Jill and District Governor George Granade

What an exciting time to be a Rotarian in this 2022-2023 Rotary year!!! We have our first female RI president, Jennifer Jones, Rotaract is a now a special type of Rotary membership and we are very, very close to eradicating Polio with only a few cases this calendar year. With this year’s Rotary theme being “Imagine Rotary,” we can accomplish so many different things. All we must do is “Imagine” it and work toward accomplishing the goal!

The goals I see for our district include:

• Increasing membership of our clubs to better reflect our communities as well as our district.
• Learning more as a Rotarian. Go to the Learning Center at My.Rotary.org and learn more about different areas of Rotary. Attend RLI (Rotary Leader Institute) either in person or virtually not only to learn more about Rotary, but to make new Rotarian friends and exchange ideas about service projects.
• Involving more young people in Rotary - through RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award), Rotary Youth Exchange and Georgia Rotary Laws of Life. Sending our high school students to RYLA enables them to improve their leadership skills while making friends with students from different areas of our Rotary district. Be part of Rotary Youth Exchange by either sponsoring a high school student to attend school in another country for one year or hosting a student from a foreign country. Encouraging and sponsoring a high school to participate in the Georgia Rotary Laws of Life contest enables students to write an essay on a quotation or phrase that has affected their life. These essays are life changing for many students.
• Improving our support for The Rotary Foundation. The Foundation enables us to do good in our communities as well as around the world. Fifty percent of the funds we give to the Annual Fund come back to the District after three years for district grants and global grants. Funds given to Polio Plus are matched 2 to 1 by the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation to fight to end Polio.

The most important thing we must do is have a good time. Regardless of what we do, we must make it enjoyable for all involved. If we do have a good time, I feel we will grow our clubs which will grow other areas of Rotary. I look forward to serving you this Rotary year.