DG Miller Makes Official Visit to Ankeny

District Governor Loring Miller and his Rotary Partner Phyllis made their official visit to the noon Rotary Club of Ankeny on September 8th. They met with the Board prior to the regular meeting. In his address to the club, DG Miller stated he wants to emphasis three areas during his year as District Governor - Foundation, Membership and Youth Services.

One of the goals of the Foundation continues to be to end polio. There have only been 7 new cases in Afghanistan and 29 in Pakistan during the past year. An article in the local newspaper regarding polio was suggested. Every Rotarian needs to support the Foundation. The District Designated Funds come back to the community. The District would like to encourage every member to contribute to the Foundation. If a member contributes $1, or more, and has not contributed anything previously, the District will give them 100 recognition points with their first contribution. If they contribute more than $100, the District will match their first contribution.

The District has lost 500 members during the past 5 years. We need to turn this around. Our youth is the next generation of Rotarians and the future of Rotary. He also wants us to focus on “Branding Projects”. Make sure our current, past and future projects are branded so they are recognized as a Rotary project.

Projects the District will be working on this year include “Warm Coats” which was highly successful last year and needs to be continued another year. He would like members to contribute to a fund to purchase braces for clubfoot repair through the Ponseti non-surgical repair system. Also, 2016 will be the 100^th anniversary of the Jefferson Highway that goes through Central Iowa. This was a Rotary project started by Edwin Merideth of Des Moines. The highway goes 2,300 miles from Winnipeg, Canada to New Orleans. Rotarians are encouraged to join the Rotary Fellowship to help put signage on the route.