Stories

Governor Filmed Presentation & Club Visits Schedule

    Hello Rotarians of the great Rotary District 5610, and I can say "great district" because I know each of you is capable of doing good in your communities. My year as your governor has just begun and I can already say "it is an honor to be your governor."  In 2017-2018 we will chart a new course in membership growth, increase foundation giving, and expand public image. We will embrace and enhance the Rotary Leadership Institute program, the Rotary Youth Exchange program, and all other Rotary programs that define a successful Rotary district. We can do this!
    I have requested that ALL Rotarians in our district view my filmed message Rotarians: One foot local, One foot Global. Club presidents have been asked to make this a program within the first two months. If you have not seen this, please go to our district website Home Page | District 5610 , the link is on the home page. This will clearly explain where we are going this Rotary year.
    As your governor, I'm here to serve you...not to be served.  As your governor, I'm here to inspire and motivate...not to dictate or mandate. You, my dear Rotarians, are the heart and soul of this great service organization. I know together we will not only succeed, but we will move this district forward in a positive manner. Our communities, and the world at large, will know that the Rotarians of district 5610 truly do "make a difference."
 
 
Schedule: District Governor Club Visits
 

CUSTER - JULY 17
RUSHMORE - JULY 18
SPEARFISH - JULY 19
HOT SPRINGS - JULY 20
RAPID CITY - JULY 20
CHEROKEE – JULY 31
SCOTLAND – AUG 3
ABERDEEN - AUG 7
GETTYSBURG - AUG 10
MINNEOTA - AUG 16
MARSHALL SUNRISE - AUG 17
CANBY – AUG 17
SIOUX FALLS WEST – AUG 25
SIOUX FALLS SOUTH - AUG 28
LEMARS - AUG 29
WINNER - AUG 31
CLARK – SEPT 5
HURON - SEPT 6
SIOUX CITY - SEPT 11
VERMILLION - SEPT 12
GREGORY - SEPT 13
ROCK VALLEY – SEPT 18
MADISON – OCT 2
BROOKING – OCT 3
CANTON – OCT 10
SIBLEY - OCT 16
WAGNER – OCT 18
TYNDALL – OCT 23
DENISON – OCT 26
PIERRE-FT PIERRE - OCT 30
CENTERVILLE – NOV 2
SIBLEY – NOV 6
YANKTON – NOV 7
MITCHELL - NOV 9
MAPLETON – NOV 14
WATERTOWN - NOV 16
LUVERNE - NOV 28
SIOUX FALLS DOWNTOWN - DEC 4
MARSHALL NOON - DEC 5
 
 
 

D5610 Rotary Conference in Le Mars

     The Rotarians of Le Mars are very excited to be the host club for the 2017 District 5610 District Conference to be held October 13 and 14 at the “Ice Cream Capital of the World.”
     Three distinguished Rotarians will be highlighting our conference with keynote general session addresses and breakout session leadership. They are Rotary International Director-elect Larry Dimmitt, PDG of Topeka, KS representing our Zone 27; Rotary Membership Coordinator Kelly Atkinson, PDG of Salt Lake City, UT; and our own Rotary Public Image Assistant Coordinator Linda Peterson, PDG of Rapid City, SD.
     We will be holding breakout sessions on the Foundation, Membership, Public Image, Clubrunner, Grants and perhaps others. General sessions will feature  Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, nearby club welcomes, awards, international projects, 4 Way test, Friendship Exchange and our DG Steve Harrington.
     Our showcase entertainment will be “The Browns”, a family gospel and patriotic music group from Le Mars.
     Most of our activities and day’s events will be held at the Le Mars Convention Center on the former campus of Westmar College. We have secured blocks of rooms in the three local motels, see the Event registration for more information.
 
