Thank you for letting me spend time with you last week. I appreciated the conversation and the opportunity to hear more about your club, your service, and the momentum you are building.

What stood out to me most is that Bastrop County is a club on the rise. You have had positive net growth over the last four years, you have strong meeting participation, strong project participation, and you are keeping membership at the forefront of what you do. That matters.

I appreciated the way your club describes itself as a hands-on service club. That identity is important. Clubs that serve together build friendships, create ownership, and give members a reason to stay engaged.

President Steve deserves recognition for the way he has embraced the Better than Your Best campaign. That kind of leadership matters. When a president sets expectations, keeps goals in front of the club, and encourages members to stretch, it helps create momentum and gives the club something clear to work toward.

Because membership is already a priority, I encouraged your club to think about engagement as part of the membership plan. Adding members is important but helping new members become engaged is just as important. I challenged you to add people to the membership team whose specific role is to help new members participate in meetings, projects, and fundraisers. That kind of follow-up can help turn new members into committed Rotarians.

Another opportunity is reconnecting with members who have started to disengage. Sometimes a simple phone call or personal invitation can remind a tenured member that they are still needed and still part of the club’s future.

Even though you already have an End Polio Now event scheduled at the 602 Brewing Company, I hope your club will also participate in the World’s Largest Polio Walk on October 24. This is another opportunity to raise awareness, support PolioPlus, and be part of a district-wide Impact Event. Register for the Walk, create your Raise for Rotary QR code, and order your Walk T-shirt here: World's Largest Polio Walk

Project Tumaini is another opportunity for Bastrop County to create impact beyond your local community. Helping provide clean drinking water to children who today have no choice but to drink contaminated water at school is exactly the kind of hands-on impact Rotary exists to create.

Learn more about the water project here: Project Tumaini

The Rotary Foundation gives us the opportunity to create impact locally and around the world. Rotary Direct makes it easier to give personally and consistently without having to give it all at once. Those gifts help create impact through grants, scholarships, PolioPlus, Project Tumaini, and projects around the world.

I was especially encouraged when two newer members told me they planned to sign up for Rotary Direct that day. That is how a culture of giving grows, one Rotarian at a time.

Click this link to sign up for direct Foundation giving: Rotary Direct

Governor’s Challenge

Make this the year the Rotary Club of Bastrop County turns momentum into deeper engagement.

You have growth, participation, hands-on service, and members who clearly care about the future of the club. Now the opportunity is to keep inviting new members, help them become engaged Rotarians, reconnect with members who may be drifting away, participate in the Polio Walk, support Project Tumaini, and strengthen Foundation giving through Rotary Direct.

As I shared during my visit:

"Impact isn't something Rotary creates. It's something Rotarians create. Rotary simply gives us the opportunity."

DG Jeff

To give you folks an idea of what this Choir Week in Salzburg, Austria includes:

Monday, June 21 - Leave from Houston, Texas.

Tuesday, June 22 – Arrive Munich, Germany. Bus to Salzburg, Austria.  Depending upon arrival time, potential visit to Schloss Hellbrunn, home to the iconic gazebo featured in The Sound of Music and its famous trick fountains, which have entertained guests for centuries. Late afternoon Salzburg hotel check-in with time to relax and freshen up.  Welcome dinner included, followed by overnight.

Wednesday, June 23 - Full buffet breakfast included at the hotel (no motor coach service included this day) Walk into downtown Salzburg for a guided sightseeing tour, including Mirabell Palace and Gardens, Mozart Square, the Salzburg Cathedral (Dom), admission to Mozart's Birthplace (now a museum dedicated to the composer's life and legacy), and a cable car ride to the Fortress, where you'll enjoy unparalleled views over the city below. [Lunch, on your own.] Enjoy your afternoon for shopping in downtown Salzburg or additional sightseeing with your Tour Manager Evening dinner included, and overnight.

Thursday, June 24 - Full buffet breakfast included at the hotel (no motor coach service included this day). Enjoy additional free walking sightseeing this morning with your Tour Manager. Depending on time and group interests, options may include the charming Linzergasse, the scenic Kapuzinerberg, and other local highlights Festival Welcome Lunch included.

Afternoon Festival Choir Rehearsal  [Evening dinner included].

Evening Festival Choir Rehearsal  [Return to your hotel for overnight].

Friday, June 25 - Full buffet breakfast included at the hotel (no motor coach service included this day). 

Morning Festival Choir Rehearsal  [Lunch, on your own].

Afternoon at leisure with time for shopping or additional sightseeing. [Evening dinner included].

Evening Festival Choir Dress Rehearsal with Orchestra [Return to the hotel for overnight.]

Saturday, June 26 - Full buffet breakfast included at the hotel (no motor coach service included this day). Morning additional free walking sightseeing with Tour Manager or more free time for shopping.

Lunch, on your own. Afternoon time for continued shopping or sightseeing with your Tour Manager. Evening farewell dinner included.

Jubilate Mozart! Festival Finale Concert [Late evening return to the hotel for overnight.]

Sunday, June 27 - Full buffet breakfast included at the hotel, followed by check-out. Board a chartered motor coach for morning transfer to the Munich Airport for your return flight to Texas. Your transatlantic flight will include meal service and in-flight entertainment. Arrive home to Texas, the same day as your departure from Munich, Germany.

THE TOTAL PRICE FOR THIS TRIP DEPENDS ON THE TOTAL NUMBER OF FOLKS WHO PARTICIPATE!  CONSIDER THE PRICE TO BE ABOUT $5000, WITH BILL OWENS NEEDING YOUR RESERVATION & HALF OF THE TOTAL BY THE FIRST WEEK OF NOVEMBER. PRICE INCLUDES AIRFARE FROM HOUSTON TO MUNICH, TRANSPORTATION TO & FROM SALZBURG, AND AT LEAST ONE MEAL PER DAY.

**********************************************

Our Rotary Foundation is the fuel that helps Rotarians continue to do good works.  Founded in 1917 when RI President Arch Klumph proposed an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.”  From an initial donation of $26.50 from the Kansas City Club, Rotary International’s charitable foundation has spent more than $4 billion on “doing good” in the 100 years since.  The Foundation has a Platinum ranking with GuideStar.

Contributions to the Foundation support activities around the world through the World Fund (47.5%), and provide support for Districts and local Clubs through the District Designated Fund (47.5%).  Only 5% of donations are designated for Foundation operations.

RI developed a recognition award structure to honor Rotarians and Rotary Clubs contributing to the Annual Fund of the Foundation, which includes becoming a Paul Harris Fellow (named after Rotary’s founder), and several other levels of recognition.  Our Club recently recognized members who have achieved a new level in the giving structure:

Steve Schroeder and Les deGraffenried became Paul Harris Fellows. Joe Grady Tuck and Adam Straznicky were honored for attaining the Paul Harris Fellow + One level. Michal Hubbard has attained the PHF + Six level.  Karen Trevino was congratulated for becoming a Bequest Society Level 1 member.

Our Club can currently boast six Paul Harris Fellows, four PHF + One, one each of PHF + Four & PHF + Five, two PHF +Six, two PHF + Eight, three Benefactors, one Major Donor, and two Bequest Society members.

Through the lifetime of our Club, our members have donated more than $200,000 to the Foundation.