At our District Staff meeting on November 1^st, 2021 our most recent Rotary Gift of Life child Micah, from Uganda, who had his life-saving heart surgery, was our special guest at the Rotary District 7490’s monthly staff meeting. God bless him and all in Rotary who made this possible. Few of Paramus Rotary Club’s members had an opportunity to have a photo taken with Micah.

Also, during the meeting Bob Kilroy, Chair of the Military Family Assistance Council, distributed bags that Rotarians can fill with Thanksgiving food to be given to local needy veterans and their families and the families of those still serving their country. See your AG to get one of these bags. You can also donate Thanksgiving Food to the Military Assistance Pantry in Paterson (run by Paterson Great Falls Rotary Club)  at 160 Ward street in Paterson that gives food to all veterans. They need the following:  pumpkin pies, cream of mushroom soups, cranberry sauce, corn muffin mix, salad dressings, mayonnaise, apple cider. This location is able to take donations of turkeys, too. If people can’t go to the Paterson location, they can contact Debby Flower at flowerdta@aol.com. 

 

IMPORTANT:  In the future, the District will NOT accept any flyers that are still using the old RI logo that was discontinued in 2013.  We need to replace the old logo in as many places as you can with one of the new ones. 

 

Our annual District Holiday Party will be held (in lieu of our regular monthly staff meeting) on Monday, December 6th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Saddle Brook beginning at 6 pm.  All Rotarians in District 7490 and their spouses are welcome to join the festivities, as we share holiday cheer and even play some holiday games.  Please plan to bring a toy for a boy or girl that we will donate to our Military Family Assistance Council to distribute to the children of veterans, as well as soldiers still serving our country.  

 

Membership in District 7490 has already risen almost 100 members above where we started in July. In fact, our District is still leading  Zone 32 for new members right now, but we must keep up this momentum. Only 24 clubs took advantage of the District's offer to pay for two new members.  The District will now award one "free" new member to each club that did take advantage of the offer.  All clubs should report the names and contact information of these new members to Membership Chair JoEllen Knie at joellenknie@gmail.com. Clubs should continue to try to develop satellite clubs, clubs for special interests, and corporate memberships. We must increase to at least 1,200 members if we want to retain our independence as a District.

 

We are at crunch time now to reserve spaces for our Rotary District 7490 Conference to be held May 19-22 at the beautiful TRS Resort in Puntacana, Dominican Republic. The very special room rates listed in the brochure are good only until November 20; after that, each room will cost an extra $100.  On December 20, that fee will increase to an additional $150. For those with children, there is a special resort area right across the street! When you reserve, please e-mail a photo of your passport plus a photo of your COVID vaccination card to PDG Joseph Dino at josephdinojr@optonline.net, along with the brochure if using a check.  If you would like insurance for the trip, please call Ruby's Travel in Wayne at  (973) 696-7829. Reserve your airfare as early as possible. Ruby's Travel recommended Jet Blue as the best way to go, but of course, this is up to you. You can also purchase insurance through Ruby's Travel. Don't miss out!  Register now! 

 

The District will hold a Membership Seminar on November 15 at 6 pm at Care Plus, 610 Valley Plaza Road, Paramus at 6:00 pm . Learn how you can attract new members and retain the ones you have. Club Presidents and Membership Chairs should plan to attend.