February 10, 2006

PETS Time has Come. Most of the Presidents-Elect will be gathering at the Golden Moon Hotel at Choctaw, MS, Friday, March 3. District Assembly follows on Saturday, March 4. A lot of work has been done on this – our first Multi-district PETS – with District 6800, the district just north of ours. PETS will be preceded by a training meeting for the Assistant Governors on Thursday afternoon.

DG Elect Mark Doiron leaves this week for San Diego for the International Assembly and District Governor training.

Good News from the Delta! The Greenwood Rotary Club inducted four new members this past week. Great going!!

February is World Understanding Month. There is so much done and so much more that can be done to promote world understanding and the opportunity to live in a world without wars. And it’s a two-way street. In April, we will receive the incoming GSE team of five Japanese visiting our district. At District Conference, we will hear from the five who we sent to Japan last year. We send two Ambassadorial Scholars abroad for study each year and an important part of their assignment is to visit and speak to Rotary Clubs in the countries in which they chose to study. We receive Ambassadorial Scholars in our colleges and universities from other countries. Last year, our district sent five ladies to India to assist with polio immunizations. Rotary Clubs from most every corner of the world have supported the District 6820 Rotary Katrina Fund to aid our people in need. Rotary Youth Exchange is one of the most vibrant friendship building, world understanding programs going! Young men and women from our high schools have an opportunity to live, study, and learn the language and customs of families in other nations. We have hosted some super kids from a half dozen countries in Starkville in recent years. RI President Carl-Wilhelm said it right, “if all the world’s boys and girls were involved in Youth Exchange, there would be no wars.” World understanding is for real in Rotary. If your club is not involved, get involved. If your club is involved, let’s get more energy behind these programs. They are truly worthy of your support!

Tickets for the Musical “Smoke On The Mountain” will be in short supply at District Conference. Ticket priority will be based on registration postmark date. Registration Packets will go out around the first of March.

Starkville Rotary is Working Overtime to make this District Conference one of the best ever. Jennifer Mann of the Centers For Disease Control will be the speaker for our Foundation Breakfast. She has just returned from the Sudan and will relate to us the inside take on what and how is going on with Polio. And the club has made arrangements to borrow an iron lung which will be on display at conference.

A Leadership Training Seminar will be conducted by Jim Stanley, our District Trainer, on Thursday morning, April 27, prior to the opening of the District Conference. The seminar will be held in the Brunson Conference Room of the MSU Hunter Henry Center from 9:30 until 11:30 with lunch provided. The Hunter Henry Center is located at the west edge of the MSU campus just across from Comfort Suites Inn, District Conference Headquarters. Register for the seminar with DG Stu Vance.

Notice of District Governor Nominee . Assistant DG Jack Forbus has been selected by the District Nominating Committee to serve as District Governor for 2008-09. Mark Doiron will serve 2006-07, and Merrell Fischer 2007-08. Delegates will be voting on the new District Governor and the DG Nominee during the District Conference Saturday Plenary Session.

February 23 is Rotary’s 101st Anniversary. How will your club celebrate this occasion?

Club Presidents … please make copies of this and pass along to those who need to know!

Yours in Rotary,

Stuart Vance