The Mount Washington Hotel was the setting for the 2018 District Conference, The Rotary Summit May 4-6, 2018. Our District Conference was unique this year as it was a 5-District Conference including adjacent Districts 7790, 7850, 7910 and 7930. These Districts cover much of Maine, NH and VT, along with parts of MA and Quebec. Westbrook-Gorham Rotary members Jason Beever, Henry Saunders and Christine Johnson attended. They were joined by Karen Marie Reilly and Linda Beever.
Jason Beever & Christine Johnson in the lobby
of the Mount Washington Resort
The standard agenda of speakers and breakout sessions was enhanced with a family program designed for children on both Friday and Saturday, an Interact Program on Saturday, and a Youth Exchange Program based at the AMC Highland Center Lodge at Crawford Notch. All of these programs intersected with the General Program at various times over the weekend, the most notable of which was the Rise Against Hunger food packaging project on Saturday afternoon. Rotarians, Interactors, Youth Exchange participants, and family members young and old helped measure, weigh, seal, label and box 20,000 meals. Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization that distributes food to the world’s most vulnerable. Their goal is to end hunger by 2030. https://www.riseagainsthunger.org/
Rise Against Hunger Food Packaging
The opening session keynote speaker on Friday afternoon was Shirley-Pat Chamberlain, a youthful and passionate literacy advocate from British Columbia. She created the Write2Read Project (https://www.writetoreadbc.com/) with the objective of increasing aboriginal literacy one Learning Center at a time. Shirley-Pat spoke at Northeast PETs in 2017 where a spontaneous outpouring of donations was leveraged with funds from the 8 District and Foundation matches to become enough to build another library. Her work demonstrates again and again the power of Rotary.
The Friday evening keynote speaker was Rotary International President Ian Riseley. Prior to his presentation, our own Henry Saunders had an opportunity to speak with him! Ian mentioned that he normally does not attend District Conferences since there are far too many Districts for him to be able to attend them all. However, he was interested in joining our multi-district conference because he saw it as a possible model for the future, a means to have a more impactful conference, especially in regions of the world where Districts are smaller and/or shrinking. He gave a lighthearted commentary on the process by which he selected his theme – Rotary Making A Difference - and the accompanying logo. Apparently, it was a quick decision on his part without much in the way of branding input or discussion with RI staff as would normally be the case. During his talk, he placed emphasis on Peace as Rotary’s next big challenge as we finally eradicate Polio once and for all. During this Rotary year, he will have hosted six presidential peace conferences exploring the connection between peace and Rotary’s five other areas of focus plus environmental sustainability.
Henry Saunders & RI President Ian Riseley
On Saturday, we heard from President’s Representative Karen Wentz at breakfast. Saturday also brought two break-out sessions which covered topics like Vibrant Clubs, Opioid Crisis, Polio, Youth Exchange, and Leadership. District Business Meetings were held with award presentations. The day closed with an inspirational speech by Travis Roy (https://www.travisroyfoundation.org/) and a variety of musical entertainment.
Travis Roy
Sunday morning’s jazz breakfast was followed by a memorial service for all Rotarians who passed during the past year. The brunch keynote was given by Razia Jan, Founder and President of Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation (https://raziasrayofhope.org/). Born in Afghanistan, Razia moved to the US in 1970. She was the proprietor of a small tailoring business for 20 years and served as President of the Duxbury (MA) Rotary Club. She has been involved with many humanitarian efforts over the years including sending care packages to US troops in Afghanistan and coordinating delivery of 30,000 pairs of shoes to needy Afghan children. In 2016, she was awarded Rotary’s Service Above Self Award. Her current focus is on empowering girls and young women through education in community-based schools.
In closing, the five District Governors each offered a few words about their years and the conference. They each thanked the large number of individuals across several working committees that pulled this amazing Summit together.
Christine Johnson, Henry Saunders, Karen Marie Reilly,
Linda Beever, Jason Beever