It's official! The District Conference Committee has decided that there's just too much risk in trying to hold a conference in person, so the event that was planned for Granlibakken Resort in Tahoe, will now be a virtual conference, May 21-23. Check out this brilliant, musical announcement with lots of the fun details about what the committee is cooking up for you!
"How 2020 Opens Opportunities" is the theme for this year's speech contest, which will mostly likely take place in a virtual space, unless the COVID situation improves in our area in the very near future. If your club hasn't already informed our speech contest chairperson, Bill Highland, of the date that your contest will take place, please e-mail him ASAP. Other upcoming dates for the speech contest are:
March 21, 2021: deadline to complete all club contests.
April 26, 2021: deadline to complete all area semifinal contests.
May 2021: District Speech Contest finals location and date TBD
If you are having any trouble planning, recruiting or are worried about the technology with a virtual contest, Bill has been hosting webinars for the past few months to help prepare our district as best we can. Reach out to him and he can point you in the right direction.
Save the date! Rotary International President Holger Knaack has agreed to be a guest speaker at the Sacramento Club and all of District 5180 is welcome to listen in and participate!
Our District International Service Committee created this fantastic video to share with you what the committee is all about and some of the remarkable work that comes when our collection of clubs work together to make the world a better place. Check it out.
It seems fitting that this month would be Disease Prevention and Treatment Month. Rotary determined these themes for each month quite a while ago, but here we are in December, in our 10th month of this pandemic, hoping for disease prevention and treatment. We have the very real possibility of a COVID-19 vaccine being approved by the Food and Drug Administration as soon as next week. So there is light at the end of this tunnel.
As Rotarians, we know the value of vaccinations, being such a key player in the Polio eradication efforts. Below you'll read more about our district's incredible recent success on that front.
While we face the likelihood of additional lock-downs in the coming days because our hospital capacity is so low, and we are nearing another traditional holiday time, where we will likely not be able to celebrate as we would under normal circumstances, I am optimistic that there is light at the end of this tunnel.
As you'll see below, many of our clubs are not letting COVID keep them from being a shining light for their communities. The spirit of giving is very much alive this year! You're all doing a wonderful job of spreading Rotary's values to people in need. This picture is from one of my favorite holiday festivities - ringing the bell for the Salvation Army.
I also have some sad news to share. Marilee Monagan, the president of Foothill Highlands Rotary lost a courageous battle with cancer yesterday. She was a real warrior. I'll always remember when she showed up at PETS just hours after finishing a cancer treatment. She was determined to win. Additionally, I learned of the passing of Elise Fong. Elise was an incredible life force and loving wife, mother and friend to many of us. The several miles-long drive-by parade in celebration of her life is one none of us will soon forget, and I am sure it brought her and her family great joy as she neared the end of her difficult battle with cancer - yet another disease for which we are still desperately in need of cures and treatments.
I do hope that you all stay safe and healthy during this very serious surge in the pandemic. And I hope that you're all able to make the most of the holiday season. It will certainly be one we'll not soon forget.
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
DG Brent
December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month
In spite of all the challenges of 2020, Rotarians are not about to let COVID or anything else keep us from service, from helping our community, our neighbors. This is just a small collection of some of the many ways the clubs of District 5180 are spreading the spirit of the holiday season and showing the greater Sacramento area what Rotary is all about.
Tis the Season to Give - Service Above Self
A joint effort of the Yuba City, South Yuba County and Marysville clubs helped the Yuba-Sutter Food Bank purchase a huge freezer that they desperately needed to help with the tremendous need so many are facing this year.
The Rotary Club of North Sacramento helped to distribute free turkeys to those in need in advance of Thanksgiving.
The Rotary Club of Fair Oaks dedicated a gorgeous fall day to making their community more beautiful, taking to the streets for a major neighborhood cleanup effort.
The Rotary Club of Carmichael spent time planting and helping with a habitat restoration project at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center.
This long line of holiday meals for people in need are just a small sampling of the 3,950 delicious meals served to food bank clients, senior shut-ins, local churches and other charitable organizations as part of the Laguna Sunrise Rotary Club's Holiday Food Outreach. Amazing!
