Greetings All District Rotarians:

What an exciting time of the Rotary year. There are a lot things happening in the Rotary world. Starting in January DGE 2017-2018, Jerry Milner and Susan, attended the International Assembly in San Diego, CA for his and 530+ fellow DGE’s final training and the introduction of the new Rotary President 2017-2018, Ian Riseley of Victoria, Australia, and the new Rotary theme of Rotary Making a Difference. Congratulations to DGE Jerry and Susan for completing this important event for 2017-2018 District Governors. Also in January Scott McLaughlin of the Kearney Dawn Club, was nominated and accepted the position of District Governor 2019-2020. Congratulations Scott.

On February 11, the District and the North Platte Rotary clubs hosted a membership cadre seminar in North Platte, NE. The meeting was led by PDG Dick Jones, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Twenty-three Rotarians from eleven different clubs were in attendance. The day was filled with sharing and learning. The seminar emphasized the development of a definitive plan that is shared with all club members. This concept was considered the best path to membership growth and retention. Thank you goes out to all those that attended this important training seminar. This was the third Cadre training session sponsored by District 5630 and there are plans to continue with this type training in the future.

February 24-26,2017 was the annual High Country PETS for Rotary Districts 5390, 5440, 5450, 5470, and 5630. The workshop was for all President-Elects from the states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. This annual event is to help all Rotary Club President-elects prepare for their year as President of their local Rotary Club. The location was the Renaissance Hotel, Denver, Colorado. Thank you to all the President-Elects that made the trip to this great learning event. The weather was an issue, but all Districts had a very good attendance percentage. A special thanks to DGE Jerry Milner, PDG’s Dian Edwards and Don Peterson, DGN Dale Schultz, Scott McLaughlin DGND, Loraine Lawler, JoAnne Hoatson DAA, and Bob Taylor for volunteering your time to help train the future leaders of Rotary.

March 11, 2017 is District Spring Assembly, UNK, WSTC building, room 254W (2nd floor of the building). This is when all clubs attend their Grant Training. One member of each club must attend this training in order to be eligible for DDF grant funds. This training will be led by District Foundation Chair 2016-2017, Scott McLaughlin. Also presenting will be 2016-2017 Membership Chair, Don Peterson on Membership Tools, and 2016-2019 Public Image Chair, Cheryl Bryan and DGN Dale Schultz on Public Image Tools. Followed by DG Tom Mortimer on the District Conference and DGE 2017-2018 Jerry Milner with the final word.  Lunch will be provided for all the attendees at the UNK location. Please RSVP to PDG Dian Edward at dg5630.2012@gmail.com with your name and the club you represent. Hope you all have someone attend.

March is also RYLA registration month. Since there has been some issue with the registration process, it has been extended to 3/24/2017. You can register your participants at www.greatplainsryla.org.  RYLA is July 16 – July 21st.  The new registrar is Kali Blevins and hopefully her information will be updated on the website. Glenn Knuth will continue as the RYLA Chair. I know that we need all clubs to step up with providing Senior Counselors for this very worthwhile event for developing our young leaders. Even if you can only attend one day, it will help the camp.  Please contact Glenn Knuth, DGE Jerry Milner or myself. Remember there is some paperwork to complete as a Senior Counselor. Thanks for stepping up and helping our youth. Rotary Serving Humanity.

Finally, I would like to invite all the Rotarians from District 5630 to attend the celebration of Club and District projects and update to your Presidential Citation. We also will be celebrating the Rotary Foundation 100th Anniversary. This exciting event will take place in St Paul, Nebraska at the St Paul Civic Center (which St Paul Rotary Club  provided $100,000 of seed money to build). The St Paul Club and District have planned a fun day on Thursday and PDG dinner at Milleta Vista Winery in the evening, which will be open to all that would like to enjoy the dinner and beautiful setting overlooking the Loup River and valley. The cost is $30.00 and you must RSVP to JoAnne Hoatson DAA, when you register for the conference. Friday and Saturday will be filled with great speakers, panel group, catered meals and a 100th year celebration of the Rotary Foundation. I hope you all can help us celebrate in St Paul. Registration will be on the District Website or contact JoAnne Hoatson District Administrative Assistant, at daa@5630mail.org.

Thanks again for being a Rotarian and Serving Humanity.

DG Tom Mortimer