Rotary International District 5220

Fiona and Buttercup (Drinky Donks) will be attending Extraordinary Reality....because, well it has been an extraordinary year and these cutie's put a different spin on reality. Make your reservations today, www.MaderaHospital.org/Extraordinary.

Bob Melrose and new President Elbert Holman spent the evening with the Stockton Ports collecting toys for the Stockton Police Department. Beautiful night! Oth...er guys ahead but we got to see our, hopefully, newest member to Stockton Sunrise Rotary, Christine Bowling! Oh yeah-Happy Birthday Christine!!!!!!!!!

There has been a crime committed at the Rotary Club of Stockton! Newly sworn in President Elbert Holman had to call Police Chief Jones for assistance!

I want to give a huge thank you to my board for all of your support during my year as President. You are all amazing. And a special kudos to Sarah for her tirel...ess work and great presentation of all of the projects completed this year. Thank you to the club for allowing me the honor to serve as your 2020-2021 President. See more

Today we kicked out President Darlene Henson and kicked in President elect Elbert Holman. As Darlene’s last duties she was able to present, in person, new memb...er Jennifer DeAngelo, with her new member packet and first PHF! She also shared a picture of the current toys our club has collected for the police department as well as presented Elbert Holman with his bell and President pin. A PowerPoint of Darlene’s amazing year was presented. Wonderful lady and a wonderful year!

This past weekend, our Assistant District Governor, Chris Currie, hosted a BBQ with the Presidents from Area 6. Our District Governor and District Governor Elect were also both in attendance. It was a great night of fellowship.

Our own wonderful Jo Moya passed last night due to Covid. Jo was a kind, generous, hard working, dedicated father, husband and Rotarian. He was responsible ...for all the successful international grants our club put in place. Children in India have hospital care because of his efforts. Jo will be missed terribly by all that knew him. Our prayers go out to his family at this time.

Our district has lost a good man to this pandemic.

This morning our 5220 Nominating Committee met via Zoom. We spent over an hour in interview with Waqar and his representative Chris Currie. Through a unanimous opinion the Nominating Committee selected Waqar Rizvi to by your District Governor for the Rotary year 2023-2024. The committee agreed Waqar has shown a passion and understanding of Rotary both at home and abroad and has supported his club and our district for over ten years as a stellar Rotarian. His goals include mai...ntaining continuity among the Governor line, increasing our impact and our community awareness, encouraging clubs to work together in the district and in their areas, developing a better collaboration between our clubs and the other non-profits in our communities. As we support those non-profits, perhaps they can better support our clubs. He is a good listener, calmly leads through challenging events, is organized and, most important to me, he always follows through. He believes in team development and is a team player himself. He states we often hire for skill, but we fire for lack of character and insists character is the number one trait for his team members. His district teams will be ethical, motivational and inspirational. Although all Rotary Areas of Focus are important, he is humbled by what he sees in developing countries which makes Water and Sanitation his particular passion. He states fellowship and Rotary knowledge is the glue to our organization, and bringing all of our newest members to a better understanding of the fundamentals of Rotary should be every club’s goal. He states that family is everything, and bringing our families into Rotary, as well as continuing to develop more Rotaract Clubs, can be a positive element in our district. Although we have done a good job with our district giving to the Rotary Foundation, small monthly giving to Rotary Direct can have a huge impact on not only TRF, but our clubs’ DDF grants as well. There is a demographic we can reach through social media, and he feels we need to increase our efficiency on our websites to draw people into our club websites quickly and without requiring too many clicks. We’ve lost many members, primarily due to covid, with our larger clubs continuing to shrink while smaller clubs seem to have a tighter bond. We should make a conscious effort to continue to develop new ways to help our clubs maintain and grow their membership while developing new clubs where there is support or demand. He states that everything starts at the club level and comes back to the club level. See more

Jim James Wittkopf reports: Mariposa Trails, 7 Volunteers along with Bill King tended to the Skelton creek, blue glory mine trail. Included were rotarians Jame...s Wittkopf and Bill Lowe (who brought his camera equipment and drone, doing a promotional video. for mariposa trails). We were above the fog but just barely. discovered a spot Bill knew of called Cascade. Short trip off the trail to a series of falls and pools on top of a granite face. Beautiful and never heard of it before even though in my back yard. will be back.. See more

The first Wednesday of every month is Madera Rotary Day at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. This month we had 6 volunteers. So much fun helping out in this f...riendly environment. If you haven't volunteered yet, please contact Diana or Carmen. Also, when you start your spring cleaning and find household items in good shape (not clothes) that you can donate, contact Carmen. She will pick them up! See more

Great work North Stockton Rotary, San Joaquin County Office of Education and everyone in the community that gave warmth today at our very first Blanket Drive! ...Because of your generosity approximately 150 blankets will go to give warmth to families in need that have been identified through the SJCOE one. Program. Way to come together for your community. We hope to do this again next year!!! See more