Greetings from District Governor Shanon O'Toole! 

It’s hard to believe that we have completed 4 months of this Rotary year. I enjoy the reflections! We are definitely “Creating Hope in the World”. I am so thankful for our Rotary members and each club in our District. I love being surrounded by amazing people that have so much passion for service. I’ve had the opportunity to visit 27 clubs, the biggest commonalities are love for Rotary, community, and each other. Each club has their own personality and their own impactful service projects. October was an eventful month for our District.

Many of our clubs hosted World Polio events to help raise funds and awareness to eradicate Polio; including Pints for Polio, Strike Out Polio, Purple Pinky Day, turning downtown Evansville Purple, Purple Polio Cookies, special awareness meetings and guests, Polio awareness/knowledge Jeopardy, and even a great podcast in Greensburg (just to name a few).

We held our first family friendly District wide social event at Lark Ranch to benefit World Polio Day. Thank you to the Lark family for donating our entry fee and offering all 3 locations for next year. It’s awesome to see how each club embraces Rotary’s pledge to eradicate this horrible, preventable disease.

We had over 50 students and many volunteers participate in RYLA (Rotary Leadership Awards) at Bradford Woods. Thank you to the clubs that sponsored students. RYLA is life changing for the students that participate. Thank you, Loren Snyder, Joy Hater, Janie Whaley, and Rowena Cross-Najafi for all the work that you put in to make RYLA a great success. Our goal next year is to bring RYLA back to 75 or more students. Our Rotary youth programs are amazing. Let’s strive to increase participation.

I want to thank our clubs and members for their focus on Creating Hope in the World, specifically Mental Health and taking the stigma out of asking for help. Statistically, mental health affects 1 in 5 people and that number increases during the holidays. Let’s keep an eye on each other, our families, and our friends during the holidays. We have an amazing District because of our dedicated members and the hard work from our club and District leaders. THANK YOU!!

November is The Rotary Foundation Month. In honor of it being Foundation Month, we are holding our Friends of the Foundation event in Bargersville and we are launching a matching points opportunity. From now until the end of the year our district will match your TRF (The Rotary Foundation) giving with matching points. There are a few specifics for matching points to be awarded. 1) Minimum donation is $100 to TRF 2) You must let Jessika Hane (jessikaphane@gmail.com) know that you have donated. 3) You can donate at MyRotary.org, through your clubs Foundation Chair, or by mailing a check to Jessika or myself. (Shanon O’Toole/TRF, 513 N. Meridian St. Washington, IN 47501). We can only match points if we know specifically about your donation. Lets celebrate The Rotary Foundation and all of the great things we do by making your charitable gifts to TRF.

“Lets Glow together, Grow together, and Make a lasting impact through Rotary!” 

Sincerely,
Shanon O’Toole
Rotary International
District Governor 6580 23-24

Get to know District Governor Shanon O'Toole!