On Monday, December 7th, I attended the District’s monthly Presidents call. Some of the highlights from the call were as follows:

• The District would be pleased to have a guest speaker from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee attend one of our Club meetings. Our DG mentioned that we may wish to have Courtney Doldron speak to us at one of our meetings.

  
  The mandate of the District 7070 DEI Committee is to: 
  • contribute to the implementation of the RI Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement in District 7070 and to the relevant goals of the Rotary District 7070 Strategic Plan,
  • enable District 7070 and clubs to grow and better reflect the communities we serve and to be inclusive of all cultures, experiences, and identities,
  • develop policies and best practices to make our district and clubs more welcoming, inclusive, and appreciative of each other,
  • provide opportunities to foster greater understanding and awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion matters, including DEI training; and,
  • initiate activities to publicly celebrate our district’s wide range of diverse members with an understanding that we are open to all.
     
• On Saturday, April 24th, our District along with 10 other Rotary Districts that are geographically covered by Great Lakes Watershed, will be participating in a clean-up of the Great Lakes and rivers area. I would like to see suggestions from our members on how we could participate in this event.

• On December 20, 2020, the Bowmanville Club will be hosting the “Online Rotary Concert for Feed the Need” for Durham Region - tune-in and make a donation. The concert will feature more than 20 performers from all different genres, all donating their time and talents to raise funds for Feed the Need in Durham.

•  So far, 25 Clubs in our District have donated to the Beirut Hospital Recovery and the District has subsequently increased their grant from $15,000 to $25,000.

• At one point, the ZOOM session was broken out into separate “rooms” of 5 or 6 presidents where we reviewed how our year was going, and our plans for the balance of the year.

• A number of Clubs have experienced member growth, and RI is up 25,000 members this year. (Wellington has six new members).

This being my last Bulletin letter for 2020, I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukah; may all your Holiday and New Year celebrations be fun and safe. All the best to you and your families for a healthy and vibrant New Year; and I’ll see you on Tuesday, January 5th, 2021!