DG George with Thomasville Rotarians receiving the governor's award coin Danny Braddy, Fran Milberg Mary Beth Donaldson, DGE Andre Marria, and Teri Hurst White

I hope you all enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends and are looking forward to more celebrations as we move through the rest of the holiday season. There are two celebrations coming in 2023 that I’d like to remind you about:

• District Conference will take place April 27-30 at the SanDestin Beach and Golf Resort. We are going to have fun with the “Green Acres” theme. Be sure to look at some reruns of the TV show so you will know who the characters are. There just might be a contest to see who will be best dress as one of the characters from the show. You’ll be able to register for conference and make hotel reservations through the District Website starting December 15.
• The world of Rotary will celebrate in Melbourne, Australia this year at RI Convention – May 27-31. You can register for convention now, and I also encourage you to take a look at the Australia and New Zealand trips put together by our District 6900 Australia team (John Neill, Cheryl Greenway and Lorri Christopher) and featured here in the newsletter. I’d love to have you join us.

As we near the end of the calendar year, we are halfway through the Rotary year. It’s a good time for club leaders to be sure you are updating your membership, service project and other Rotary items, so you know – and we know as a District – how we are doing in these areas. Add your accomplishments at Rotary Club Central not only for the District Awards, but also to let other Districts in the world know all the good things we are doing for our communities. Be sure to submit your best projects to Rotary Showcase on the Rotary International website. There you can add not only pictures but also videos showing your club members accomplishing the objects of the project.

As you are aware, Membership is the number one internal objective for Rotary International as well as the District. Membership is the responsibility of all club members, not just the membership committee. If you value your Rotary experience - the fellowship and all that Rotary is accomplishing - it should be easy to invite people to your club meeting, service project or social activity.

December is Disease Prevention and Treatment month. As a district, we do so much work around the world to promote/support good health - exemplified in part by the article here about the Rotary Action Group for Family Health and AIDS Prevention (started by our own Marion Bunch as RFFA) and the work it is doing with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight polio. As you look at year-end giving, think about directing some of your charitable contributions to Polio Plus or to The Rotary Foundation to further our health care initiatives.

Jill and I wish all of you a joyful holiday season!