District 6420 NewsletterJuly 2020 (Jul 01, 2020)

New District Governor 2020-21

Congratulations and Welcome to our new District Governor Tom Brooks of Loves Park Rotary Club. Tom has been a long standing Rotarian and

we look forward to great things from him.

Dear Club Presidents and Club Officers,

We have turned turn over the Rotary calendar and begun a new year of service to our Clubs! Congratulations, and thanks for your willingness to prepare yourself with our checklists, trainings, and meetings. I hope you felt it was all done with a good spirit and for the benefit of your Club Members.

I will not charge you with a list of goals and tasks before you. You have already done your homework on those issues.

I will extend the hand of Rotarian friendship to you. I will promise to attempt to make your job easier. I hope that this year will stand out as personally gratifying to you, as a cherished memory that you will make you proud for years to come.

Best wishes, and do not lose my phone number.

Tom Brooks

District 6420 Governor 2020-21

815-608-6531

tobrooks@sbcglobal.net

District Wide Zoom Meeting for ALL Rotarians

To close out Past District Governor Bobbi Burke’s Year, we will hold the first in a series of District Wide Zoom meetings on Thursday, July 16 at 5:30 pm.

Literacy Awards, Rotarian of the year, and many others will be presented in a quick and fun Zoom Meeting. The link information will be posted on the District’s Calendar and all will receive an email with the sign-in details. It would not be wrong to celebrate with a cocktail during the program and perhaps you will join me in a toast to Bobbi at the end of her District Year.

Please share this with all the members of your Club and make this a special moment in the life of the District.

District Governor 2020-2021, Tom Brooks

District Grants 2020/2021

May 15, 2020 was the deadline for 2020-2021 District Grant Applications and it turned out to be one exciting day. The District received 29 applications representing 32 Clubs. Since that time, the District Grant Review Committee has met and approved all 29 applications. Congratulations to all these Clubs!

The District Grant projects for the 2020-2021 Rotary year address a wide range of local issues including health care workers, first responders, literacy, clean water, domestic violence, disability, hunger, technology, education, and poverty. Seven Clubs took advantage of the flexibility that The Rotary Foundation provided for COVID-related projects and are already implementing their 2020-2021 District Grant. The remaining Clubs can begin implementation starting July 1. We are delighted that so many Clubs took advantage of this opportunity to double their Club’s money and make a real impact in their community. District Grants are clearly a great way for Rotarians to serve others.

If you would like to learn more about District Grants and how your Club can get involved, please contact Laura Kann, District Grant Chair, at lkk1@comcast.net or 678-315-2406.

Rock Falls & Sterling Noon to hold Joint Fundraiser

Although delayed, our Rock Falls Rotary Club will again put on our annual Corn Boil to raise funding primarily for supporting our students in the community through scholarships, and youth exchange. This year we have also collected donations from our members to contribute $2,100 to the Rock River Christian Center's food bank as well as $150 to Relay for Life. Additionally, we are contributing $500 to the Jaycees fireworks display.

This year, due to the lock down, we are holding our event later....July 27th....and combining it in a joint effort with the Sterling Noon Rotary Club's pork chop BBQ. As you know, the Sterling Club lends a lot of support to the schools and community. We expect to have a good turn out as this event helps both Clubs to continue doing the things that we to do to help in the communities.

Foundation News

As we start a new Rotary year, there continue to be so many uncertainties in our world. However, the one thing we can be certain of is that, as Rotarians, we continue to do good throughout the world. RI President Holger Knaack has chosen Rotary Opens Opportunities as our theme for this year. There are many opportunities to do good through our contributions to The Rotary Foundation.

There are two exciting developments that have happened in the last week or so. The first of these is that Nigeria has now been declared Polio-free. This means that Africa is free of the polio virus for the first time. We now have only Pakistan and Afghanistan that have active cases. Our wish for a polio-free world is closer than ever to looking like a reality and not just a dream.