District Conference at Whistler

 

About 350 delegates participated in the District Conference in Whistler last weekend.  The conference was held simultaneously with that of D5050.  Past RI President Kalyan Banerjee attended on behalf of RI President Ron Burton; he thanked us for our support of the Rotary Foundation.  

 

I learned that our district is the largest in the Americas, the largest international district and 7^th largest in the world.  The Honourable Steven Point and Robert Blacker described the Write to Read literacy project  which brings libraries to isolated communities in BC. Steven Solomon & Jean Irwin spoke about the benefits of the ambassadorial scholarship program.

 

One of the functions of the conference was to recognize clubs for their accomplishments during the year.  Our club won an award for increasing membership - well done!

 

On Sunday morning, the final breakfast plenary was held with both districts combined.  It turned out that both Pete Taylor & DG Denis Boyd of 5050 worked in radio early in their careers.  

 

Norm Watts introduced the 2015 Conference which will be held in Nanaimo from June 19-21 next year.  Norm was asked by incoming DG Michael Procter to chair next year's conference, returning the favour for Michael who chaired the conference when Norm was DG.