District 7770 Governor visits our Club

August 22, 2006: Our club was honored with a visit from District Governor Bernie Riedel, who has been a member of the Rotary Club of Hilton Head since 1983. DG Riedel braved the plane and Porsche ride from Assistant Governor Rick Moore (Charleston Breakfast) to speak to us about his goals and vision for our District this year. He began by touting our new Rotary International President, Bill Boyd, who claimed to be an “ordinary Rotarian given an extraordinary task.” President Boyd’s Rotary theme this year was held secret until Governor-elect training, which revealed the “Lead the Way” theme to be upheld by the District Governors. DG Riedel was relieved given past themes which were a challenge to remember, let alone execute. And he has hit the ground running in executing this theme.

DG Riedel has already developed his strategic plan for the year and is ready to roll it out to District 7770. The plan covers what he called getting “back to basics”, and highlighted his goals and objectives through a trip through Rotary history. He emphasized fellowship, as this was why Rotary was founded. Rotarians can experience lots of fellowship at the upcoming joint District (7770, 7750) Conference May 23-25 at the Marriott on Hilton Head Island. He encouraged networking in our clubs as well; discussing business goes back to the roots of Rotary. Another area of focus is service, because Rotary became a service organization in 1907 with the completion of two community projects in Chicago. He has asked each Club to adopt a club from District 6840 in New Orleans which sustained damage due to Hurricane Katrina. President Amy was happy to update the DG that our Club had in fact adopted a club, and raised over $13,000 (largest donation to-date) to restore a public high school which was devastated by Katrina, including rebuilding and restocking its library through speaker gifts handed out each week.

Supporting the Foundation is the third area of focus, and DG Riedel highlighted all the wonderful things the Rotary Foundation has done all over the world. In fact, RF was recently awarded the highest ranking by Charity Navigator, but he didn’t need that ranking to verify what he already knew. Most importantly, he stated that the Rotary Club was the lifeblood of Rotary, and that we as Rotarians must nurture our clubs by signing up for volunteer opportunities, hosting families, and seeking out the best and brightest for its members. www.rotary7770.org

Submitted by Amy Riley, Keyway Committee Chair