DISTRICT 6890 – THE BEGINNING
District 689 started on July 1, 1991. The
District consisted of 38 Rotary clubs and 2256 Rotarians in Hardee,
Highlands, Polk and Hillsborough counties. The District included
Hardee County but we did not have any Rotary clubs in that county.
Rotary District 650 sponsored the new District. At that time, only
three numbers designated Rotary Districts. Rotary International
decided to add a zero to all Districts to allow for future
expansion. Thus, we were now, Rotary District 6890.
District 6950 did not announce forming the
new District until two weeks before the Rotary International
Convention in Anaheim, California. A notice was sent out to the 38
Rotary clubs that would be in the new District to submit names of
those Rotarians who wanted to be the District Governor. Three names
were submitted and votes were counted on the following Saturday
night.
Richard “Dick” Townley
was to be the first District Governor of District 6890. I was to be
in Anaheim, California for the International Convention and District
Governor training, on the following Tuesday.
When I went to register, they did not know
who I was and had no hotel reservations for my wife and I. A call
was made to Evanston, Illinois to verify the new District. The hotel
had no vacancies and they finally found us another hotel several
miles away. They also did not have any training manuals for me.
Eventually, another incoming District Governor could not attend
because of a death in his family and I was given his training
manuals.
After
returning to Lakeland I immediately contacted all the Past District
Governors in the new District for an organizational meeting. We had
no officers, committees, visitation schedules, budget, conference
locations, Governor Nominee, in fact, we had nothing. I knew very
few Rotarians outside of Lakeland so I needed references for
officers. I was given a reference for David Lemar for
Secretary-Treasurer. I had lunch with David and knew right away that
he was perfect. He and his wife Mary were a great help in putting
things together and getting organized.
The Past District Governors were extremely
helpful. There advise and counsel was very important in organizing
District 6890. I will be forever grateful to all of them, as I doubt
I could have pulled it together without them.
I felt a PETS was needed for our incoming
Presidents. I arranged for our meeting to be held at Florida
Southern College in Lakeland. The Mayor of Lakeland, Frank O’Reilly
opened our meeting.
Our first District Conference was held at Grenelefe Resort &
Conference in Haines City on October 3-5. Not having a Conference
Committee I had to make all the arrangements myself, menu planning
and agenda. Rotary International had assigned Geoffrey Pike as
President Rajendra Saboo personal representative to the Conference.
Geoffrey was Past President of Rotary International of British
Isles. We did not have a Sgt. Of Arms, so District 6590 allowed us
to use Ernie Thomas, who was their long time Sgt. Of Arms. He was a
great help to me and did an outstanding job. Our first Conference
was well attended by Rotarians in the new District.
The first District Assembly was held on
April 23-24, 1992 at the Holiday Inn in Sabal Park. At that time,
the District Conference was held in the fall and the District
Assembly was held in the spring. In the years to follow, this was
changed.
Rotary
International assigned a Group Study Exchange team from Australia to
us. Don Griffing and his wife Jody volunteered to lead our GSE team
to Australia. They selected and trained their own team members. Don
was later to become a District Governor of District 6890. We enjoyed
the Australian team so much that it was difficult to see them
return. A farewell dinner and celebration was held for them at a
dining room at the top of a hotel dining room in Tampa. We found
Australians are really fun people to be around.
Some of the accomplishments of District 6890
during our first year:
• Chartered a new Rotary club, Brandon
South.
• Designed a District Logo. In later
years additions were made to it.
• District
Governor Elect was Phil Reed from Valrico
•
District wide fundraisers for the Rotary Foundation. A turkey shoot
and a golf marathon raised a significant amount of money for The
Foundation.
Starting
a new Rotary District from such a bad beginning was a real
challenge. Because of great support and advise from some very
important people we were able to accomplish a lot. We had a few
problems but mostly we had a lot of successes. I felt this beginning
would give future District 6890 Governors something to build on as a
foundation for success. |
