Rotary District 5510

What is a Zone Institute?
By John Pennypacker

We are all aware of District Assemblies, District Conferences and the Rotary International Convention, but what is a Rotary International Zone Institute?

Rotary International is comprised of the World Headquarters, 34 Zones and 531 Districts all with the express purpose of supporting the keystone of Rotary – the 34,103 clubs and 1.2 million members. What role does the Zone play in this?  In addition to past, current and future Governors from District 5510, three Rotarians from District 5510 had the privilege of attending the Rotary International Zone 25/26 Institute.  Jim Bissonett, Terry Lubsen and John Pennypacker provide their perspectives of what goes on at a Zone Institute.

The first thing we learned was that we are now in Zone 26 along with 14 other districts in Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and southern California. Zone 25 is comprised of 10 districts from northern California, northern Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Canada.  By joining these zones at an Institute, the opportunity to learn from other Rotarians is magnified 100 fold.

We also became aware of the original purpose of the Zone was to bring past District Governors, RI Directors and RI Presidents together to be updated on happenings in Rotary and to train the new District Governors and District Governor Elects/Nominees.

The theme of this institute was “Inspiring World Peace”. RI Director Ken Boyd provided us with speakers who are actually doing something special in the area of World Peace. To hear two young people, one a Jew and the other a Muslim, describe what they are doing together to further World Peace was truly amazing. Your contributions to The Rotary Foundation provide the means by which this marvelous work can continue.

We heard numerous presentations on Membership, Rotary history and the Foundation. And who presented all this – PDGs, RI Directors, Past RI Directors and, most importantly RI Presidents.  There are only 18 living Presidents of Rotary International and we were fortunate to hear from 5 of them to include current President, Kalyan Banerjee. One of the more amazing sessions had all 5 of these Presidents on a panel. One of the questions posed to them was “what is Rotary’s next big project after PolioPlus”.  They did not all agree and that was refreshing to hear. What they did agree on was that, with all the problems facing the world, Rotary International and its 1.2 million members must lead the way. Each of these presidents discussed topics such as hunger, literacy, clean water, and health issues that plague the world. 

President Bill Boyd said there may never be another global project like PolioPlus as he provided an in-depth report of the status of polio eradication. He emphatically stated we will eradicate the dreaded disease and may declare one or two more countries as endemic free by the time of the Rotary International Convention in Bangkok.

The RI Presidents further iterated that as Rotarians develop with the Future Vision, Rotary will take a lead role in worldwide projects through alliances and partnerships. The six areas of focus for Rotary will affect various regions of the world differently: 

• Peace and conflict prevention/ resolution
• Disease prevention and treatment
• Water and sanitation
• Maternal and child health
• Basic education and literacy
• Economic and community development

One of the more poignant statements came from a presenter who has worked in the area of Peace and Conflict Resolution for over 15 years.  He simply stated that we, as Rotarians, have an opportunity to “create a space in which something might happen”.  This could happen in any of the six areas of focus.

All of us were simply wowed by the depth of information and the dedication of fellow attendees.  “Leadership by example” is how best to describe those who have lead the way at the Zone, RI Director, and RI Presidents’ level. There is simply no better way for anyone to become more committed and engaged in Rotary than to attend a conference such as this. The biggest message we want to send to our fellow Rotarians is to attend District events beyond your own club. There is a nugget for each of us in every event.  You will come away with a better perspective of all that Rotary does, a higher level of personal dedication, and new Rotary friends.