State of the District: DG George McKinnis

My fellow Rotarians,
 
This will be my final statement to the District of what we have accomplished and what needs to be accomplished in the future as this Rotary Year 2021–2022 ends June 30.   
 
I am very sorry that I have not met personally with all of our Clubs.  The reason is that my wife has COPD and could be seriously damaged were I to bring home COVID.  Therefore, I have only attended Zoom meetings with our Clubs.  However, some of our Clubs that meet face to face were unable, despite our Executive Secretary’s efforts, to meet with me by Zoom, so I was not able to meet with them.  Those Clubs and I are all victims of COVID.
 
Overall, we had a good year.  We brought to the District and its Clubs many innovations in our organization and in our services.  We increased the capacity of our District and our mission, to become a service organization for the benefit of our Clubs.  Due to our management reorganization, we made it possible, now and in the future, for a busy Rotarian at the peak of his or her career, to become a District Governor.  We did not have a single dispute or crisis within our District.  Our District staff functioned with courtesy and respect for our volunteer Rotarians and our Clubs.  We have grown substantially in membership.  These changes began when Mahbub Ahmad was District Governor and continued through Mary Shackleton’s year and quite a few were first implemented in this Rotary year.  All the changes we have made this year were with the full collaboration of the District Governor String.
 
We have functioned collaboratively with the District Governor String addressing all issues and changes and have always agreed unanimously before we undertook a change.  The District Governor String is the Immediate Past District Governor, the present District Governor, the District Governor-Elect, the District Governor Nominee, and the District Governor Nominee Designee.  In working closely together on all decisions, we have created continuity of policy and decision up the line of future District Governors.   
 
COVID restrictions brought in-person meetings to a halt throughout most of 2020 and 2021. Tragic losses of treasured members touched all of us. Faced with the choice to adapt or languish, many Rotary Clubs proceeded forward, learned and embraced technology to stay connected with their members through Zoom and Zoom hybrids.  We have provided technical advice to clubs seeking such assistance.
 
With these changes in our organization and our culture, we believe that your District will be useful to our Clubs and will advance our principal purpose, which is to aid needy humanity. 
 
We accomplished the following additional things this Rotary Year, under the leadership of Deputy Governor Greg Arcaro, who manages all District service functions:
 
  • Net membership growth since 1 July of 91 new members, the second-highest increase of all Districts in our Zone;
  • One New Club was formed bringing in 22 new members;
  • We gave total contributions to the Rotary Foundation of $250,046, of which $102,523 is to the Annual Fund;
  • We completed a major revamp of the District website with an expanded Document Center, new District activity news stories, and 13 Club stories highlighted. All resolutions considered at the recently concluded Council on Legislation are now available at the Document Center.  The content of our Site has been reorganized to make finding items easier;
  • A District Team headed by Vice-Governor Mahbub Ahmad assisted clubs with recommendations for hybrid meetings;
  • We adopted a District Ethics Statement and approved procedures for utilizing the District's new Dispute Resolution Committee to help clubs resolve disputes;
  • We adopted a District Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ("DEI"), obtained Board of Directors approval of this statement and held six DEI workshops;
  • We held six other training programs for Clubs and Rotarians;
  • We organized Rotary University on our website with multiple training programs that can be viewed on-demand; and
  • The Youth Services Committee aided Interact Clubs in Bermuda hold a Girl’s Empowerment event as part of Rotary Day at UNICEF.
 
We still have a number of Clubs that are not growing in membership, although we have increased our aggregate District membership significantly.  My old boss, Harold Geneen, CEO of ITT Corporation, used to frequently say to his subsidiary Presidents, “If you are not growing, you are dying.”  His statement applies to our Clubs.  Our Clubs that are not growing will be given the assistance that they need in the next Rotary Year by incoming District Governor Martin Schulman. They will have to put in more effort to grow before it is too late.
 
DISTRICT AWARDS
 
The following members of this Rotary year's administration received awards for their service:
 
Bina Ahmad
Rotary International’s Service Above Self Award was granted to Bina for her very many activities on behalf of our District and its Rotary Clubs.  This is an RI award that many Districts recommend Rotarians  for, but the RI Board of Directors grants only a few.  Rotary International sent me a very elegant trophy award that the Deputy Governors and I gave to Bina recently.  Bina’s commitment to our purpose of aiding humanity is what led to this very important RI award.  She is an inspiration to all of us.  Vice Governor Mahbub Ahmad, Deputy Governor Greg Arcaro, and I gave Assistant Governor Bina Ahmad her award in my home garden in Bronxville, following which we took her out to lunch at the Bronxville Field Club.  Having this award granted to one of our District volunteers is a great honor to our District.
 
The following District Volunteers are being recognized for Outstanding Service to Rotary District 7230:
 
Mahbub Ahmad: 
Mahbub Ahmad holds many titles for multiple functions, including Vice Governor, Executive Secretary and as a Deputy Governor responsible for a number of District functions.  Mahbub was indispensable and in essence my partner in carrying out many of the District’s duties and responsibilities.  His experience as a past and highly successful District Governor and his high-level business experience made him indispensable to this Rotary management team and especially, to me. Thank you, old friend.   
 
