Rotary District Governor encourages Byesville to extend their Rotary family

Pictured: Bart Mahoney, District Governor 2013014, and Dennis Harding, President Byesville Rotary.

Bart Mahoney, District Governor of Rotary District 6690, spoke at the Byesville Rotary morning meeting. Mahoney is a member of the Whitehall-Bexley Rotary Club. He was accompanied by his wife Kathleen who is president of the Pataskala Rotary Club.

Mahoney stated that he is excited about the 2013-14 Rotary year and eager to continue the momentum created by previous District Governors Rosenthal and Brown. The 2013-14 Rotary theme is “Engage Rotary. Change Lives.” Mahoney admitted that at first he was not sure what the theme meant. He has come to realize that the theme encourages Rotarians to become engaged beyond Rotary and work with non-Rotarians and other organizations to change lives.

Mahoney encouraged club members to consider Rotary an extended family. Club members can do this by changing their definition of family to include other Rotarians, by doing business with fellow Rotarians, by reaching out and supporting Rotarians who are facing challenges, by setting an example of service to their children, and by developing personal relationships with other Rotarians that are similar to relationships between family members.

As District governor he has asked that each club president in the district make a donation to the Rotary Foundation. Donations to the Foundation are used to support Rotary service projects. People who donate $1000 to the Foundation become Paul Harris Fellows in recognition of their commitment to Rotary. The 2013-14 class of club presidents is the first group of club presidents that have been asked to make a personal donation. Mahoney is proud that District 6690 is 1 of 42 districts world-wide to have achieved the distinction of having every club president in the District make a donation to the Paul Harris Fellow program. He awarded Dennis Harding, the current Byesville Rotary president, a “1^st Class” button in recognition of his participation.

The club meets 7:30 am every Tuesday at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary can call Membership Chair Jim Vaughan, 740-260-2969. More information about the Byesville Rotary can be found at:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Byesville-Rotary/256548047818283