From your Zone 23334 Calgary Promotions Team
Let's walk through the itinerary and plan THE best convention experience EVER! Join your Zones 3334 Calgary Promotions Team for our 3rd Zoom in our promotions series!  Who better to make sure we know all the insider details than THE Convention Chair PRID Bryn Styles, the Co-Host of the Organizing Committee PDG Mark Starratt, Z3334 RI Director Patrick Eakes and more!!  Join us Thursday, March 27th from 6:30pm - 7:30pm via Zoom registration to hear from those planning the entire convention and our Zones 3334 The Gathering!  Register for the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/ meeting/register/ oF1Dwo2bRLG31Dd7KWESdA   Yes, it will be recorded for those that cannot join, and we all know that we are better when we can ask our questions live. So we hope to see you on Thursday, March 27th!

Water, Peace, and a Conference You Won’t Want to Miss

Rotary has a way of taking you places—sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally. Over the past year, my Rotary journey has taken me from the rolling hills of Virginia and Tennessee to the historic heart of Turkey, all in pursuit of a more peaceful world. Now, it brings me back home as we prepare for the biggest event of the year: the District Conference. (That’s your cue to register—yes, I mean you! www.Rotary7570Conference.com)

Since March is Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Month, let’s start there. We take clean water for granted. We turn on the tap, and voilà—safe, drinkable water appears. Or we stop by 7-Eleven to grab a bottle. And while our teenagers might leave half-empty cans of LaCroix scattered around the house, for millions, access to clean water isn’t just a convenience—it’s a daily struggle. That’s why WASH is one of Rotary’s Areas of Focus, ensuring communities gain access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene education.

And if you think clean water is just about quenching thirst, think again. It’s directly connected to disease prevention—including polio. Contaminated water is one of the primary ways diseases spread, and without sanitation, viruses like polio thrive. Rotary’s work to eradicate polio has gone hand in hand with providing clean water, hygiene education and proper sanitation facilities, ensuring that communities have the resources to prevent future outbreaks.

I’ve seen firsthand how clean water transforms lives. In June I visited Rotarians in Uganda who we partnered with in a Global Grant to provide safe drinking water to a school.  The children didn’t just receive safe drinking water—they received a future. Before Rotary helped install a clean water system, these kids spent hours every day fetching water, often from contaminated sources. That meant less time in school and more risk of illness. But with reliable access to clean water, they could focus on learning, growing and dreaming of a better future. Water changed everything. 

At our District Conference, we’ll hear from Waleska Crowe about how Rotary’s WASH programs are making a difference worldwide. If you’ve ever wanted to know how a well, a toilet or a handwashing station can literally change lives, you won’t want to miss this session.

Now, let’s talk Turkey—not the one you serve at Thanksgiving, but the country I recently visited for the Presidential Peace Conference. Standing in places where history, conflict and hope intertwine, I was reminded that peace isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a process. And Rotary plays a key role in that process, building bridges like the one connecting Europe and Asia. Sometimes, these bridges are literal, made possible through a Global Grant. More often, they are figurative, built through Inter Country Committees (ICC) and collaborative service projects.

And just like peace, building a strong Rotary district takes effort, commitment and showing up. It also takes members—more of them. Every project we take on, from providing clean water to ending polio to strengthening our communities, requires Rotarians willing to step up, serve and grow our impact. We need more hands, more ideas and more passion. That means growing our membership—because every new member brings us closer to a world with clean water, peace and a polio-free future.

That’s also your cue to register for the District Conference—see how I did that?

This year’s District Conference at the Inn at Virginia Tech (April 3-6, 2025) isn’t just another weekend of PowerPoint presentations and rubber chicken dinners. We’ve lined up dynamic speakers, a hands-on service project and even a Beatles tribute band (because all you need is love… and a little encouragement to sign up).

So, let’s make a deal: I’ll keep working on clean water, peace and strengthening our Rotary community. You… you register for the District Conference. Do it today, and I’ll personally save you the best treat from the Cookie Table. Deal?

See you in April!

Our club members are pictured alongside the cargo trailer we purchased with the help of a matching grant from the District. This past Fall we donated a cargo trailer to Rocky Fork State Park, which is located outside Erwin, TN. Rocky Fork was one of the first state parks in Tennessee to have an all-terrain wheelchair available for people with disabilities, to traverse the parks' trails. The Rangers needed a way to transport the wheelchair from the Ranger station to the parking lot for use. With the donation of the cargo trailer the Rangers now leave the trailer in the parking lot all the time. As you can see from the graphics our club's name is on three sides and is viewed by anyone who comes into the parking lot.



Club members are seen holding $200 gift cards for Walmart. One of our members owned two businesses which were totally destroyed by Hurricane Helene this past Fall. There were 64 employees who were affected by this devastation. Our club donated $6,400 and we were able to receive a matching grant from our local United Way for a total of $12,800 for these gifts. Our club is continuing to help those families who have been displaced with funds which were generously given to our club by Montgomery/Rocky Hill Rotary Club of Skillman, N.J. to distribute as we saw fit. This club's funds have really been a blessing to those families who have received help.
 

We want your gently worn sneakers! Please bring them to District Conference. The rule of thumb is, if you would donate them to a thrift store, we will accept them.?Once we receive the sneakers, we work with the Recycle Sneaker Project and the sneakers are sold to microbusinesses around the world at low cost. This helps boost economies and provides sneakers to those who are in need of footwear. In turn, this prevents the spread of soil transmitted diseases.  Sneakers which can’t be sold are chopped up and recycled into playground material.  Last year we kept over 1,000 lbs of sneakers out of the landfill and raised over $500 for our local club.
Organized by 16 Squares, a satellite club of Blacksburg Rotary
 

Help us preserve the written story of District 7570 club history.  D7570 is fortunate to have a storage room at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg to house our records and memorabilia.  In addition, the district will save any electronic resources provided by clubs for future reference. 

This is a good time for the outgoing club presidents to complete a Club History form to record highlights from the previous Rotary year.  It’s also a good resource for past presidents to complete for their year as president.  Please take a moment to review this form and complete one for as many Rotary years as possible.  Forms may be emailed to DG Paula Alston ([email protected]), who will save them in the history archives room.  Form link:  Click here
 

Your Giles County Rotary Club met on Thursday, Feb. 20^th at the Pearisburg Town Hall. Laurel Travis (a member of the Montgomery County Rotary Club) is pictured with Rotarian Ken Vittum during her talk. She was the guest speaker who shared her experiences of disaster relief efforts in Greene County, TN.

Club members present for the meeting included (left to right around the table) Ken Vittum, Laurel Travis (guest), Gena Engelfried, Mikhail Mann, Carol Lavinder,  Hope Harrell, Susan Kidd, Mary Collins, Daphne Huffman, and Zach Smith.

President Gena Engelfried and Daphne Huffman pictured following Daphne’s pinning as one of the newest members of the Giles County Rotary Club. Other new member, Alicia Lane (not pictured) will be pinned at a future meeting. Welcome new members!