A First: Rotary District Conference comes to the Island

by Donna M. Webb
Grand Island Dispatch, April 20, 2007

Rotarians from 74 clubs in Western New York and southern Ontario will converge on the Island May 4–6 for the 2007 District 7090 Conference at the Grand Island Holiday Inn Resort and Conference Center. The event’s theme is “Experience Rotary.” Each year, the home club of the district governor has the responsibility to be the host of the conference. Since District Gov. Dick Earne hails from Grand Island, the local club is hosting this large event. “When Ed Pfohl was the district governor in 1976, they had the conference in Niagara Falls, so this is the first time we have hosted the conference,” Earne explained. Dr. Tom Sheehan is president-elect of the Grand Island Rotary Club. He said the purpose of the conference is to plot the direction for the coming year. “Generally speaking, it is to bring everybody in District 7090 together to have the district governor and governor-elect put forth their vision for next year.” The district’s governor-elect is Robert Leek. The goal is the continuation of significant projects already under way, including the eradication of polio; literacy projects, local and international; and clean water projects. AIDS is Keynote Topic The conference’s keynote address will deal with AIDS, a devastating disease of global proportions. “Many of the clubs are very interested in AIDS and HIV. As a result, we’re having a mini symposium,” Earne said.

Dick Earne of Grand Island, Rotary District 7090 governor, is preparing for the district-wide convention, to be held May 4-6 at the Grand Island Holiday Inn Resort and Conference Center.

James Fraser, executive director of Dignitas International, will discuss Rotary’s involvement with AIDS in his keynote address. Rotary International representative Pete Snider of the south Dallas area will discuss the topic of Rotary membership with conference participants.

Rotary Youth to Participate

“We hope to involve the youth exchange students with dances and songs during the international dinner on Friday night,” Earne said. The youth will be in a parade of flags during the opening ceremony. A gala dinner will be held Saturday evening, and that is typically a highlight of the conference. The district conference committee, which has been meeting regularly, is hoping to have a jazz band on Friday and a dance band on Saturday for after-dinner entertainment.

“We’re trying to involve youth in the program a lot more. We’re planning a program similar to the ‘New Generation’ program for the youth exchange and Interact students, with hopes that other areas of the district will do similar types of programs,” Earne said. The Clarence Rotary Club has been sponsoring a New Generation program for about 10 years. Interact students from Grand Island High School recently attended this event, which provides a forum for dialogue between youth and current Western New York leaders on topics of interest to the students.

Program for Rotarian Spouses

There will be a special program for the spouses of Rotarians. This “Partner’s Program” will involve a guided tour of some of the interesting sites in Buffalo, including the Darwin Martin House, Elmwood Village and the Theodore Roosevelt inaugural site. Earne said the partners will have lunch at the Saturn Club.

In addition to the plenary sessions focusing on AIDS and Rotary youth, there will be displays and 15-minute presentations of 12 programs that are running throughout the district. These include projects benefiting literacy and clean drinking water, as well as the “Gift of Life,” program. This provides needed cardiac surgery for children from developing countries.

“We’re asking all the clubs to give us digital pictures of their clubs in action. There will be an ongoing slide show of their various activities that will be running throughout the conference,” Earne said.

GI Rotary Service Projects

The Grand Island Rotary Club, under the leadership of Angelo Palamuso, is coming to the end of yet another full year of service. The club raised funds through its annual hot dog and chili sales and the summer Lobsterfest. Part of this money has helped to provide a water filtration system at a newly built hospital in Ilam, Nepal. “They were able to treat over 10,000 patients in the past year,” Sheehan said.

Grand Island Rotarians also donated time and money to literacy projects closer to home. They read to students at the Huth Road Elementary School and presented another check to the Earl W. Brydges Public Library in Niagara Falls so that new materials could be purchased.

A large portion of Grand Island’s South State Parkway was cleaned up by Rotarians. They continued the “Undie Sunday” program in memory of the late Christine Ryshkus, a Rotarian who had spearheaded the fund-raising event. As a result, the Grand Island Rotarians collected more than 2,000 pairs of undergarments for the men at the City Mission and the women at Cornerstone Manor.

During the holidays, the Grand Island Rotary – with the aid of the Grand Island High School Interact Club – collected donations for the Salvation Army. “I think we (had) one of the top two collections” for the Kenmore/Tonawanda branch, which includes Grand Island,” Sheehan said.

Near Christmas, the local Rotarians helped the Neighbors Foundation package food for needy families on the Island. Also, a portion of the money the club raises each year goes to support Rotary International’s PolioPlus Program. “Rotary has been the main thrust since 1988 in the elimination of polio in the world,” Earne said.

The Grand Island Rotary Club looks forward to a productive and inspiring district conference in May, when hundreds of Rotarians are expected to gather.