Welcome to Rotary District 5150

Rotary District 5150 stretches across Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties of the San Francisco Bay area. Our Rotary club members are people of action and inspired individuals who translate their passions into relevant social causes to change lives in communities, both locally and globally. Rotary International forms a global network of business, professional, and community leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve communities and form strong, lasting friendships in the process.


District Governor Message - March 2023
Dear District 5150 Rotarians,
 
March is Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Month. Clean water is a basic need for human beings. When people, especially children, have access to clean water, they live healthier and more productive lives. However, at least 3,000 children die each day from diseases caused by unsafe water, which is what motivates our members to build wells, install rainwater harvesting systems, and teach community members how to maintain new infrastructure.
While very few people die of thirst, millions die from preventable waterborne diseases, providing the impetus for our members to also improve sanitation facilities in undeveloped countries. Members start by providing toilets and latrines that flush into a sewer or safe enclosure and then add education programs to promote handwashing and other good hygiene habits to create greater and longer-lasting change.
 
These same hygiene principles also apply here at home, where handwashing is one of our major defenses against COVID, Influenza, RSV, the common cold, and a host of other diseases. Many food borne illnesses are caused by food handlers who have poor personal hygiene habits.
 
 
Featured Events
Protecting The Environment

Rotary shares an interest in protecting our common legacy: the environment.

More than $18 million in funding from The Rotary Foundation has been allocated to environment-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment gives Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.

District 5150 Blog
Dear District 5150 Rotarians,
 
March is Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Month. Clean water is a basic need for human beings. When people, especially children, have access to clean water, they live healthier and more productive lives. However, at least 3,000 children die each day from diseases caused by unsafe water, which is what motivates our members to build wells, install rainwater harvesting systems, and teach community members how to maintain new infrastructure.
 
While very few people die of thirst, millions die from preventable waterborne diseases, providing the impetus for our members to also improve sanitation facilities in undeveloped countries. Members start by providing toilets and latrines that flush into a sewer or safe enclosure and then add education programs to promote handwashing and other good hygiene habits to create greater and longer-lasting change.
 
 
 
These same hygiene principles also apply here at home, where handwashing is one of our major defenses against COVID, Influenza, RSV, the common cold, and a host of other diseases. Many food borne illnesses are caused by food handlers who have poor personal hygiene habits.
 
These are all opportunities where your club can engage with communities and its leaders as well as collaborate with professional organizations to provide interventions to keep our residents healthy and thriving. For more information on how you can participate in this efforts, please contact our District’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Rotary Action Group Liaison, Richard Chinn at: rbarry.61@gmail.com
 
Thank you for continuing to “Be The Change” you wish to see in your communities!
 
 
Yours in Rotary, 
Gary Chow
Governor, 2022-2023
Rotary International
District 5150
Congratulations to Tom Dawdy of the Rotary Club of Millbrae for being selected as Rotary District 5150's Rotarian of the Month for March 2023! Tom joined Rotary and the Rotary Club of Millbrae in 1980. Right from the start, he became the historian to record the events and projects offered by his Club and volunteered in many of these activities.
 
Tom also has a creative side and a passion for inspiring youth:
 
  • He and fellow Rotarian Jim Erickson created the Football Luncheon that honors the local high schools' Senior Football Players and Senior Cheering Squad members. The Football Luncheon is held annually prior to the final game between Mills and Capuchino High Schools and is Tom's way to give back to the youth in the community.
Apr 15, 2023
All 2023-2024 Club Presidents and District 5150 Rotarians are invited to attend an in-person workshop about District Grants and the District Grant application process on Saturday, April 15, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon at Rotary Terrace in South San Francisco. The workshop will also be available via Zoom, but in-person attendance is recommended and will be more fun!

The deadline to apply for a 2023-2024 District Grant is June 1, 2023. Now is the time to start thinking about how you will utilize your Club's 2023-2024 District Designated Funds (DDF). DDF is allocated to your Club as a result of your members’ charitable giving to The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund. Your Club has DDF — so spend, spend, spend!  
 
ROTARY DISTRICT 5150 (the Counties of San Francisco, Marin, & San Mateo) is tasked each year with finding qualified applicants for Rotary Peace Center Fellowships. Will you and your club join the effort to find the persons we need?
 
Rotary Peace Fellowships are designed for non-Rotarians who already have some experience in peace building and/or conflict resolution. For example: former Peace Corps volunteers, social workers, doctors and nurses, police and military veterans, teachers, etc. Since the program began in 2002, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 1,500 fellows who now work in over 115 countries. Many serve as leaders in governments, NGOs, education and research institutions, peacekeeping and law enforcement agencies, and international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank.
The number of emails that crowd our inboxes is sometimes overwhelming. And the inevitable result is that many people ignore most of them, running the risk of missing important information. The Rotary Club of Tiburon-Belvedere decided to do something about it by collecting all the Rotary announcements and putting them in a weekly email, giving members a chance to stay informed by reading just one message from Rotary on the same day each week.
The United Nations Association of Santa Barbara and Tri-Counties Chapter has awarded the 2022 Peace Prize to ShelterBox USA in acknowledgment of its humanitarian work conducted in the world’s most extreme conflict and disaster zones. The award, presented annually, honors an organization that advances the causes of peace, human rights, and humanitarian aid globally.
 
ShelterBox accepted the honor with profound gratitude and great humility on October 24, which is United Nations Day. In an October 29 letter to ShelterBox supporters, the organization's President Kerry Murray wrote, "It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations of a world with peace and stability."
Does the thought of swirl, sniff, sip and spit excite you? If so, you’re probably a wine connoisseur and will be pleased to learn that District 5150’s Wine Appreciation Fellowship is back. Past District Governors, Jeri Fujimoto, Riki Intner and Brian McLeran are spearheading its revival and planning four gatherings over the next year for like-minded Rotarians to focus on specific wines, discuss their characteristics and quality, and learn about different varietals and wine-producing regions.
Human trafficking is a cruel crime—one that exploits vulnerable people for profit without any concern for their humanity. It’s the second largest criminal activity in the world, with only illegal drugs exceeding it, and it’s growing. The United Nations’ International Labor Organization estimates that 27.6 million people are subject to forced labor, and 3.3 million of them are children. It might be forced work, which is essentially modern-day slavery, or sexual exploitation, and it’s everywhere: in our own communities as well as countries that are far away. The ILO reports that more than half of all cases are in wealthier countries and calls for an international effort to address and solve the problem. Rotarians can help by learning how to recognize human trafficking, finding ways to prevent it and aiding its victims.
 
To give people a greater understanding of the issue and ways to combat it, Rotary Zones 26 and 27, which are comprised of 30 districts in the western United States and British Columbia, Canada, are hosting a joint virtual and in-person People of Action Summit on human trafficking at San Diego’s Liberty Conference Center on Sat., Oct. 1. It will give participants the opportunity to learn from experts and develop action plans and playbooks for their clubs, providing them with strategies for protecting their families and communities from this heinous crime.
Imagine Rotary
A Message from RI President Jennifer Jones
 
As we look ahead to all the ways we can Imagine Rotary in the upcoming year, perhaps our most important task will be to build the most welcoming experience possible for every Rotary member. In her recent video message, RI President Jennifer Jones challenges us to engage with our members to ensure they’re getting what they want from their Rotary experience and reminds us that clubs who are welcoming and engaging will thrive. Watch the video and encourage your clubs to share it with their members so they can discuss how to ensure that the comfort and care of their members is a priority.