Letter from District Governor 2022/23 Orazio Agro addressing some of the foundations of Rotary, such as increased diversity, maintaining the existing Membership, reaching to new generations, and goals for this Rotary year.Orazio Agro
Governor 2022 - 2023
Catania, August 1, 2022
Dear Friends,
The month of August is dedicated, by the Rotary calendar, to the Membership and Development of New Clubs.
Speaking of membership, in recent years, our District has managed to overcome the pandemic, with the reduced opportunity to meet and socialize, brilliantly by maintaining the total number of members with a positive balance.
Our goal is to be able to enhance all District members by making them become protagonists not only to "Imagine Rotary" but to be able to serve through their own skills and passions.
Therefore, special attention will be paid to maintaining the existing Membership with the goal of avoiding the creation of new Clubs, also in light of the evidence that our District most needs the strengthening of existing Clubs especially on those territories now saturated.
Achieving membership retention comes through the pursuit of:
- Greater attractiveness of our Clubs
- Greater involvement of internal professionalism in service projects
- Widespread Rotary network (basically strengthening the primitive Rotary intuition of having Members diversified across the territory in terms of skills and professionalism)
- Prestige of service
- Pride of membership
- Increased diversity (in full application of the Rotary concepts D.E.I i.e. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion)
- New Generations
Experimentation with a new format for administrative visits has, to date, resulted in a large number of members to participate and be able to engage directly. An involvement that allows Rotary issues to be addressed, even with critical meaning at times but constructive, to all members who are interested.
Meeting with almost all members allows them to have the opportunity to compare their own ideas with those of those who work daily for the good of our Rotary without having intermediaries.
Most importantly, it allowed us to see and find in the members the joy of feeling part of the project and important in achieving the goals!
We continue to strive hard so that our clubs can be more open to a more welcoming and inclusive culture.
Since the composition of the District Staff and Team, we have placed special attention to our female members, placing them in top positions.
It follows, for the first time in the history of our District, that the role of District Treasurer, District Prefect, Events Delegate, DEI Delegate, Events Commission Secretariat and many coordinating and chairing committee positions are held by very good and competent Rotary Friends.
Underlying our choices has prevailed the concept of equal opportunity, understood as the gratification of meritocracy, ability and aptitude for confrontation and sociability, and not under the restrictive meaning of "pink quota."
What matters to us is not a Rotarian's gender, age, or religion, but rather his or her skills and abilities.
So Friends, BE HAPPY! With a smile and joy you get better results!
To all of you my sincerest Friendship,
ORAZIO