The Rotary Club of Marysville usually hosts a huge holiday party for the Virginia School, which serves special needs students. While they can't hold the party this year, they're still providing dozens of presents and stockings for all of the kids.
If you missed our Rotary Reboot in November, you can still catch all the great lessons and discussions about how to make a more vibrant, inclusive club. All of the videos are available on the district website. Click here to check them out!
Point West Rotary Club is setting the bar high with their creative service project that gets right to the heart of what Rotary is all about!
The nursing staff in all hospitals in the State of California must don masks to comply with the state mandate in combating the spread of the COVID 19. This poses a challenge in dealing with children, in that a child can’t see the nurse’s full face and this can be intimidating for the child. Point West Rotary contacted local hospitals offering to donate photo buttons/badges to all nursing staff and management in the pediatric wards. The badge/button displays the nurse’s entire face with a big smile.
This is such an excellent example of creativity, and responsiveness to a community need. This service project even landed the Point West Rotary Club some great news coverage. Check out the story on Good Day Sacramento.
This could be an idea for other clubs still on the hunt for a way to serve this year!
It's official! We are spreading peace around the world from right here in Rotary District 5180!
As Foundation Month kicked off, our district made the leap to becoming a Global Peacebuilder District. With a $25,000 donation to the Rotary Peace Centers, we are helping to fund six peace centers at universities around the world. The Peace Centers are funded by the World Fund and by contributions from Rotary districts, or endowments from Rotarians.
Here's a little more about what it means to be a Global Peacebuilder District from our incredible Foundation team:
Our district had these funds as excess District Designated Funds, as we rolled over more than $170,000 from last year. For a look at how other District Foundation funds were spent in 2019-2020, you can check out our annual report here.
A huge shout out to Joe Scheimer, our district foundation chair, and his incredible committees who made this possible.
Congratulations to the Rotary Club of Elk Grove for a tremendously successful fundraising event during the most challenging fundraising year we've seen in ages.
The club's annual Beef 'N Reef Bash was creatively revised for it's 15th year because, well, 2020.
Instead of cancelling, they turned this beloved event into a "To-Go" meal and had an online auction as well. Serving 340 meals on Sept. 26 (with many going to families in need in the surrounding area), the club was able to raise approximately $40,000 during a year most people assumed we'd have to write off fundraisers on our long list of things that didn't happen.
“This event is our club’s primary source of working capital for the year," said Les Willmon, club president. "Proceeds raised allow the Rotary Club of Elk Grove to provide funding for a variety of community and international service projects. Over the past 14 years this event has raised nearly $850,000 for such community causes as the Senior Center of Elk Grove, Elk Grove High School FFA, scholarships for local students, Elk Grove Food Bank, Project R.I.D.E., improvements to local park facilities, operational costs for the H.A.R.T. transitional houses, dictionaries for 3rd grade students, housing and school facilities for children in El Salvador, furnishings/supplies for orphans in Africa, and restroom facilities for Iruri Primary School in Kenya.”
Congratulations to the Rotary Club of Elk Grove for setting a great example, raising the bar for all of us during this challenging year, and for raising so much money for their Rotary causes.
Join the South Placer Rotary Club for a 2020-friendly Halloween drive-thru.
Oct. 31, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the RC Willey parking lot
Roll your windows down about halfway and Rotarians will attach a treat bag with suction cups. Volunteers and local businesses sponsoring the event will place candy and treats into the bags as you drive though. South Placer Rotary has worked alongside local officials including the county health department to be sure the event follows the safest protocols possible.
Costumes and car decorations that don’t interfere with the driver’s vision are encouraged!
There is a voluntary donation of $5 per participant, requested.
To get more info and secure your tickets, click here.
If you'd like to sponsor this event and/or host a "booth" to provide tricks 'n treats for the kids of South Placer, please contact SPRCHalloween@gmail.com.
Help us eradicate polio from the world! We are 99.9% there, but it remains wild in just two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. District 5180 is giving an extra big push to end polio throughout the month of October.
