Hello, Interact Advisors:
I hope all is going well with you and your Interact clubs, that your goals for the year have been set, and that your projects are underway. This is going to be a record-setting year for our Interact district. There are so many opportunities for our clubs and for individual Interactors as well! Here are some of the highlights:
Fall Leadership Conference: As you can see from the attached FLC flyer, we will be featuring our four incredible AZ Interact Ambassadors team members who represented our Interact district so well in Kenya this summer. Distributing the crutches and other mobility devices your clubs collected to those who have never been able to stand on their own, they literally transformed lives by giving them the incomparable gift of mobility. You and your club leaders will want to come and hear their thrilling stories! This year’s FLC is being hosted by the dynamic Interact Club of Barry Goldwater High School in Phoenix on Saturday, November 4 th . See the flyer for details, and register online via our Interact District website, www.rotaryazinteract.org. Payments are still to be mailed to Interact Registrar, Kathy Rossetti, 21405 West Brittle Bush Lane, Buckeye, AZ 85396. However, checks this year should be made payable to Interact District 5495. And yes, FLC will include your favorite Club Advisors’ Roundtable sessions. The cost is $25, unless your group
is registered by Oct. 14 th to get the Early Bird Discount Rate. Lunch is, of course, included.
Also featured at FLC: Did you know that, since 2009, suicides among youth have increased by 81%?
What do Interactors need to know, and what can they do? Dr. Lily DeBlieux, from Speak Up / Stand Up / Save A Life, will be sharing some vitally important information, and will be talking about the second annual Youth Conference sponsored by that organization, being hosted by Grand Canyon University on January 16, 2018. At that conference students, police chiefs, government officials, parents and teachers will be getting together to tackle ongoing issues involving bullying, depression, drug addiction and other key issues facing our youth today. This important conference is expected to attract over 1,000 participants this year.
Our Interact Crutches 4 Africa Project: Hopefully your club will be fully supporting this statewide
Interact project this year by gathering as many crutches, canes, walkers, wheelchairs and other mobility devices that we can wrap for shipping at our Interact District Conference, being held on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018, at Perry High School in Gilbert. We also need to raise from Interact, Rotaract and Rotary clubs $20,000 to underwrite the costs of this pioneering international service project that is enabling Interactors to make a huge difference, and change so many lives. A new flyer is attached that I am willing to customize for any Interact club. Let me know if you want me to do this for your club. I just need the information about your club’s drop-off sites you want to advertise to your community by using these colorful flyers.
Our next AZ Interact Ambassadors to Kenya team: What an incredible opportunity! Beginning October 1 st , we will be accepting online applications for the five top Interactors who will be selected to represent our Interact District 5495 in Kenya next summer. The team will be leaving Phoenix June 29, and returning July 15. The application deadline is December 15. Any active high school age member of an Interact club anywhere in Arizona, or in Needles, CA, or Laughlin, NV, is eligible to apply. See the information about this opportunity that is attached, and check out the photos and blog from this year’s Interact Ambassadors on our website, www.rotaryazinteract.org.
Cluster Club Training Days: An Interact District Council member should be contacting your club soon about participating in one of these stimulating, motivating and enlightening opportunities for you and your club to get together with the Advisors and student leaders of several other Interact clubs. It is a unique opportunity to share ideas about projects, fundraisers and activities that have worked well for you and your neighboring clubs.
Rotary International’s 2017 Interact Video Awards: Is your club interested in achieving international recognition, and competing for a $1,000 prize? Rotary just announced the theme and rules for their annual video competition. See the attachment for details. Entries in this international contest must be submitted by November 30. Remember we do also have a District Video Contest, and recognize the winners of that contest at our District Conference. The deadline for entries in the district contest is February 1, 2018.
WAPIs – a great Hands-On International Project: On of the major problems our AZ Interact
Ambassadors team discovered in Kenya is the prevalence of water-borne diseases, causing widespread illnesses and deaths. These can be prevented by the use of a simple device, a WAPI (Water Pasteurization Indicator) that Interact clubs can economically produce and send to our partners in Kenya to distribute. The reusable devices can be reliably used by families, who do not have safe drinking water, to determine when water and other liquids have been heated to a sufficient temperature to kill the bacteria. See the attached flyer, and consider adding WAPIs to your club’s projects this year.
As always, you are welcome to call or email me if you have any questions, or if there is any way our
Interact district leadership can help you and your club to succeed this year in reaching your goals.
— Art
Arthur R. Harrington, E.A., Ph.D.
Rotary District 5495 Youth Services Chair
(928) 245-0411
arthts@msn.com