Feb 22-25 was the 2018 edition of the Pacific NW President Elect Training Seminar (PETS). This is the event where we work with our Presidents Elect to make their Rotary Year 2018/19 the best.
Pictured above are the District 5040 team celebrating the completion of the event on Sunday Feb 25th.
In short PETS was inspiring and we look forward to "Be the Inspiration"
The timing could not be better as we celebrated Rotary's 113th birthday during the event. Rotary International President Elect Barry Rassin and John Mathews, Rotary International Vice President Elect, held a very interesting "fire side chat" to explain the goals and care abouts for the following year. Barry made some very powerful observations about the impact of global warming on his country: The Bahamas. John characterized Rotary as doing 113 one year strategic plans. In short we should think big and we need to think to the longer term.
We were very moved by the creative thinking and energy of Drew Kessler. Drew is VP and Relationship Manager of a large bank, former President for the 10,000 member Hudson Gateway Real Estate Association, regular business contributor to Fox News. Most importantly Drew is father to a family of 5 children. He became a Rotarian at the age of 20 and became the youngest President in his club's history at the age of 25. He is a Past District Governor and currently is the current Zone 32 Foundation Chair. What a bundle of energy and we enjoyed hearing about a Rotary event for children!
Again, Past Rotary International President Richard King made a stirring speech about the impact of Rotary on his life and on the world. Rick is a regular at PETS and it is always great to hear his perspective. Also, we had a very informative talk about polio and the Polio Plus effort from Joan Toone. Joan is originally from Saskatoon and became of polio during the 1951 epidemic. Currently she is the President of the Rotary Club of Victoria and has received many service awards including the Rotary Foundation District Service Award (twice).
On Thursday and at other times our District Governor Elect Darcy led some very informative District 5040 sessions. The goal was to give Presidents Elect everything they need to know to Be the Inspiration for their clubs. A big thanks to District Governor Elect Darcy for heading up the sessions, to District Trainer Jan Gisborne for putting the session together and to all of the presenters and participants.
Finally thanks to David Oakes for being our "official' photographer. Nice to have the event recorded.
I'm trying not to be corny but I truly hope that every District 5040 Rotarian has a chance to attend a PETS. Really it's a wonderful and moving experience.