredible impact that you can have on others. That’s when you find the inspiration, the excitement and the power to truly change lives and no one’s life will be changed more than yours.”
Donna commented on how much the world has changed and that Rotary has changed over the years. One thing, however, that has not changed, she said, is the fellowship and friendship, the warmth of our Rotary communities, and the special bonds that unite us all! She still marvels at being able to go to any club in the world, put on a name badge and made to feel right at home among other Rotarians while taking great delight in knowing that will never change!!
Our District theme this year, Donna reminded members, is “Service With a Smile”. This year’s focus, she said, will be to promote continuity and to address projects dealing with the urgent needs of clean water and maternal and child care, sanitation, disease prevention and treatment, economic and community development, basic education and literacy and peace and conflict resolution. The goal, she said, is to have every club in District 6400 participate in a Basic Needs Project during this Rotary year. Donna said she was pleased to report that our club was well on our way to doing that under President’s Theresa’s leadership as well as the board’s due to the many projects we’re involved in already that fall into this category.
This coming year, she went on to say, the District will be developing a Strategic Plan designed to span the 2013 – 2016 Rotary years. It will include an emphasis on “visioning” which should help identify where clubs are now and where they want to be in the future. Donna was encouraged to hear this morning that our club is entertaining vision facilitation training. Focus group meetings within the District have already been initiated, Donna said. A meeting (open to any member) is scheduled at Schoolcraft College on October 17th from 5:15pm-8:45pm to address three primary areas: Public Image, Membership and Foundation (referred to as “the Rotary core”) which will involve all Vision Facilitation Trainers. Feedback from this meeting will be the basis for the draft of the strategic plan to be rolled out at the mid-winter meeting next January for incoming club leaders.
During the next Rotary year, she went on to say, she and her staff plan to establish three “non-traditional” clubs within the district. Some ideas include: an e-club, an under 30 club, a Saturday morning club, a club that has two traditional meetings and two service projects per month, a Spanish-speaking club, and even a “Moms” club where they can bring their children with them!
Donna continued by saying that for only the second time in the world’s history, a deadly disease will be eradicated thanks to the efforts of our organization. The journey to eradicate polio started in 1985 when there were 350,000 cases of polio reported annually. At the end of 2012, the number of cases plunged worldwide by more than 66% to a total of 223!!! More than 10 million people are walking today who would otherwise be paralyzed thanks to the $1B raised by Rotary around the world! In 1985, polio was active in 123 countries across the world; today, polio is confined to just 3 countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria!!
Donna concluded her presentation by encouraging members to register for the District Conference next May (11-14) where “there will be many stories shared about how this organization changed lives and our wonderful successes this past year” all of which made our world a better place to live!