August started with some great news from our Rotary Regional Membership Chair Alex Johnson. He informed me that D5840 was the only District in Zone 25B to have ended the RY22-23 with a gain in membership. This is the result of an outstanding effort from our District Membership Team last year that I know will continue this year.
Being that it was also Membership month I’m glad to see clubs trying new things to encourage gaining new members while also focusing on maintaining those members we already have.
This month also demonstrated how Rotarians can become People of Action. Our Rotary friends in D5000 suffered a great loss with the fires in Maui. We heard their call to action and our Rotarians responded. Rotary Clubs and individual Rotarians went above and beyond to find the best ways to contribute funds to their Fires Relief Fund and Created Hope for Maui. #CreateHopeInTheWorld
My DG visits continued with AG Ronni Pue coordinating a club social with Rotary Club of Dominion and Rotary Club of La Cantera. AG Ronni thought it would be a good idea to present these clubs with the Theme banner. We also made a special presentation of the Rotary bell and gavel to the Rotary Club of La Cantera acknowledging them as the most recent club added to D5840. Members from both clubs were able to get to know each other and even started collaborating and planning other future events together while having fun. #CincoDeRotary5840
We also said goodbye to two Rotary Global Scholars. Erica McFarland sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks Ranch will be studying at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver with Maternal and Child Health being her Rotary area of focus. Gaby Trevino sponsored by the Rotary Club of San Antonio North Central will be studying at Kings College in London with Basic Education and Literacy being her Rotary area of focus. Both of them will be representing D5840 and our Foundation dollars will allow these young leaders to expand their scholastic studies and become ambassadors of goodwill.
And finally, I do want to take this time to introduce you to our new Mental Health Initiative web page that you can find in our District Website. Pam Blankenzee who manages our website content did a great job working with other Districts and mental health resources to put this web page together. It offers our clubs different ideas and ways to get engaged with the mental health initiative goal for this year. Again, D5840 is leading the way and we will be presenting this joint collaboration between our Zone 25B Districts to Zone 29 when we meet at Zone Institute this October in Evanston.