Hello, Interact Club Advisors:
I hope you had a great summer, and that you are eagerly looking forward to another exciting Interact year. With 90 Interact clubs now in our merged Interact District 5495, and a number of additional new clubs in the formation stages, this year’s Interact District Council (see attached) will have their hands full. They held their IDC Training & Planning Retreat in July, and they are ready to roll! Each of them has received their Interact club assignments, and you will find that list attached, so you can check to see which Council member will be assisting your Interact club this year.
Interact Crutches 4 Africa:
We could not be more proud of the four top Interactors from Arizona whom we sent to Kenya in June for two weeks to help distribute the crutches and other mobility devices your clubs helped collect this past year. If you have not checked out yet the photos and blog that are on our Interact district website, rotaryazinteract.org, be sure to do that — and tell your club members to check it out also. Our AZ Interact Ambassadors did an absolutely incredible job! We are continuing our collecting of mobility devices again this year, and we plan to select, train and send another team of AZ Interact Ambassadors back to Kenya again next summer. Any active Interact club member can apply. Good News: American Furniture Warehouse is on board again this year as our corporate partner. They are willing to use their two super stores as drop-off sites, plus being willing to store all of these mobility devices until our Interact District Conference on February 24.
Key Dates for Your Calendars:
November 4, 2017 - Fall Leadership Conference
Primarily designed for Club Officers and Advisors, we expect to hold this event at Barry Goldwater High School in Phoenix. We are still waiting on final confirmation from the BGHS Interact Cub, since a scheduling conflict required moving FLC from the ASU West campus, where it was held last year.
February 24, 2018 - Interact District Conference
This is for all of your club members and leaders who want to attend, and of course for Club Advisors as well. It is being hosted this year by the Perry High School Interact Club in Gilbert, and we are expecting at least 500 will be attending this conference. This is where we bring together all of the crutches and other mobility devices and wrap them for shipping. We also announce at this Conference the winners of our annual District Video Contest, and view the top three videos. And we will be introducing at that Conference our next AZ Interact Ambassadors to Kenya team. Without any doubt, it is the Interact Event of the Year! Plan to bring your club!
Cluster Club Training Days:
Our Interact District Council’s goal is to hold a Cluster Club Training Day this Fall that will include every club in our district. This single-day Saturday event brings together Officers & Advisors from the groups of Interact clubs assigned to each District Council member for a day of getting to know each other, and sharing ideas and best practices — and sometimes even considering joint projects with nearby Interact clubs. You will be hearing more about CCTDs, along with a date and location, from the District Council member assigned to assist your club. Those clubs who participated in them last year found them to be extremely beneficial.
Club Achievement Awards:
Once again this year there is the Rotary International President’s Citation, as well as the Interact Clubs of Distinction Awards that our District Council initiated last year. I have attached this year’s criteria. Clubs that work toward and achieve these recognitions testify that the criteria for these achievement awards really do help to make them the successful clubs that they are.
Rotary District Interact Committee:
Finally, in this monthly edition of Interact Advisors Update, I want to recognize our capable and hard-working Rotary District Interact Committee that supports and coaches our Interact District Council, and who stand ready to assist you in any way they are needed. Ken Kelley (623-221-1956) is District Interact Chair. His Asst. Chair-West is Angelo Rossetti ((516-978-8176); and Asst. Chair-East is Ed Koeneman (480-227-6256). Also serving on the committee beside me are Kathy Rossetti, Registrar (623-337-0867); John Wintersteen, Asst. Rotary Youth Service Chair (602-390-3124). Leslie Balderas, the new District Rotaract Chair, is also an ex officio member of the committee. Please let us know how we can be of help to you and your Interact club.
Arthur R. Harrington, E.A., Ph.D.
Rotary District 5495 Youth Services Chair
(928) 245-0411
arthts@msn.com