We will showcase our community with tours of the city. These include:
   The Plymouth County Museum, a very large museum documenting the history of the area and filled with artifacts of agriculture, home life, transportation and community.
   Veteran’s Park, beautifully landscaped featuring memorials of the great wars of the United States, a very large flying eagle statue and some equipment of the military.
   Alley Art, painted windows, murals and walls facing the alley; many whimsical, some historical.
   Plymouth County Fairgrounds, featuring the Round Barn, a turn of the century constructed barn in a circle and also feature the Rotary Drug Store, our club’s largest fundraiser selling soft serve ice cream and our specialty root beer floats.
     We are offering a community/international service project, S.W.I.M. (Safe Water International Ministries). There will be two sessions offered during the breakouts and tours for groups of 15 to construct CPUs (Chlorine Production Units). These units will produce chlorine by applying electrolysis with a 12 volt battery to salt water for use in purifying water in third world countries.
     We welcome all Rotarians and families from District 5610 to plan to join us!
—John Schneider, Conference Chair jsswine@midlands.net
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RLI Facilitator Training

A Rotary Leadership Institute Facilitator training session will be included the Rotary District 5610 Conference in LeMars, IA in October. The training will take place on Friday, October 13, from 9:00 a.m.–noon. Rotarians planning to attend this session need to preregister by sending an email message to Larry Lyngstad lglyngstad@mncomm.com so materials can be prepared for participants. Previously trained facilitators are welcome and encouraged to participate as well.
 

Youth Exchange Students Arrive!

This year District 5610 is hosting two students: Madison Club will be host a student from Spain and Sioux Falls West Rotary Club will host a student from Italy. Also, both of those clubs will be sending students to those respective countries. All three host families at Madison welcomed Lucia in August.

PEOPLE of ACTION

     Let's show our members and communities who and what Rotary is! The new People of Action public awareness campaign is rolling out from Rotary now. Let's get ready! As we discussed at the last District Assembly, we want to prepare a visible image of Rotary to grow our membership. This campaign will do just that.
     Here's what we will do: attached is an information sheet on the campaign instructions. Send me a photo and 2-3 lines of description, and I will prepare People of Action ads like you see in the District bulletin. These ads can then be placed in your local media, on your websites, Facebook pages, etc.
     In addition, we will feature all clubs' ads submitted by October 4 at the District Conference!  It is simple, it is effective, it is ACTION!
—Linda Peterson, D5610 Public Image Chair  Linda4Rotary@me.com   605-341-5006
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Rotary Centennial Plaza in Sioux Falls

     The Rotary Club of Downtown Sioux Falls was founded in the City of Sioux Falls in 1915. In celebration of its Centennial in 2015, leadership created the Centennial Fund, challenging the members to raise $100,000 annually to have a greater impact in the community. In its first two years, the Centennial Fund has contributed over $60,000 to the Rotary Foundation with the remainder going to several selected organizations and projects in the Sioux Falls community.
    One of those projects is Rotary Centennial Plaza in the heart of Downtown Sioux Falls, creating in Phase 1, a permanent public space that will highlight the important contributions of Rotary to the city of Sioux Falls and around the world. Future phases will visually display the pillars of Rotary. To date over $50,000, cash and in-kind resources, have been contributed to the project. When completed, the project could cost over $150,000, leaving a Rotary legacy and acknowledge the people we serve.
    On August 15th, 2017, a groundbreaking ceremony was held with Past President Joel Dykstra as emcee and lead visionary for the project.

Membership Update

    The final numbers our out for 2016-2017 Rotary year. District 5610 was down 102 members compared to the previous year. We ended the year at 1,835. The good news is as of August 15, 2017, we are up 12 members. Nine clubs have increased membership in their clubs in August: Denison, Centerville, Hot Springs, Scotland, Marshall, Sioux Falls South, Winner, Brookings, and Downtown Sioux Falls. New members need orientation and mentoring to retain. Check out Membership Central. A great Rotary resource.
Fourth Tuesday of the Month - Jumpstart Webinar - Open to all  Rotarians! It is very easy to join our monthly Jumpstart calls. Simply do the following: Type into your browser URL Line: https://zoom.us/join When the box pops up type in 544896340 or if you cannot join by computer (the preferred method of joining these calls) simply call the following number: 408 638 0968. Calls take place on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 PM MST and 8 PM CT. 
—Carmen Hansen, District Membership Chair  605-484-6056  carmenhansen@rushmore.com

