Rotarians who contribute to the Rotary Foundation will have received RI's 2012 annual report in the mail this week. It's a fascinating read! Here are some interesting factoids:

• There are now 532 Districts, 34,533 Rotary clubs, and 1,227,189 Rotarians
• There are 9,388 Rotaract clubs, 14,734 Interact clubs
• 8,000 Youth Exchange students from 80 countries
• 25,000 students participated in RYLA
• The Rotary Foundation administrative and sales expenses were only 10% of revenues. This earned the Foundation a rating of A+ from Charity Navigator, the highest grade given.
• Taiwan was the country with the highest per capita giving ($179)
• There were 47,218 new Paul Harris Fellows
• The Annual Programs Fund received $110 million in contributions; the Permanent Fund received $18 million; Polio Plus received $45 million.
• Total Foundation assets as of 12/31/12 were $813 million.

Boise Metro Rotary is busy finalizing plans for the Sun Valley District Conference which will be May 17-18. Watch for details about:

• Flash mobs
• film screenings
• UN speakers
• business card swap
• raffles
• MOO cards
• 60's night hilarities
• much more!

The Ketchum Rotary club is working on Saturday afternoon fun activities. Registration will be available soon and you'll see reduced costs for guests. Be sure to mark your calendar now!!

Saturday Feb 2 was a glorious day in McCall (even tho many of us were socked in with yet another foggy inversion). The sun was blazing and the village was packed with folks enjoying the last day of Winter Carnival. The McCall Rotary Club, as it has for many, many years, set up its two Beads and Chorizo stands along Main Street. They expect to clear about $8,000 which goes back into community youth programs.

Here's Scott Pressman with an unknown tourist. (His necktie is made of beads!)

L to R: Ann Rush, Bryan Williams and Pat Zak.

Our District funded TWO Ambassadorial Scholarships this year, Giacobazzi Yanez and Tiara Lusk. Now you can read their fascinating blog posts here. Go to the list of Rotary Links on the left side of this page and you'll find the links to their blogs.

 Tiara Lusk is from Sugar City and was sponsored by the Rexburg Rotary Club. A graduate of BYU, she is studying toward a Masters in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University.

Giacobazzi Yanzez graduated from Idaho State with a degree in Anthropology. He is now in London at the Univerisyt of Arts working toward an M.A. in Filmmaking. He calls himself a "visual anthropologist".

Dear Rotarians,

Happy New Year! the last several weeks have been exciting for Rotary and polio eradication, and we've seen significant Rotary recognition in new media around the globe -- including a cover story on the international edition of TIME Magazine.

As we kick-off a new calendar year, here are some the important feature stories you can share. Also included are some key social media statistics and news about a new contribution to PolioPlus from PhRMA, the pharmaceutical trade organization, enabling Rotary to receive a donation for every photo uploaded to the World's Biggest Commercial. If you haven't already, please join today at www.endpolionow.org. We have received thousands of photos from over 110 countries.

“We’re holding these sessions to meet RI’s requirement that clubs become qualified to participate in RI’s global grant programs which will be launched on July 31, 2013,” said Hoge. “Please mark these dates and register at www.rotary5400.org. Each club must have TWO representatives present to sign and follow the Club Memorandum of Understanding.”  

 Click here for a helpful FAQ Document.

At last Saturday's Mid-Winter Assembly at the Owyhee Plaza Hotel in Boise, Jerry Timm made a surprise appearance to hand out packages of District Conference Raffle tickets for each club. We hope your calendar is already marked for May 17-18 in Sun Valley for D.C.

 Pictured looking for tickets, L to R, Alan Bosch, Jerry Timm, DG Bret Vaterlaus.

The Rotary Club of Boise West (The Club Of Adventurous Types) is one of the most involved clubs in our district. They meet 6-7 p.m. each Wednesday at the Sockeye Grill at the corner of Ustick and Cole in West Boise.  Led in their provisional years by presidents Andy Wood and  Melissa Weymouth, the club has been involved in hands-on projects galore, enough to make me tired (but I am a senior citizen now).

District Governor-Elect Marianne Barker (Twin Fall Blue Lakes Rotary) writes from the Rotary International Assembly in San Diego. She has been looking up Rotarians from Districts around the world with whom we have had a Youth Exchange relationship. So far, she had met Ricardo and Lilia Becker from D4550 (Brazil) and DGE Dato' Amko of D3520 (Taiwan).  Marianne says, " This is really fun here.  I dined and danced (boogied is a better word) with Bahia Brazilians tonight." (Photos: Left Amko; right Becker)

The first of three Mid-Winter Assemblies was held in Twin Falls on Jan 5th. Seven clubs participated in the meeting. One group met on membership ideas while another group of Rotary Presidents and Presidents-elect. Twin Falls, Blue Lakes Rotary, Twin Falls After Hours, Burley, Hailey, Ketchum, & Buhl. DG Bret Vaterlaus, DG Elect Marianne Barker and Terry Bowman were the key facilitators. Pictured here are District Membership Chair Terry Bowman and DG Bret Vaterlaus.

The other two Assemblies will be held January 19th in Pocatello and January 26th in Boise.

Submitted by Kevin Bradshaw