Governor's Message - June 2025

HOPE IN ACTION and THE MAGIC OF ROTARY

 

We started the year at the District Assembly last March 2024 with the D5150 and RI themes for the year of putting our Hope in Action and sharing The Magic of Rotary. Our Rotarians in this district have done exactly that. Through last week, we have been working on, in various stages, 21 Global Grants. We have produced 55 District Grants. With our Interact Clubs and our brand-new Rotaract Club of San Francisco we have tackled 36 environmental grants. And in new pledges alone, we have committed another $3,065,000 to The Rotary Foundation that will provide in the future for an additional approximate amount of $76,000 every year – every year – to our District Designated Funds.

 

Think about that for a moment, if you would. That amount of future funding, annually, in perpetuity will continue to put Hope in Action and share The Magic of Rotary long after we’re gone. This is lasting, sustainable and Rotarians at our best.

 

We have celebrated at our first Project Fair with the Assembly last year – a model that Mitone has continued. We shared the magic at our Hornet Foundation Event, honored our Major Donors and Bequest Society Members at a paella feed at Toby’s Feed Barn and capped it all with a wonderful time at the Celebrate Hope in Action District Conference in May 2025.

 

Which brings me to share some very special people that were honored in Santa Rosa, including:

 

The Cliff Dochterman Award – awarded by the International Fellowship of Scouting Rotarians to honor a Rotarian who is active in Rotary and Scouting. Jeff Lowenstein was selected for this honor. 

 

We also recognized Cyndy Simms with the District 5150 Rotarian of the Year Award. Cyndy is one of those special people who never, ever stop.

 

Next was Keith Axtell. Keith was honored with The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service. When you think of a Global Grant in our district, the picture that comes to mind is Keith’s – and his honor was well deserved.

 

Every District is allowed to nominate only one member per year to the RI Board to be named a Service Above Self honoree. This year, there were only 121 Service Above Self individuals selected by the board, and our special member is John Barrett. 

 

The sitting District Governor also has the opportunity to recognize key Rotarians in our District who have done more than anyone could rightly expect. I chose, for the Hope in Action Awards, John Dean. John has led our district from 9 Interact Clubs at the end of Covid to 44 now, a remarkable effort that will pay dividends for years to come. Also up was Gary Chow, who took our Grand Slam concept and brought it to life. Note the increase anticipated in our annual DDF and know that Gary’s work was a key reason for what will sustain us for years to come. I also honored a married couple of wonderful Rotarians who constantly, year after year, share their time, talent and treasure with all they do for our District – and that’s Joe and Shari Teresi. Finally, Ron Gin, who does all our district video work, constantly is working on our AV, and is stepping down after 6 years as our wonderful District Finance Chair.

 

We are in wonderful hands going forward with Mitone Griffiths on deck to take over. I’m looking forward to what she brings to her version of DG and wish her nothing but the very best every step of the way.

 

And now for my exit from this role, which has come so rapidly! Allow me to share some thoughts. Someone, early on in this journey, shared that all the then up and coming District Governors should have one key goal to aim for at the end of their year. The individual said that we should strive to reach this point with the same hat size we had when we started.

I thought that was pretty good advice!

 

I also stumbled over a Paul Harris quote that basically said “All Rotarians are of equal value. Some of us just have additional responsibilities for a period of time.”

Now if I’m asked, am I proud? Beyond belief. For one very brief period of time I have had the honor of being a District Governor of a Rotary District. And not just any Rotary District, but Rotary District 5150, where we have 1600 of the best people in the world. We not only change lives – we save them. We don’t wait for problems, we find them, we solve them, we fix things – and people – that are broken. We bring hope and we bring action, and we make magic and share magic and create miracles wherever we see the need.

 

Am I proud? Oh, hell yes! But I also know that I just got to ride herd for a while. The work, all that incredible Rotary work has been done by you – the Rotarians in our clubs. That’s where the credit belongs.

 

This journey, this path through the governor’s line, has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Without Colleen, and Bob, and every single one of you in the clubs doing the work it would have been nothing.

 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this year for me as your District Governor all that it was. Thank you for putting Hope in Action and for sharing The Magic of Rotary.