Our guest speaker at our regular lunch meeting on August 17th was District Governor Renee Campbell, who was accompanied by her husband Ron. Renee is a member of the Rotary Club of Salem, and was President in 2011-12. She and her husband continue to operate the commercial printing business they started many years ago. Renee was introduced by Assistant District Governor Jo Crenshaw.
Renee referenced the Rotary Theme for this year, “Rotary: Making a Difference”, which was set by RI President Ion Riseley. She said that Rotary has been making a difference in the world since its beginning, and has been building and growing leaders for over a century. She shared what she described as three valuable elements of Rotary – Leadership, Service, and Friendship. She called it, the “Power of the Wheel”. She invited us to recognize and be proud of our contributions to making the world a better place for so many people and communities. She challenged us to share our expertise and our passion with others, and to bring Rotary into our businesses and professions.
Renee touched upon The Rotary Foundation, which she said was one of the highest rated charitable organizations in the world. She encouraged us to make it our charity of choice, and to give generously. We can feel like we “own” projects all over the world by virtue of our personal contributions. giving. We can change lives – even save lives. She praised the PolioPlus program, noting that, since January 2017, there have been only 8 new cases in the entire world. We need to go for 36 months without any new cases before we can declare the world free of polio. She urged us not to give up the momentum!
Lastly, Renee talked about membership. She noted that many people who might otherwise be prospective members either have never heard of Rotary, or have heard of it but didn’t know much about it, or knew something about it but didn’t know if there was a Club in or near their specific location. She said that people join Rotary because of the opportunity to provide local services and to develop leadership skills; they stay in Rotary because of the friendships and business relationships they’ve made – and because they are having fun. Renee encouraged us to help Rotary grow by inviting others to join us. More specifically, she asked us to help expand the membership of District 5100, where only 6% of the members are under 40 years old, and only 36% are women. She suggested that we look at newly retired people, young professionals, and men and women of ethnicities not well represented in our club.
Renee left us with this encouraging observation: “when we truly realize the power we have for positive change, we will be eager to share membership and service opportunities with others, and indeed have a responsibility to generations to come to see that our life-changing, life-saving service continues long into the future. The Power of the Wheel is the power to make a difference in the world.”
President Cheron presented a book to DG Renee, which will be placed in the Tigard Library. The title is “The Code of Trust – An American Counterintelligence Expert’s Five Rules to Lead and Succeed” by Robin Dreeke and Cameron Stauth.