Interact Advisors’ Update – January 2018
Hello, Interact Advisors:
Happy New Year! It is going to be a busy and exciting one, for sure!
Interact Ambassadors Deadline: Please remind any of your high school age Interact members who are interested in serving as one of our Interact Ambassadors to Kenya this summer that the extended deadline for applications is coming up rapidly on January 18. The program information and application are available on our Interact website: www.rotaryazinteract.org The selected 2018 Ambassadors Team will be introduced at the Interact District Conference on Feb. 24, at Perry High School in Gilbert.
Walkathon Supporting Crutches 4 Africa: This fun event is being held at Encanto Park in Phoenix on Saturday, February 10. Check-in is at 8:30, and the walk begins at 9:00 a.m. Single Interactors can register for $5 — or you can register your entire Interact club for only $30. (What a deal!) All proceeds go toward sending our collected mobility devices and selected Interact Ambassadors to Kenya this summer. The link to register is: http://ideas.rotary.org/Project/Profile/0cf48a76-e25e-4adc-88b8-8f05d8e49a28
Clubs of Distinction: What has your club accomplished so far this year? Have you qualified to be recognized at the Interact District Conference as one of the Clubs of Distinction or a Club of Outstanding Distinction? (See the criteria for each attached.) If so, forward that information about your club to me, along with the requested evidence, and I will forward it to our Interact Clubs of Distinction Committee to review for recognition at our Conference. The deadline for submitting is February 1.
District Video Contest: Yes, February 1 is also the deadline to forward to me the You Tube link to your club’s entry in the year’s District Video Contest. Your video must be 3 minutes or less in length, and is to show how your club’s activities and service projects exemplify this year’s Rotary theme: Rotary: Making a Difference. The top 3 club videos will be shown at the Interact District Conference on Fec. 24, and club with the winning video gets to take home the traveling plaque with their name on it.
Canned Food Drive: Has your club held this year a canned food drive to benefit one of your local food banks? If so, please report on our Interact website: www.rotaryazinteract.org, that your club did sponsor such a drive, and how many food item (or dollars) your club collected and contributed, so we can announce totals at the District Conference.
Purple Pinkie Days: Did your club sponsor one or more of these this year, to raise funds for Polio vaccine, to help Rotary and our partners knock out Polio worldwide? If so, go to our Interact website: www.rotaryazinteract.org, and let us know that you did, and how much you raised for polio eradication.
Interact District Conference: By now, are you getting the idea that the Interact District Conference is a big deal? It really is — by far the biggest Interact Event of the Year; and we are planning on registering at least 500 Interact and Rotraract members and Club Advisors for this year’s Fifth Annual Interact District Conference, being hosted by the Interact Club of Perry High School in Gilbert. Registration Deadline is February 15, and the cost is $25 per person, including lunch. However, you can save $5 per person if you take advantage of the Early Bird Discounted Fee of $20, if your club is registered by the February 1 Early Bird Deadline. Registration is online via our Interact website www.rotaryazinteract.org Yes, we will be having Club Advisor Roundtable breakouts at this Conference — that invaluable time when we can get together to compare notes, share challenges & successes, and to learn from each other.
Something Really Neat!! As Club Advisors, you are all aware of how amazing Interactors can be. When you register for this year’s District Conference, you will see a marked difference in the process; and I want to share with you the story behind it. Many of you met Mitchell Dodell, who was the founder and president of the Interact Club at Herberger Young Scholars Academy on the ASU West Campus. He also served as both an AG in Interact District 5490, and DG of Interact District 5510, last year when we were in the process of merging the Rotary and Interact districts. He was also the one who built and maintained our Interact website, and consequently managed the online registrations for our conferences. This year Mitchell is in Boston at Brandeis University – but he has not forgotten us. Recognizing the many problems we encountered with the program we were using for our conference registrations, this year Mitchell, along with two of his computer nerd buddies back there at Brandeis, undertook the designing of brand new conference registration software for our Interact District 5495. We are proud of their accomplishment, and we hope you will join us in appreciation for what these talented young men have done for us. Thank you Mitchell Dodell, Adam Fleishaker and Anthony Fong — our amazing Brandeis Webwizards!
And Now – Something Special for You as Advisors and other adult Friends of Interact: Financially underwritten by a Rotarian, we will be holding a Crutches 4 Africa Hors D’Oeuvres Reception at the DoubleTree by Hilton Phoenix Tempe from 5:30 – 9:00, Saturday, Feb. 24 (the evening after the District Conference). David & Candice Talbot, along with both this past year’s Interact Ambassadors to Kenya Team, and the new team for this summer that will be selected by then, will be there to share their stories and to answer your questions. This is for Rotarians and Club Advisors and your spouses — as well as being for any other adult friends of Interact who would like to attend. With the cost being underwritten, there is no cost to attend. However, we are hoping those who do attend will come prepared to contribute, helping us raise the $20,000 we need for this year’s Interact Crutches 4 Africa Project. If you are interested in attending this special event, please reply to this email, and I will send you the information and link to register for it. Whether or not you can attend this event, if you would like to make a tax deductible contribution to our project, your check should be made payable to the Rotary Club of Prescott Foundation, with a memo “for Interact C4A Project,” and be mailed to Rotary Club of Prescott Foundation, P.O. Box 621, Prescott, AZ 86302.
Finally, What Can Your Club Do to Help? Quite honestly, last year it was an Interact club – the Mohave HS Interact – that saved the day for us with our Interact Crutches 4 Africa Project. We came nowhere near reaching our funding goal; and if it had not been for the gift of $3,000 by MHS Interact from their tax credit moneys for this project, we would have been unable to purchase the airline tickets for our Interact Ambassadors to Kenya international service project. We will be forever to that Interact club, along with two Rotary clubs who stepped up with contributions of $1,000 and $1,500. What can YOUR Interact club and Rotary club do this year to help us with the funding for this incredibly beneficial project?
As always, if you have questions, or need help, you can reach me at: arthts@msn.com, (928) 245-0411.
--Art
Art Harrington Rotary Youth Services Chair