District Governor Louis Turpin Visits Our Club

District Governor Louis Turpin and Assistant District Governor Amador Laput visited our club on October 25, 2016.

AG Laput introduced the District Governor who is a retired architect and a very involved Rotarian. DG Turpin is the "Shelter Box" program's representative to Rotary, he is on numerous boards, and he works with Nobel Prize Peace Laureates. DG Turpin began by saying he was in our shoes not too long ago with regard to the District. “I had no idea who the District was.”, he said. He has since found out. The district consists of people who are there to support Rotary clubs with service projects they do in their local communities and the world community.

“Rotary is an amazing organization” DG Turpin said, “and we should all be very proud of the way we serve humanity”. Many other organizations focus on a single aspect of service. Rotary doesn't do that. Rotary has six official areas of focus for how we serve humanity. Those areas are: Fighting diseases (the Polio-Plus program), Maternal and Child Health, Fresh Water and Sanitation, Education and Literacy, Economic Development throughout the developing world, and finally Peace and Conflict Resolution. Rotary was instrumental in helping form the United Nations. Rotary sees a need and figures a way to solve it.

DG Turpin said that he was aware of our club and the great things we do in community. He then challenged our club to step back and take a look at how we could take on new service projects that would benefit not only our local communities, but also benefit the world.

DG Turpin spoke about the word team. The word TEAM means: Together Everyone Achieves More. Great things can be achieved working with the District and our club leadership.

Shelter Box is a program that was started a Rotary Club service project. Shelter Box is an international relief organization that provides a box that contains shelter and other supplies to provide hope and dignity to the families who have lost everything during a disaster. Most recently, shelter boxes were in Haiti even before the latest hurricane arrived.

DG Turpin handed out a brochure which listed the District leadership team and the District goals for the coming year. The main goal of the District is for each club to have a “Hands-on” service project does “good” whether in the local community or abroad. A visible service project is one way attract the attention of your community and let them know what Rotary is about. A visible service project is also a way of attracting new members.

This year's District theme is “Do Good Have Fun We are Rotary” which is a good way to quickly describe what Rotary does.