10 tips to attract and retain quality members

Posted on August 22, 2017 on Rotary Voices
By Tom Gump, president of the Rotary Club of Edina Morningside, Minnesota, USA, and a District 5950 trainer
    Since 1 July, 2016, my Rotary club has recruited and brought in 31 new members. Eleven of these new members are women and eight of them are under 40 years of age. The club has gone from being classified as a “medium” sized club of 68 members in our district to being classified as a “large” club of 93 members in just over nine months. How did this happen?  Here’s our tips:
    1.    Know your club’s strengths. If you meet in the morning, you will probably be a good fit for a 9 to 5 employee. But if you meet at noon, you’re more likely to appeal to retirees or parents of school-age children. If someone doesn’t fit your format, recommend them to another club. They won’t forget you and may send you someone another day. Let all the clubs in your area know you are looking for members, and they may send you some that better fit your format than their own.
    2.    Keep a list of potential recruits. It doesn’t matter if it’s a paper list or if it’s kept on the desktop of your computer – it just makes you think about those people and others that may be a fit for your club.
    3.    Make recruiting the top priority in your club. You can’t do everything as a club president, and knowing that will give you some freedom to focus on the most important thing.  Having new members – with new energy – will help you have more people to raise money for The Rotary Foundation, serve on your committees, and invite additional members/more smiling faces to your meetings and fun event. Let your members know this is the top priority so they can all help.
    4.    Create a letter that lists all the great things about your club. List your star members, the advantages of where your club meets, how many members it has, etc.  Make sure to tailor the email/letter to the wants of any potential new member.
    5.    List potential areas of responsibilities. Potential members will want to know how they can fit in and what opportunities there are for serving.
    6.    Be persistent. There will be times that it takes literally a dozen requests to get someone to a meeting. Keep asking. They may come to a meeting, or tell you they can’t join now because they are too busy, or they aren’t interested in joining at the moment. These are all fine answers as long as you keep track of them and keep in touch. How many times did you have to be asked? (It was over a course of two years for me)
    7.    Talk about Rotary wherever you go. At church, temple, work, neighborhood gatherings, family gatherings, parties, etc. You’ll be amazed how easy it is after you practice for a while. Getting a lot of “no” answers built my confidence because it didn’t hurt as bad as I thought and most people were actually happy I asked, even if they responded negatively. It’s always a good time to recruit.
    8.    Celebrate when you get a new member. This gets the club excited about getting more members. Our club makes a poster of the individuals after they’ve been voted in and we put it in the front of the room at our next meeting. We do the same thing when we induct a new member.
    9.    Realize there is no finish-line. Even if you are at the size that your club wants to be, there are always reasons people leave. And new insights always benefit a club. You’re either growing or you’re dying.
    10.    Be vibrant. Wear a turkey suit before Thanksgiving (it’s only your dignity you stand to lose), wear a lanyard with lots of “flair”/Rotary pins (it gets people talking to you), make outrageous centerpieces for your meeting tables (it gets people talking to each other), greet people outside the building you are meeting in and hold the door open for them (it lets people know you care).
    These really work. Try them out.
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Rotary Foundation Message

I thought it was important for District 5610 members to see Paul Netzel’s (Chair, The Rotary Foundation 2017-2018) message about the Rotary Foundation and I would also ask you, like Paul, to share your thoughts on District 5610’s approach to the Rotary Foundation. Remember the Foundation is one to key aspects of our membership in Rotary. It is how we are impacting the world for Rotary. —Mike Gibson, D5610 Foundation Chair
 
