Our program today is DG Jim Henry, who kicked off his official visit to South Austin Rotary by presenting Paul Harris Fellow pins to Erica Garza +4, Blair Williamson +4 and +6 and Jeff Christner +1. Congratulations to all for their contributions to the Rotary Foundation!
Then, DG Jim presented Immediate Past President Lynne Lightsey with banners for achievements during her year as president. For 2018-2019, the South Austin Rotary Club earned recognition for being an “EREY” (Every Rotarian, Every Year) Club and a 100% Foundation Giving Club for our contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Congratulations South Austin Rotary!
DG Jim is member of the Northwest Austin Rotary Club. He is a graduate of the Baylor Law School. In his Philosophy 101 on the first day of class at Baylor, the professor entered and announced there would be a test that day. He wrote a question on the blackboard and said the class was to write a report on i.t and we’ll discuss the reports at the next class. The question was, “Why?” It turned out everyone failed the test. The answer was “Because” – it’s why we do what we do not what we do. And, at International Assembly of District Governors Elect from all over the world then incoming RI President, Mark Maloney talked about the theme for the year, “Rotary Connects the World,” and challenged everyone to come up with their own themes. DG Jim’s theme is “Think Rotarian.” DG Jim then posed three questions for us to ponder:
1) What is your passion in Rotary? What keeps you coming back? Service projects? The Foundation and its programs? Fellowship?
2) Why is that your passion? Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your live are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” For Rotarian, those days are the day you join and the day you become a ROTARIAN. Is your passion membership? Giving to the Rotary Foundation? This makes a difference, e.g., a minimum of $100 a year is only $2 a day, which can provide six polio vaccines saving six lives, textbooks for and elementary schools school in Zambia or business courses for small business people. And, the dollars donated to the foundation come back to the club every three years in the form of DAP grants, which can then be used for community projects. You can create everlasting change! When members become ROTARIANS, we are unique. It’s why we do what we do.
3) Now, what are you going to do about it?
DG Jim also announced that our district received a Recognition Award for our district giving for Rotary year 2018-2019, and we received recognition for First in our Zone for Annual Giving. The total was $753,842. We also received a recognition for First in Annual Fund Per Capita Giving with a per capita of $306.94. Our district was also recognized for Second in Total Giving of $1,004,530.
