On 11/10/2015, District Governor Doris Lockey visited the Magnolia Rotary Club. While there, she helped bring in three new members to the club. In the photo above from left to right are: DG Doris Lockey, Magnolia Rotary Club President Real Provencher who sponsored new member Barbara Provencher, new member Janice Thigpen and her sponsor Tom Grayson, and new member Dorian Nero and his sponsor Kira Sears Elliot.
 
District 5910 Governor Doris Lockey thanked club members for the reception held in her honor the night before and for the tour prior to the meeting of both the site for the new Unity Park Inclusive Playground and the Raptor Bird Cage built by our club for last years District Grant Project. She also appreciated the slideshow of photos from the Magnolia Bowl event and fund raiser.
 
Doris than told everyone about how current RI President, Ravi Ravindran from Sri Lanka grew up on a tea plantation and always believed that he would one day inherit the plantation from his father. However, as a result of the war in Sri Lanka in 1991, his family lost all but a few acres of their tea plantation. With the need to create income for his family, he came up with the idea of shipping tea from all tea producers in Sri Lanka in what we know today as "tea bags". As a result, he prospered and became quite well off. However, he is the first to tell anyone who calls him a "self made" man that he is not a "self made" man. He will tell you you that many people in his life helped him get to where he is today. That is why he is so passionate about the Rotary Club as he feels it gives him a venue to give back to a society who helped him become successful in spite of tha hardships brought on by a local war. She also informed everyone that RI Governor Ravi Ravindran will be in Houston on January 12, 2016 and hopes that many Rotarians will attend the meeting to hear him speak. 
 
Doris then told us of how over her lifetime, she has noticed that many people who did not feel like they could accomplish specific projects found that within the Rotary organization they were more productive than they thought. Therefore, she said all Rotary members should not feel threatened in any way by volunteering within their club to work on projects or take on specific roles within their club. She felt that anyone volunteering within their club would get more out of their efforts than they expected including a feeling of teamwork and accomplishment.
 
Doris then told everyone that she believes that many people (and that includes Rotary members) are not fully aware of all the good that their club, as well as Rotary in general, does in the world. To try and help overcome that problem, she has tasked her husband with taking as many photos as possible of club projects. She will then attempt to get those photos and stories out through the district website. She also plans to prepare a presentation for the next District meeting to be held on February 6, 2016.
 
Doris then told everyone that one of the things she wants every Rotarian to do is to set up a "MyRotary" account and fill out their profile. This will also help our club get its Presidential Citation. She also told everyone that the Magnolia Rotary was 2nd in the district in giving to the Rotary Foundation. Her club, the Rotary Club of Lake Conroe, was first in the district but they have almost double the members. Doris said she was extremely proud of our club for their support of the Rotary Foundation. She told us that since our club's inception, our club has given $88, 740.50 to the Rotary Foundation.
 
Doris then talked about how Rotary's over 30 year effort to eliminate Polio has been greatly successful, even though there are still 3 countries where Polio has not yet been eliminated. However, she felt that we are getting closer since in July of 2015, Nigeria is now Polio free and no new case of Polio has been seen in the world in the last three weeks. In addition, less known but almost as important, Rotary has been credited with eradicating the Ebola disease.
 
Lastly, Doris told everyone that the Rotary Club of Lake Conroe will hold the 2016 District 5910 Conference at the Torretta Lake Resort on April 22-24, 2016. She hoped that many from all the clubs in the district will attend.
 
Additional Photos from the event are below:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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