If you are like me, these are very strange times. It seems as though time is flying by and yet the days can get very long with news of new COVID cases going up, deaths from COVID increasing, our supply chains being disrupted and it seems there’s just not a lot of good news to get excited about. But there are some great things happening in our District we can get excited about so let me share some of the great things we Rotarians are doing.
The District was able to release an additional $19,000 in emergency DDF funds which funded 9 grants in response to the COVID-19 crisis:
Bellevue Papillion – Received $2,500 matching grant as part of their $7,5000 project to support the Food Bank of the Heartland.
Council Bluffs Centennial – Received $1,500 matching grant for their $3,000 project to provide temporary housing and care items for healthcare workers exposed the virus while in quarantine to alleviate fear and keep their families from being exposed.
Council Bluffs Noon – Received $2,500 matching grant as part of their $5,000 project to support employees of the two local hospitals affected by the COVID -19 virus with rent and utilities assistance, particularly in alternate housing
Fremont – Received $2,500 matching grant as part of their $5,000 project to purchase 100 $50.00 gift cards from local restaurants which will be distributed by the United Way case managers to families in need.
Glenwood – Received $1,500 matching grant as part of their $3,000 project in support of the Mills County Storehouse Food Pantry
Omaha West – Received a $2,500 matching grant as part of their $6,000 project to support the Food Bank of the Heartland
Shenandoah – Received $$1,500 matching grant as part of their $3,000 project to support their local food bank with meals for children during the summer and school suspensionsWestern Douglas County – Received $1,000 matching grant as part of their $2,000 project to purchase 800 pounds of meat from a local grocer to be donated to the food pantry for distribution.
So if you do the math, there is still $1,000 available in matching funds your club can access for a project supporting the COVID response. Contact Nicki Klein if you have a project. These funds can be used by a club that is certified for District Grants during the 2019-20 Rotary Year.
The Disaster fund is not the only grants your club can receive. The 2020-21 DDF grant cycle opens soon and your club can apply for matching grants that will be funded in early fall of 2020. Your club must get certified and two members of each club must attend a Grants Management Seminar to be eligible. The last seminar will be held on May 7, 2020 so if you have not attended one of the two previous seminars, this is your last chance. Over $57,000 in local District grants will be available and $57,000 in Global grants for qualified world projects. Please register for the seminal on the District webpage and contact Bill Harvey or Nicki Klein with any questions.
Our Rotaract Clubs stopped meeting when our schools closed but that did not stop them from doing some great projects before that happened. The Lincoln Rotaract club is very close to reaching it’s goal of $18,000 to purchase 120 wheelchairs for polio survivors in the Ivory Coast. They have raised $15,000 toward their goal and are just $3,000 short of completing their project. Many of the Rotaractor’s who started this project will be graduating soon so it would be great if we can help push them over the top and help see their project completed. Please help is you can. To donate, click here. Use the Gift Choice drop down box (immediately below email field) to select Rotaract Wheelchair Project.
Another project of note is from our Peru State College Rotaract Club. The club took on a Water Conservation project after the town’s water treatment plant was destroyed in last years floods. The students set up a project encouraging water conservation on campus, distributed water usage logs and monitored usage over a 16 week period. Unfortunately the COVID crisis hit and they were forced to stop after 5 weeks of monitoring. The great news is that they logged 75,000 gallons of water saved during the 5 weeks they were active. A big thank you goes out to former Rotarian and Rotaract advisor Elaine Hansen for letting us know of this innovative project and Yolanda Hoffman our District Rotaract Chair for all the work she has done this year.
It wouldn’t be one of my newsletters if I didn’t mention Membership! In March we all shut down in person meetings and I have to admit I was very concerned about our ability to “grow Rotary”. We stood at 1,921 members adding 13 members in March and 46 net new members year to date. As of April 30th we added another 3 members up to 1,924 members! We rank #1 the Zone 29 in percentage of membership growth at 2.61% and are one of three Districts with positive membership growth. The other statistic I am extremely proud of is we rank #1 in Zone 29 in Membership retention with 93.46% of our members staying engaged in Rotary! Your efforts to continue to meet online, sending weekly emails to your fellow members, and making calls to check in on fellow members is making a difference in keeping us connected and your service during this time is keeping us engaged. Thank you! Your clubs will emerge from this crisis stronger and more connected due to your intentional efforts the “Grow Rotary”.
| Top 10 | Member Change 2019-20 | |
| Lincoln #14 | +19 | |
| Lincoln Giving Spirits | +14 | Plus 5 for this month |
| Omaha West | +10 | |
| Lincoln East | +6 | |
| Red Oak | +6 | |
| Lincoln South | +5 | |
| Omaha Suburban | +5 | |
| Shenandoah | +4 | |
| Glenwood | +3 | |
| Seward | +2 |
You can grow your club even in a pandemic, Congrat’s to our Top 10 and special shout out to Lincoln Giving Spirits our newest and fastest growing club!
I want to remind all clubs that are not meeting online that the District will pay for a one- year subscription to Zoom. Like it or not, meeting virtually is becoming the normal. The Rotary International Convention in Hawaii has been cancelled but Rotary is holding a “Virtual Convention” where all members can attend to hear motivating dynamic speakers inspiring us to do more good in the world. Zone’s are being asked to hold Institute training for incoming District leadership teams virtually due to gathering restrictions all over the world and RI is making contingency plans for the Rotary International Assembly in the event 40% of the Districts in the world are unable to attend. Please think about meeting online, It doesn’t cost you anything to stay connected.
That’s all for now, please make sure your club’s electors register for the annual meeting on May 19, 2020.
Watch for news on our District Conference coming soon.
Thank you for all you are doing for your communities, your front-line workers and service providers, first responders and medical professionals who are doing all they can to help keep us safe. Thanks for being Rotarians and always looking for ways to serve.
Yours in Rotary
Mick
DG 2019-2020