Hi! I’m Rev. Dr. J. Loren Russell, serving in my first one-and one-half month as District Governor for District 7230 covering the areas of Staten Island, New York City, The Bronx, lower Westchester County, and Bermuda. We began this Rotary year by introducing a District-wide theme. “Not ME, but WE!”  Every club I have met with so far has been encouraged to engage their own members, apply for District matching grants, and collaborate with other clubs in our District. I also told them to look to qualify and seek global grants by collaborating with any of the more than 46,000 clubs in the other 528 Districts around the world to continue and enhance doing what they do best; help and serve needy humanity. I am encouraging every club to do likewise.

 

Through incredible leadership over the past four years, we ended the past Rotary year with distinction:

And, we began the new Rotary year with a bang!

If there ever was an activity that personified “not me, but we!” it’s being recognized as the leading District in our Zone (made up of twenty-two Districts and 1,110 clubs) with the largest new member growth, and then being the first District in our Zone to charter a new Club in the New Year. The honor of establishing the first club in Rotary International goes to Rotary International President, R. Gordon R. McInally.

 

(Update) I did some extensive research and discovered that we are not number 2  in forming a new club in the new Rotary year, but the 32nd new club in the new year. So let me put that in context; there are 529 districts around the world, approximately 35,000 clubs worldwide, and 1.4 million members. To have chartered the 32nd club in entire Rotary world in this new Rotary year still puts us in an elite category that we all need to be proud of.  What really excites me is that we’ve only just begun!