The District Conference, was presented, mostly by Zoom from 10 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Saturday, May 22nd and Sunday, May 23rd at the same time. For those of you who did not make it, I have provided a short synopsis as follows: There were a series of the commercials, made up by the participating Clubs involved – 10 of them and they were fun and creative, really effective presentations. On Sunday the winning Club was announced – East Sacramento. Then we were treated to a Foundation Speaker, Past International vice president Dean Rohrs who was raised in Zambia, from white farmers when they had their apartheid there. She spoke of the terrible suffering and injustice it caused. She became a Rotarian and has contributed to Rotary for many years. She said that Rotarians do a lot of good in the world without ever seeing the fruits of their endeavors - wells, vaccinations, helping hunger etc. She ended her talk with the maxim by Nelsen Mandela that the "long walk is not ended". Early on: They presented the Memorials for the Rotarians who died during the two years. In the District 55 died, 23 of them were past 90 and 2 were over 100. In the memorial presentation, our two very dear late members, Doug Haaland and Hamid Ahmadi were mentioned. Guest Speaker: D.G. Brent Hastey introduced the keynote speaker for the day, Johrita Solari of the Anaheim Rotary Club and a Director for Rotary International 2019-2021, and Vice President-elect 2020-2021. She gave a very inspirational speech about why Rotarians do what we do which touched millions of others through networking and listing all the projects that Rotarians accomplish around the world. She made the unforgettable statement that, for a Rotarian, there are two important dates in your life, “the day you were born and when you discovered why you were born”. Johrita predicted that Rotary will grow, particularly through the acquired knowledge of Zoom – with more international members. Sunday started with the thought that it is important to start your day with a grateful heart. Ronald Reagan said that the trick is not to "do great things yourself, but to get others to do great things". Then came the “Special Award” presentations by PDG Bob Deering and one very important award was given to a deserving Leigh-Ann Reniero as “Rotarian of the Year”. Now we had the exciting “Pinederby” competition in which Clubs entered small racing cars, some emblazoned with Rotary and Club logos. Let me just cut to the quick and tell you that our Club's entry (produced by Jay Boatwright and George Abraham functioned miserably in the race and got stuck halfway down the racing tract, but it did win the major award for “Most Outrageous” – see picture below. I would be very remiss if I did not report on our Club's awards this year: MEMBERSHIP - GOLD; ADMINISTRATION- GOLD; FOUNDATION - BRONZE; MARKETING - GOLD; COMMUNITY SERVICE - GOLD; INTERNATIONAL SERVICE - SILVER; VOCATIONAL SERVICE - GOLD; YOUTH SERVICE - SILVER; and the GOVERNOR'S CITATION FOR EXCELLENCE. Then the second keynote speaker of the conference was introduced, Brian Shul, a famous airplane pilot who flew the last sortie of the famously successful Air Force spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird, the world’s fastest jet, in 1990. Brian has written a book about his experiences name “Sled Driver” and is available commercially in bookstores and on Amazon. Brian talked about being shot down and was believed to be mortally wounded but survived after two years of being in the hospital. Not only did he survive, but he went on to be a pilot for the SR-71. Brian cites the value of his change of attitude when he finally determined that he would live and survive his experience. He said that then he had choices and made the choice not only to survive but to fly again. This experience gave him a second chance and unusual perspective on life. Don’t miss the moment. Brian has become also, quite a good photographer and showed us some spectacular and rare pictures of the SR-71 Blackbird in flight and in refueling. So there was the ceremony of the change of Brent Hastey from District Governor to Past District Governor, and for Desiree Wilson to become our new District Governor (this will happen officially when the new Rotary begins on July 1st, 2021.) Newly crowned Desiree announced that she is planning a fun year for the District, hopefully passed COVID, and the event will occur on April 29-May 1, 2022 in South Lake Tahoe. She also announced that the District’s theme will change from “FFF-Amazing” to “Rotary- Creating today’s Super Heroes”. Another tidbit close to our Club, Jay and Vicky Boatwright will be the Chairs of the District Conference! |