Matching contributions all month!
District 5180 will be matching contributions to PolioPlus ALL MONTH LONG! All you have to do is make a donation, and it will be matched by the district, and then matched AGAIN by the Gates Foundation!
PolioPlus Society:
Additionally, we have established the PolioPlus Society for those who pledge to contribute at least $100 per year until Polio is eradicated. For those that join the PolioPlus Society by Oct. 24, Zone 27 will match your contributions with Paul Harris points! As a member of the society, you pledge to donate a minimum of $100 each year until the world is certified polio free by the World Health Organization.
Rotarians and their friends who join the society will be honored with a special pin, certificate and an “End Polio Now” bracelet which will be presented at your Club meeting. Of course, all donations will be matched 2 to 1 by the Gates Foundation making this an even better opportunity, as well as receiving Paul Harris Credit for your donation. If you donate before World Polio Day (October 24th), we will DOUBLE your recognition points.
How to join PolioPlus Society:
All you need to do to join the society is complete the PolioPlus Society pledge form, which can be found on the District PolioPlus page and email it to Robert Mutchler.
How to donate:
The easiest way to donate is through the End Polio website. You can make a one-time donation there, or sign up to make it a recurring donation, which will also automatically enroll you in the PolioPlus Society. You can choose to make monthly, quarterly or annual payments. But make sure you have registered and are signed in on rotary.org for a My Rotary account, to ensure both you and your club receive proper credit. Signing up is quick and easy.
You can also donate by writing a check to “The Rotary Foundation” with “PolioPlus” in the memo section and submitting to your club’s Foundation Chair, or if you want to set up recurring payments, you can fill out the Rotary Direct form, and mail it to the address on the form.
But wait, there's more!
We also have a special webinar scheduled for Oct. 24, World Polio Day. Join us to get an update on Rotary International's efforts at Polio eradication, and how District 5180 is supporting The Rotary Foundation. Click here to learn more and register!
Monday, September 21 is the UN's International Day of Peace. It's the perfect day to make a statement about what Rotary stands for, about kindness and compassion. Please join us.
It's time to reboot. Tomorrow (Nov. 7) we're going to get our district's club leadership together to brainstorm about how to grow membership and engage our current members better.
Some of you may have participated in last year's Rotary Reboot, where we focused on how to work better together. This year we are training leadership in the clubs on the best ways to build membership. The 3-hour training will be a combination of video and live-streaming events, and we'll be teaching principles for marketing, community service, membership, and other ideas to help you attract and retain members.
So if you're a club leader, this is for you. We're targeting presidents, president elects, chairs for membership, marketing, community service and/or anyone who thinks they can make a positive difference in their club. Bring the whole gang (virtually, of course)!
It's September, and so far, 2020 has been one challenge after another. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy, though. So, while there is no shortage of negative aspects to the coronavirus, I'd like to share a positive - something we can take advantage of right now.
September is Rotary's Basic Education and Literacy Month - a time to reflect on what we're doing to help reach this key Rotary focus area in our communities and/or internationally. Learn more about this important focus area on the Rotary International website.
But, in addition to that, because we're all meeting virtually, we can really use this opportunity to beef up our own basic literacy and understanding of what it means to be a Rotarian, by hearing from those at the top.
Rotary International has many people available to speak to your clubs. You could hear from those who know it best about things like membership, foundation, grants, club and district support, Polio Plus, and more. Plugging into the opportunity to have guest speakers from all around the world right now could really help build our understanding of Rotary and solidify the passion you have for this organization that I can honestly say has changed my life - and the lives of my family members.
If you'd like to have someone speak to your club, you can reach out to Nick Taylor.
Also, you may not be aware, but there's a Speaker's Bureau page on our website. Just go to the homepage, under "For Rotarians" and you'll see it in the drop down. There's a list of vetted speakers, many of them make great virtual speakers.
Global Grant Scholarships & Rotary Peace Fellowships
Rotary Peace Fellowship
Promoting peace is one of Rotary's main causes. The fully funded Rotary Peace Fellowship covers tuition and living expenses, increases the capacity of existing leaders to prevent and resolve conflict by offering academic training, field experience, and professional networking.
