These are Rotary's seven Areas of Focus

Rotarians are dedicated to causes that improve lives, increase understanding among the people of the world,
grow peace, create a better world, and end diseases such as polio forever.

Rotarians:

Promote Peace
Fight Disease
Provide Clean Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
Save Mothers and Children
Support Education
Grow Local Economies
Protect Our Environment

Learn more here.

Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup

Celebrate Earth Day 2021 - mark your calendars for Saturday, April 24, 2021.

Ways to participate:

(1) Rotary Club of Chicago Six Corners clean-up of Margate Park, 4912 N. Marine Drive, Chicago, on Saturday, April 24, 2021, from 10:00 am to Noon. RSVP to Fausto Lopez - fauedlopez@gmail.com.

Gloves, plastic bags, hand sanitizer, and garbage grabbers will be provided. Coffee, water, juice, and donuts will be served. Please bring your MASK!

(2) Rotary Club of Chicago Citywide Service and the Chicago Rotary Club coalition clean-up of Grant Park: Saturday, April 24, 2021, from 10:00 am to Noon.

Participants will be assigned to identified sectors within Grant Park. The first emphasis will be on the Park south of Ida B. Wells to Roosevelt Rd. Additional sectors north of Ida B. Wells will be assigned if number of participants allows.

Trash bags and gloves will be provided. Participants may want to consider obtaining a grabber tool if desired. (Available at local hardware stores or online).

To sign up yourself or a group of your Club members, email Manon Lyketsos: manon@manonlyketsos.com.

Join Our Pledge to Support

Operation Pollination

District 6450 is a proud supporter of Operation Pollination. The District has pledged to take action to support pollinators in our area, and to encourage others to do so as well. We encourage every Rotary, Rotaract, Interact and Early Act Club in our District to sign the Operation Pollination Pledge, Plan a project, and get others in your community involved.

Read our Operation Pollination - District Resolution

Sign our Operation Pollination - Pollination Pledge

District Conference 2021 will be virtual.

REGISTER NOW for District Conference 2021

Thursday, June 3 - 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Friday, June 4 - 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Saturday, June 5 - 8:15 to 11:00 am

Cost: FREE!

Thursday:
"Telling our Stories"
Highlights of our Club and District projects in 2020-21
Early Childhood Education
iPads for Nursing Homes and Hospitals
Simple Schools Global Grants
Environmental Projects
COVID Relief Projects
Rotaract and Interact Projects

Friday:
"Awards Night"
Club Awards
Individual Awards
Featured Speaker: Harold Green, Chicago Poet and Spoken Word Artist
Optional Afterhours Social Event - BINGO

Saturday:
District Annual Meeting
Memorial Service
Highlights of our Rotary Day of Wellness and Service
Featured Speaker: Rotary International Director Elect and Past District Governor, Nick Scott on "The Future of Rotary"

District Conference 2021 Information

Rotary Day of Wellness and Service

We want to make our District Conference a shared experience, despite the fact it will be mostly virtual. To get us out, active and together, we are encouraging every Club, by itself or working with other Clubs, to plan either a wellness or a service event for Saturday, May 22nd. (Activities can also be scheduled for the following day, Sunday, May 23.)

It has been a stressful year year, thanks to COVID, and the idea of this day is to do something for us (wellness) or for others (service) in a safe, socially-distant manner. Rotaractors, Interactors, family members and other non-Rotarians can be invited to join. During the virtual part of the District Conference, we will share your photos and video clips of the many activities that take place that weekend.

The goal is to have hundreds of our Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interactors, and friends of Rotary active on service and wellness events at the same time.

To encourage participation, we are offering $100 per Club (including Rotaract and Interact clubs) to pay for any costs associated with your activity that weekend. Clubs are welcome to collaborate.

A request from the Public Image committee - please designate someone in your club to take photos and videos of your project. Once they have captured the event, please upload/download them your pictures/videos to this dropbox along with a Word.doc about the event, how many attended, club name and a description of the event. Go here for the Dropbox for Pictures and Videos

Once we get your materials, we will put together a special video of the district wide event for the District conference.

Please provide DG Chuck with the details of your event (time, place, description, contact person) by April 30, 2021 (new deadline).

