Rotary Club of Marana
                                                                            
 
With all members in attendance*, our guest District Governor Ellie Patterson delivered a message worth remembering: Never lose sight of Rotary’s local and worldwide reach, and our ability to change our community and therefore, change the world because “Rotary connects the world.”
Joining Ellie was assistant governor Marc Snow. Also in attendance was Vince Reilly, who recently moved to Tucson from Texas. Vince is a Realtor with Tierra Antigua Realty. He’s also a lucky fellow because he won the raffle and then pulled a “Joker” for half the pot!
“Happy Bucks” were doled out for “being in the club”, for Ellie and Marc attending, for “installing a telescope in Connecticut (Peter, of course), for good fall breaks, and for “what dreams may come.” We settled on a new date for Tour de Cookie, which will be March 14, 2020. Mark your calendar.
 
District Governor Ellie then spoke to the club about Rotary, our district, and our club, and the ways we can continue to make an impact and how we can grow our membership. At the district level, Ellie said she sees “1-50-1” – 1 district, 50 clubs, 1 team. A collective leadership team at the district level combined with individual team members will continue to propel Rotary forward. Folks join Rotary because they are people of action who enjoy connecting through fellowship and purpose, she said.
 
The question becomes: How can we grow more and thus accomplish more? While visiting every club in the district, Ellie said each club is unique, especially with its acts of kindness. It’s important, though, to ask ourselves, how do we attract and retain members? What would we stop doing? What would we change? What is the one thing I would do?
 
One way to attract and retain members is to remind folks of what we do to change our community and the world. For example, Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio globally have been largely successful but the costs have risen because vaccines have to be delivered to remote and politically sensitive locations. Local, district, and global grants allow us to target specific needs within the local community and across the globe.
 
In closing, Ellie reminded us that Rotarians like to “break things” – from breaking the seal of a polio vaccine, to breaking the cycle of poverty with local grants and community service, to breaking the record for consecutive years providing an aid station for El Tour de Tucson, to the MCAT student who breaks into a smile for being named “student of the month” by our club. With that inspirational closing from Ellie, we adjourned full of pep and purpose!
 
* David, John, Beckie, Carl, Peter, Mary, Rachel, Randy, Dan, Don, Denise, Lynne, Harold, John, Javier, Laura, and Bob (virtually)!