Dear fellow Rotarians,
   For 100 years, The Rotary Foundation has been the charity of choice for Rotarians all over the globe. Why? Because your gifts to the Foundation change lives. Without your support, Rotarians wouldn’t have been able to help a hospital in Brazil purchase the equipment it needed to care for tiny newborns. Nor would Rotarians have had the funds they needed to tile bathtubs in Indonesia in an effort to fight dengue fever. We have accomplished so much during our first 100 years, and I am excited to see what the future holds as we embark on The Rotary Foundation’s second century.
   Everything The Rotary Foundation has achieved is a result of your support. We’ve invested more than $4 billion in life-changing, sustainable projects that have made a real impact in communities near and far, like our ongoing campaign to eradicate polio. For more than three decades, members like you have worked tirelessly to host fundraisers for that campaign, vaccinate children, and raise awareness of polio.
   As of this writing, only eight polio cases have been reported around the world in 2017. Last year, there were 37 — the year before that, 74. Our hard work is paying off. But we need your continued support to get us across that finish line, so keep raising awareness and keep raising funds. Your efforts will help us continue to protect the world’s children from polio. The countdown to history is on.
   The centennial year of The Rotary Foundation ended on a high note, and it’s one worth celebrating. Thanks to the support of Rotarians around the world, the Foundation broke records last year, surpassing our fundraising goal by raising $304 million in contributions! Your support makes a lasting impact on our communities because it empowers Rotary members to continue promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, and growing local economies all over the world.
   It’s been a memorable centennial, and one that has prepared The Rotary Foundation to keep Doing Good in the World for another century. With your continued support, we will.
   I’d love to hear your thoughts about the future of The Rotary Foundation.

Paul A. Netzel, Chair, The Rotary Foundation 2017-18
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Current District Grants Status

    The deadline for submission of District Grant requests for fiscal year 2017-18 was July 31, 2017. Thirteen organizations within District 5610 submitted a total of 14 grant requests totaling $61,305! That is great news and shows that the district’s clubs are becoming more aware of the opportunities to partner with The Rotary Foundation for their local projects. The bad news is that District 5610 only has $34,604 to distribute for the 2017-18 fiscal year. This means the District Grant subcommittee consisting of Steve Harrington, District Governor, Mike Gibson, District Foundation Chair, and Bruce Young, District Grant Subcommittee Chair, had some difficult decisions to make on how to distribute the funds as all 14 grant requests were for worthy projects. The process of wrapping up the grant approvals is still in process and clubs will be notified as to whether their request was approved in early September.
    Remember that 50% of the districts giving to the SHARE fund of The Rotary Foundation comes back to the district in 3 years to fund the grants. So the more that our district gives to TRF, the more we get back for our own projects. Two types of grants are available for clubs to use for their own projects. A Community Assistance Program (CAP) grants and District 5610 grants. Both grants require matching funds with a limit of $1000 available for a CAP grant and up to $15,000 available for a 5610 grant. Make sure that you have someone from your club attend grant training over the next year and be thinking of how your club may be able to utilize a CAP or 5610 grant next year. Grant requests for the 2018-19 FY will be due on July 31, 2018. If you have questions about the grant process, or a specific question about a possible grant project, please feel free to contact Bruce Young, District 5610 Grant Subcommittee Chair, at District5610Grant@gmail.com or at 712-541-9822.

District Administrator position open

    Rotary District 5610 is seeking applications for District Administrator. The position has been vacant since the resignation of Ms. Ella Shafer. The District Administrator reports to the sitting District 5610 Governor, and provides vital support to all Rotary clubs in our district.
    Please help District leaders fill this critical position. The position description is attached to this story and available in Downloads on the District website. Please consider applying and share this with others who may be interested. Applications will be reviewed beginning September 1 and will be accepted until the position is filled. The candidate selected must be a Rotarian prior to accepting the position.
    I am available to answer any questions.  
—Dave Lorenz, District Governor-Elect   David.Lorenz@usd.edu
 
Upcoming Events
District Conference 2017
Le Mars Convention Center
Oct 13, 2017 – Oct 14, 2017
 
PETS & District Assembly
Apr 12, 2018 – Apr 14, 2018
 
District Conference 2018
Sep 27, 2018 – Sep 29, 2018
 
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DISTRICT LEADERSHIP // www.Rotary5610.org  // Mail: 5121 S. Barrington Dr., Sioux Falls, SD  57108
DG // STEVE HARRINGTON, LE MARS, IA // steveharringtonrotary@yahoo.com
IPDG // ED JACOBSON, PIERRE, SD // coach@pie.midco.net
DGE // DAVE LORENZ // David.Lorenz@usd.edu
EDITOR // LINDA PETERSON, RAPID CITY, SD // linda4rotary@me.com
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