Rotary Day of Wellness and Service

Here are Day of Wellness & Service projects planned by our Clubs:

Aurora - May 22 - "Coffee & Yoga" - yoga in the park at Lincoln Park in Aurora.
Bradley-Bourbonnais / Rotary 609 - May 22 - "Paddle or Pedal" - kayak or bike ride
Chicago Citywide Service - May 22 - Hike & Cleanup - Northerly Island, Chicago
Chicago Heights / Park Forest - "Stroll & Roll" - benefiting New Star Service
Chicago Lakeview - May 22 - "Rise & Stride" benefiting Rise Against Hunger - Donate
Chicago Northwest - 5K run
Chicago Rotaract
Chicago Southeast - May 22 - Volunteering at food pantry - Windsor Park Lutheran Church
Darien & Downers Grove - May 22 - 9:00 am - Walk & cleanup & yoga - McCollum Park, Downers Grove
Elmhurst - Gardening with residents of Greencastle Home, Elmhurst
Hinsdale - May 15 - 10:00 am - Bikes for Military Kids
Naperville - 5/16 to 5/23 - "Week of Wellness & Service" - several service projects, blood drive (5/23)
Naperville Downtown - 5/22 - Operation Pollination planting
Oak Forest - 5/23 - Community Garden speaker - local naturalist
Oak Lawn Healthcare - 5/23 - Ronald McDonald House (Oak Lawn) - planting of pollinator plants
Oak Park / River Forest - 5/22 - Walk and Cleanup with Interact Club - Fullerton Woods (River Grove, IL) - 9:00 am - noon; box lunch follows. Register in advance - bookgramma@gmail.com
Orland Park - Walk & Cleanup - Orland Grasslands - 8:00 am - noon
Paul Harris Memorial - 5/22 - cleanup
Paul & Jean Harris Home - 5/23 - cleanup of grounds - Comely Bank
Romeoville - 5/22 - 8:00 am - cleanup of O'Hara Woods Preserve with Interact Club
Rotary/One (Chicago) - 5/23 - kayak river/lake cleanup
Woodridge - 5/23 - 10:00 am - Outdoor yoga class - the Pavilion at Woodridge Park District Athletic Recreation Center

Please join us for the Third Annual Rotary Club of Naperville International Service Summit will be held on May 1, 2021 from 8:00 am - 1:00 pm. The conference will be held as an online virtual event. All Rotarians are invited to participate and help promote Rotary's International Connections - from your club to the world.

For additional information, visit www.InternationalServiceSummit.org or Register Now.

Direct from the Director - COVID-19 Town Hall Meeting

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, answered our questions about COVID-19 and vaccinations in Illinois.

Watch the recording on YouTube:

COVID-19 in Illinois - Town Hall Meeting

Check out our Panel Discussion on Early Childhood Education and Community Assessments

Hear our expert panel discuss why early childhood development is so important, how their programs improve outcomes for children, how COVID is impacting education and development, learn how we can address inequities in our communities through these programs, and how Rotarians/Rotary Clubs can make a lasting difference in the lives of many.

Go here to view or click on the image below.

Jennifer Jones Selected to Serve as Rotary President in 2022-23!

Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s President for 2022-23, a selection that will make her the first woman to hold that office in the organization’s 115-year history.

A current Rotary Foundation trustee, Jones has been a member since 1997 and has served Rotary as vice president, director, training leader, committee chair, moderator, and district governor.

Read more: https://on.rotary.org/2DDj58H

Rotary adopts Supporting the Environment
as the Seventh Area of Focus!

The Rotary Foundation Trustees and Rotary International Board of Directors have both unanimously approved adding a new area of focus: Supporting the Environment.

More than $18 million in Foundation global grant funding has been allocated to environment-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment will give Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.

Supporting the Environment becomes Rotary's seventh area of focus, which are categories of service activities supported by global grants. It joins peacebuilding and conflict prevention; disease prevention and treatment; water, sanitation, and hygiene; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; and community economic development.

Grant applications for projects will be accepted beginning on July 1, 2021. Gifts and commitments from Rotarians and others will be sought to provide global grant support for the new area of focus.

A message on Rotary and Social Justice
from DGE Chuck Corrigan

Social Justice and Rotary

Calendar of Events

Post your club event on the district calendar by emailing news@rotary6450.net.

Check out the District Calendar for club events, there's something going on somewhere almost weekly.

Click on Date for Full Details. See District Events & Calendar For All Annual Activities and Meetings.

CONTACT THE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT TEAM

Rotary International District 6450, Inc.

400 E. Randolph St., #2305
Chicago, IL 60601

Office@rotary6450.org