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Rotary District 1930 Group Study Exchange Team Leader Erich Willimsky, an Engineer by profession, will lead a group of five team members when the GSE Team visits our District April 13th-May 11th.  The team will start their visit in Yakima and travel throughout the District, attending the Conference in Kamloops (May 3-5th) and concluding their visit in the Salmon Arm area before departing from Kelowna.  Team members are Jens Kolb, Research Assistant, PhD Candidate; Christina Konrath, Sports Therapist; Daniela Schneider, Journalist; Aline Wimmer, Hotel Hospitality; and Gregor Witrofsky, Engineer.

The call for host families in areas 8,6,4,2 and 1 is going out now. If you are interested in hosting a team member please contact your Club President or local GSE Coordinator.

A container of medical equipment is now on its way to the Republique de Guinee, West Africa, to help supply medical facilities which are in deplorable conditions and most times unable to provide the health care that the people so desperately need.  During an early morning in late November, Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Kelowna Sunrise and from other Rotary clubs within Kelowna, assembled at the Rotary Warehouse to load a 40 foot container destined for departure from Kelowna on Monday, November 26^th.  

This is now the second container shipped to a developing country.  The first shipment was to Uganda, East Africa. 

Nineteen Rotarians from District 5060 graduated from the Rotary Leadership Institute in Kelowna this fall, a culmination to a very successful fall program offered in Kamloops and Kelowna.  The RLI program in Kelowna was conducted on October 20, November 03, and November 17. 

District Governor Doug Everett presented fourteen Rotarians from District 5060 with a Certificate of Graduation and a Rotary Leadership Institute pin on October 13^th, 2012, for the completion of a three day Rotary Leadership Institute program offered in Kamloops on September 15^th and 29^th and on October 13^th. 

Ed Kolybaba, RLI Coordinator for Areas 1 and 2, reported that Rotarians completing the three day course and graduating from the RLI program included Bruce Bunko, Sean McKenna and Kent Wong (Kamloops Daybreak), Brant Hasanen (Kamloops West), Minna Ikonen (Kamloops),  Reg Lucas (Kamloops Aurora), Ron Gilroy and Janice Ross (Salmon Arm Shuswap), Doug Murray (Salmon Arm), Marie Kolenosky (Salmon Arm Daybreak), Greig McPhee (Kelowna Sunrise), Robert Reid and Jacqueline Nind (Merritt), and John Groen (Leavenworth).

Dan Hudson of the Rotary Club of Salmon Arm will lead the GSE to District 1930 in Germany in May/June 2013.   Dan started his career the British Columbia grocery chain, Overwaitea Foods.  Dan held virtually every position at the retail level over the first twenty years of his career. The last twenty years of his career with Overwaitea was at the Head Office level in various management roles which concluded with spending the last five years as Vice-President. The latter half of Dan’s career demanded more of his time including much business travel mostly in North America, but as well to Europe and China.Dan is currently involved with his own Retail Consulting company which is allowing for further travel and to stay engaged in the ever-changing retail market.  Dan now has more time to enjoy travel, participating in community activities (Okanagan College Regional Advisory Committee), winter sports such as skiing and curling as well as summer water activities and golfing. He is also the proud father of four lovely daughters.  Dan serves on the executive of the Salmon Arm Rotary Club and enjoys the opportunity to give back to the local and global community.  He is excited to lead the 2013 GSE to District 1930 and looks forward to learning more about Germany.

Alternate Team Leader is Mall Boyd of the Leavenworth Rotary Club. Mall recently retired as Director of Marketing at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center and is a past member of Wenatchee Rotary where she served as club president 1997-1998. She has served as assistant governor and facilitator at Northwest PETS and is a Paul Harris Fellow plus 4. Mall and her husband Tom, a fellow Rotarian, have two grown children. Her interests include hiking, skiing, travel and spending time with friends and family.

Twenty-two (22) clubs within District 5060 received funding through the District Simplified Grant program for the 2012-13 Rotary year.  Applications were approved for funding for a total of $US24,975.  Rotary clubs submitted applications requesting a total of $66,730.  

For a detailed listing of the clubs that received funding, the amount the clubs received, and a brief description of the projects being implemented by these clubs proceed to the District Simplified Grants section found under the tab "Committees" found at the top of this home page.  

“I learned more in one day than I had learned in 12 years as a Rotarian,” expressed one of 15 Rotarians who participated in the first day of a three day Rotary Leadership Institute on Saturday, September 15, 2012, at the Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.  As has been the case every time a RLI program has been offered on the Canadian side of District 5060 since the program was first introduced into the district in 2008, Rotarians participating in the program have always expressed that the program is a superior program that all Rotarians should take. Others participating in the program in Kamloops shared that the interaction and sharing of knowledge between participants, the provision of good basic information about RI and  the Foundation, the realization that there is much more to the Foundation than was shared previously at the club level, and the fluid presentations were appreciated.

Rotarians from Kamloops, Leavenworth, Kelowna, Salmon Arm and Merritt, enjoyed a very enlightening and enjoyable program that involved six different sessions throughout the day, focused on “the Rotarian’s role in leadership, service and membership. 

Since the last update of the GSE Team in Brazil, we have continued to move on to new experiences, to enjoy the fellowship of many Rotarians, and to get to know families on a more personal basis.

Thirteen Rotarians from the northern part of District 5060joined the ranks of the Rotary Leadership Institute District 5060 NorthTraining Team following participation in a RLI facilitator training sessionconducted by Chris Offer (PDG District 5040 and RLI Chair for the PacificNorthwest Division) and Penny Offer (PDG District 5040 and Founding Chair ofthe D5040 RLI Committee) on March 24 in Kamloops, BC. 

The future of Rotary and the service we provide for our communities locally and internationally depends on strong club and district leadership.  The Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) through a series of fast-paced, interactive, one-day courses offers Rotarians the opportunity to refine their leadership skills and to increase their basic knowledge in Rotary.   The offered courses are fun, topical, interactive, and geared to busy business, professional and community leaders who want to be more effective leaders in their vocation and their Rotary club and more knowledgeable Rotarians.

The District 5060 North Rotary Leadership Institute Planning Team has now put into place a number of RLI training events for 2012.