Up to 130 fellows are selected every year in a globally competitive process based on personal, academic, and professional achievements. Fellows earn either a master’s degree or a professional certificate in peace and development studies at one of the seven Rotary Peace Centers, located at leading universities around the world.
More than 1,300 program alumni are working in more than 115 countries as leaders in national governments, nongovernmental organizations, social enterprises, the military, law enforcement, and international organizations such as the United Nations
As our country faces trying times of divisiveness and racial tension, Rotary is about peace and bringing people together.
Our Peace Committee has been hard at work developing resources that can be used by clubs and individual members who are interested in growing and building bridges, to help ensure that all Rotarians know and feel our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
We've only just begun building that resource, but on District 5180 website, you can find a resource page that we'll continue to build out with books you can read, webinars you can view or attend, and speakers you can invite to your club to help us all grow and become better humans, better Rotarians, at a time when the world really needs people who can bring togetherness.
This page is new, but we are always seeking to add to it. If you have more ideas or suggestions about programs or resources we can add, please reach out to our Peace Committee chairperson, Lynette Anderson.
So August is Membership Month for Rotary. And with virtually all of our meetings VIRTUAL, there's never been a better time to invite a friend!
When District Governor Hastey says Rotary is "FFF'n Amazing," one of those F's is for Friends! This is the time to invite your friends to join us, to learn more about what Rotary stands for, and to check out a meeting or join us for a (safe) community service project! With virtual meetings, it's easier than ever for someone to attend. Just make sure you welcome them and help them understand what to expect.
Now, more than ever, people want to connect and find a way to serve their communities. Let's make the most of this wild time, and introduce as many people as we can to the clubs, and to the organization, that we all love. As this year's theme touts, "Rotary Opens Opportunities," but Rotary can also be a light and a spark of hope for people who want to be part of the solution.
Not sure where to start with a potential Rotarian, check out this web page with great information about what Rotary is about, and links to the various clubs in our district.
And if you haven't already, please make sure you add your online meeting information to your website. It's only visible to members, but lets prospective members know that you're still active, meeting and serving your communities in spite of all we're facing these days.
COVID Strikes Again, Rotarians Rise to the Occasion
Just when some of us were beginning to return to some kind of "normal" in the time of COVID-19, the cases have started rising significantly in our region, forcing the shutdown of our in-person meetings and cancelling events. Deja Vu, right?
I just have to share how impressed I am with all of the flexibility you've shown.
In the last few weeks, I've seen incredibly creative demotions done online, virtual fundraisers planned, and truly inspirational meetings and speakers all done via Zoom.
If you do gather in small groups for community service or meetings of any kind, I ask you to please, wear masks, ensure you're six feet apart and practice good hygiene. It's incredibly important that Rotary set a good example, but it's a whole lot more important that none of you get sick or spread the Coronavirus to others.
So please, continue to be creative and think out of the box, and if you've got an idea that could be easily replicated among other clubs, please share them with us, so our other clubs can also thrive during these challenging times.
Together, we thrive.
Thanks so much for all that Flexibility and your commitment to Rotary,
Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s president for 2022-23, a groundbreaking selection that will make her the first woman to hold that office in the organization’s 115-year history. Jones will officially become president-nominee on 1 October if no other candidates challenge her.
Brent Hastey assumed the role of District Governor today, but in light of social distancing requirements, outgoing DG, Ray Ward, had to get creative about how to best pass the baton. Here's what he came up with:
District Leadership Transition in the Time of COVID-19
Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are renewing their longstanding partnership to end polio, announcing a joint commitment of up to $450 million to support the global polio eradication effort.
Rotary & the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Commits to Eradicate Polio
Shanti Landon from the Rotary Club of Lincoln created this lovely video explaining some of the misconceptions about Rotary and what we truly are as an organization.
As Rotarians, we know the value of vaccinations, being such a key player in the Polio eradication efforts. Below you'll read more about our district's incredible recent success on that front. 
