Dear fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors,
October is an important month for Rotary with World End Polio Day falling on October 24th. District 3450 organized a successful Rotary End Polio Day at the Cyberport on October 22nd. It is a grand event with over 80 Rotary Clubs in the District being donors and participants of the event. A few hundred Rotarians and friends arranged for End Polio Walk in the morning and joined in the fun in the afternoon. Our District raised over US$110,000 for the Polio Plus Fund with this event.
October is also a busy month for DG Visits to clubs, with DG meetings with board members. Our AGs have done a good job coordinating with the clubs and the DG Visit is progressing well. Thanks to AG Michelle Yeung of Area 7 for coordinating board members of all 10 clubs in the area to meet me in one day, followed by a grand dinner with all members of Area 7 at the Kowloon Golden Mile Hotel. Likewise, AG Bonnie Wong arranged 2 days of meetings with board members of Rotary Clubs in Area 2, again followed by a grand dinner with all Area 2 members at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
With the convenience of Zoom, AGs of Area 6, 8, 11 and 12 have arranged for DG Visits over Zoom in September. This was particular helpful with my travel to USA in September. DG visit with members in these areas will be arranged soon.
Area 4 opts to arrange for the DG meeting with board members at RIC on October 29th. DG visits with all members will be arranged afterwards. Half of the Area 5 clubs have completed DG visits, and the rest of the club visits are scheduled to be held in November. Area 3 clubs have also scheduled the DG visits to be held before end November.
For Mongolia, DG meetings with board members for Rotary Clubs in Areas 9 and 10 will be arranged in November. I am indeed planning to make a visit to Mongolia to meet all the members around March/April next year.
In addition to DG Visits, I have also attended many service projects. One of the community service projects is the distribution of consumption vouchers to elderly residents in Kwun Tong area. This project does not only benefit the elderly people, but also the local shops and community. It is indeed a creative project that creates impact!
I am also happy to report that Virtual Rotary Exchange VRE is now running in full force. Rotary International has invited District 3450 to present VRE at the upcoming International Assembly. VRE will help our District to leave a mark in the global Rotary network.
Another district program, The Hong Kong Student Service Ambassador Award Program, has also received very encouraging result. Many schools are actively planning for their participation. This is a first-of-its-kind award program for secondary school students in Hong Kong. This project will build a good foundation for our district in future cooperation with secondary schools. It is also a very good brand building project.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the AGs for coordinating the DG Visits and to all the clubs for the wonderful gatherings. I look forward to meeting more of the Rotarians in the District during the DG Visits. I also look forward to seeing the fruition of district programs and club service projects. Let’s continue with our good work – let’s Imagine Rotary!
Norman Lee
2022 -23 District Governor
Rotary International District 3450