It's May and this Rotary year is winding down while those working on the next Rotary year are gearing up.

 

We had a successful District Assembly and District Conference last month.  Thank you to all who attended.  Thank you to all the hard working members of the Laredo Rotary Clubs for putting together an excellent weekend for us.  We really enjoyed meeting our RI Representative PDG Marilyn Bedell and her husband, PDG Ron.  They were a great addition to the weekend and gave us great insight to the wider world of Rotary International.  We got good feedback on holding both events the same weekend.  If you have thoughts about them that you would like to share please contact either DGE Debbie High or myself and let us know what you thought about them.  We had great speakers at both events and got some inspiring thoughts to apply to Rotary and our personal lives.  Congratulations to the District Exemplary Clubs for this year  Edinburg, Laredo Under 7 Flags, Brownsville Sunrise, Corpus Christi, Southside Corpus Christi, Laredo Next Generation, Laredo Daybreak, Harlingen, Alice, Harlingen Sunburst, and the Laredo Rotary Club. Special congratulations to our District Rotarian of the Year, Adam Lara.

 

PDG Dennis Roberts was our delegate to the Council on Legislation which is held at RI Headquarters every three years.  The Council met in April and the biggest news to come out of the meeting is that RI dues will increase $4 per Rotarian for the next three years.  Be prepared for this when the next bills come out of RI.

 

A couple of reminders, please update your officer and other club changes on the RI website if you haven't done so for next year.  Also check to see if your membership and Foundation giving goals have been entered into Rotary Club Central.

 

Please be mindful that May is the time to turn in your funds to the Rotary Foundation that were pledged for this year.  As of the end of April the Foundation  has only received 54% of the amount pledged by our Clubs.  If you wait until June to do so, your donations may not be posted until the next Rotary year and you won't receive credit for this year.  I know that the temptation is to wait until the last minute to do so but it complicates the accounting at RI if you do so.  Thank you for all that you have done for Rotary this year and remember that the funds raised this year will fund our District Designated Funds in three years for our projects.  The more that you contribute this year will provide more funds for your club to draw upon for those important projects in the near future.

 

I also just received the Membership report through the end of April for the District.  As of that date the District has increased our membership by 67 members.  You are doing a great job on recruiting new members.  Thank you for extending the Gift of Rotary to your neighbors in the communities of South Texas.