January 17, 2017 – A report on the activities of our Rotary District was delivered to us this week by District Governor Sandee Brooks. DG Brooks retired to Hilton Head in 1999 after a career with Ameritech in the Midwest. Her family truly spans the globe since her daughter lives in Michigan and she has two stepdaughters, one who lives in Alaska and one who lives in New Zealand. Her boss at Ameritech was a Rotarian, but never asked her to attend a meeting. It was not until she became involved with a golf tournament in Hilton Head that she joined Rotary and her road to the district governorship has traversed much service to her community, our nation and the world. When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast, she and five other Hilton Head Rotarians traveled to Louisiana.
Recently DG Brooks has been spending a lot of time in Charleston. She relayed how her husband collapsed at the gym and was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with brain cancer. Neither she nor her husband had even a change of clothes, but local Rotarians reached out and gave them everything they needed. This outreach was a first-hand example to DG Brooks of the service Rotary provides across the globe – from delivering clean water through agencies like Water Missions, which our District supports, to providing clothes for children, another District effort.
This service to humanity exists in no small way due to the Rotary Foundation. DG Brooks explained that the foundation was borne in 1917 with an initial gift of $26.50 which means that this is the centennial year of the foundation and she encouraged each of us to make a gift of $26.50 to the foundation in recognition of one hundred years of giving to humanity. She also promoted the All Star Rotarian program sporting as she did her Converse All Star shoes. This program recognizes Rotarians who have exhibited outstanding service to their club, their district and Rotary International. And speaking of recognition DG Brooks took the opportunity to spotlight our own club members who have become Paul Harris Fellows and members of the Paul Harris Society.
Of course all-stars play on a team and TEAM is DG Brooks’ theme for this year. “T” is for The Rotary Foundation and one of the most important goals of the foundation is the eradication of polio. DG Brooks noted that we are 99.9% of the way toward this goal. We suffered a little set back when Nigeria, which had been polio free, returned to the list of countries where polio remains endemic with the reporting of three cases. Polio remains a scourge in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. As an encouragement to us all to give to the foundation, DG Brooks noted that for every dollar the foundation spends toward polio, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation donates two dollars. Even after the setback in Nigeria, DG Brooks says the achievable goal now set by Rotary is to eradicate polio worldwide in 2018.
“E” is for education. DG Brooks noted that fifteen percent of Americans have a reading disorder. Forty-six percent of Americans cannot understand the labels on their prescription medicine and fifty-one percent read on less than an eighth-grade level. This is an issue of great import to our district since South Carolina is among the lowest states in our nation for literacy
The “A” is for Alzheimer’s. DG Brooks noted that our district started the CART fund. Her home club of Hilton Head lost a member to this dreaded disease. That member was only sixty-six years old. She encouraged us to give to the CART effort from which our district was able to give $150,000.00 last years. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in our country and care for those with the disease costs $230 billion each year.
The final letter in TEAM is “M” which stands for membership. At the beginning of January 2016 our district’s total membership was 4,065. At the beginning of this year that number stood at 3,986. All the goals of service by Rotary are only possible through the members of Rotary and we must add members, DG Brooks said. She praised fundraising events as a great way to add members.
Of course, the district governor would be remiss if she did not put in a plug for upcoming district events. The 2017 District 7770 Conference will be held March 24-26, 2017, in Hilton Head. There will be a golf tournament on Saturday, a great dinner on Saturday night and closing ceremonies on Sunday.
And, of course, June brings the international convention to Atlanta. DG Brooks pointed out that it has been 100 years since the convention occurred this close to us and, since it may be another 100 years before this event returns, she recommended we each make an effort to attend. Among a host of events, there will be a baseball game at the new Atlanta Braves stadium and Jack Nicklaus will be one of the keynote speakers.
— Alex Dallis, Keyway Committee