Greg Arcaro:   
Greg Arcaro is the first Deputy Governor for District services, many of which are new this year and all of which have proven successful and highly useful.  Greg Arcaro is the leadership force behind our having many more District services for our Clubs.  He is a Past District Governor whom we all at the time, appreciated for his judgment, couth and courtesy.  He nurtured the creation of new functions and new leaders for those service functions arising out of his immense experience in Rotary and his business experience.  He was indispensable to this Rotary Year’s success in reorienting our District to a service provider dedicated to the needs of our Clubs and, important to me, and is a long-term Rotary friend and colleague.   
 
The Reverend J. Loren Russell:
Loren is the first Deputy Governor for administration of the District’s Assistant Governors for Area Clubs, a new function that relieves the District Governor of having to micro-manage the Area Assistant Governors.  He has also been selected to be a future District Governor. Deputy Governor Loren proved by his management skills, innate courtesy and deep respect for all that he deals with, that our Area Assistant Governors can function well with a manager who is dedicated to their needs and performance. 
 
Lora Archer:
Lora is the Chair of the Foundation Committee for a 3-year term, a difficult and highly rule based job that she executed unusually well and with charm, competence, and spirit.  Her experience as a Past District Governor made her judgment an excellent complement to our existing management team. Thank you, Lora, we are grateful for your years of service and for being a Rotary friend.      
 
Helen B. Reisler:
Helen is the first Chair of the new Ethics & Dispute Resolution Committee that created the District’s Ethics Statement and the procedural rules for mediation of disputes by the committee.  Helen crafted this new Committee and has made it indispensable for the future operations of this District.  Helen’s intelligence, long business experience, and Rotary experience as a Past District Governor made her indispensable to the creation and documentation of this important Committee and function.
 
Mike Marx:
Mike has been our District Treasurer for the last two years.  He has provided top quality professional services to the District and has been a source of enlightened judgment in the discussion of our many topics at Board and other management meetings.  He was always available and ready to review and study any of our proposals.  The Board always found that his participation was essential and thoughtful.  
 
Eric Storberg:
Eric has multiple functions:  he has been Chair of the Budget & Finance Committee and District Trainer for multiple terms. These roles are both difficult and time-consuming jobs, both of which he has executed brilliantly.  His many experiences with our District and his skills honed when he was a District Governor, made his participation important to the success of this Rotary year.  The entire management team benefited from his balanced judgment was and his willingness to jump into a new project has been much appreciated. He adapted well to Zoom training, which requires technical skill.  
 
Christina Wellington and Cynthia Paulino: 
As Assistant Governors and Co-Chairs of the first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (“called DEI”), Cynthia and Christina have responded well to our District's duty to address and carry out in our District,Rotary International's profound  interest in DEI,  I suggest that the programs that this Committee has already offered be put at the head of RI’s drive for DEI improvement of our Clubs.  This is a function and a concept that our Clubs and their members need to act upon.  I stand in awe of how well this pair of Rotarians have taken a suggestion and rendered it into a permanent committee and essential function. 
 
Amir Asadi:
The Andrew Morzello Award for Outstanding Service to Humanity is a relatively new and important District award. 
 
This important award is granted to Amir Asadi, Assistant Governor and Chair of the first International Service Committee that organized multiple international projects that multiple District Clubs participated in that did a world of good to needy humanity. Amir began this service on his own before it was a District function and was highly successful in convincing multiple Clubs to contribute towards the installation of filtering assemblies for ground water that allows many people in Kenya to have fresh filtered water instead of polluted river water that is packed with germs and parasites.  After all, the fundamental and core purpose of Rotary is to aid needy humanity. In addition, he organized a multi-Club fundraiser for the distressed victims of the 2021 hurricane in Haiti.  A District Rotarian, Jim Kushner travelled to Haiti with 185 water filters and trained villagers in their use.  In addition, Amir arranged for Rotary Club donations that bought 20 boxes of needed goods to be delivered to victims of the war in Ukraine.  Amir then linked two Clubs in the District with Rotary Clubs in Taiwan and Japan to sponsor Global Grant Scholars in New York, to be hosted by two of our District Rotary Clubs.  Finally, he hosted a multi-Club fundraiser to provide aid to two Rotary Clubs in Poland for delivery to the Ukrainian war victims in Poland.  For our District’s first experience with organizing international projects for many of our Clubs to participate in, this is much more than outstanding performance. 
 
Thank you, Amir for your service to needy humanity.  You understand well that our central purpose and the main reason for joining Rotary is to provide aid to needy humanity. 
 
CONCLUSION
 
My Fellow Rotarians, I am grateful that you supported me in our quest to redirect and reorganize our District organization. We have made profound and multiple changes in how the District performs and manages its functions and have added to its functions.
 
It has been a privilege to work with you and your Clubs as your District Governor. At the end of the day, the most important organization in Rotary International is not Rotary Headquarters in Illinois, is not the many Zone and District organizations that are part of Rotary International.  The most important organization in Rotary is your Rotary Club and the most important person in Rotary International is the Club President.  Due to age, I have had my last senior role in the District.  My life in Rotary with pleasure returns to my Club, Bronxville Rotary, which has given me over my Rotary years, much happiness.
 
I wish our present and future Club Presidents all the success in the world in guiding our Clubs.  Our new District will be there to aid you and provide you the specialty services that you need.  My successor, Marty Schulman is a long-term and beloved member of my Rotary Club and a Rotary friend for many years.  You will find him an outstanding and empathetic District Governor that you can count on.  
 
George C. McKinnis
District Governor 2021-2022