Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.January is always an opportunity for a new start. For Rotarians it marks the middle of the Rotary year and leads us into additional opportunities for service, learning, and fellowship.
One of the service projects of note is the donation of $1.5 million worth of used medical equipment from Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville to the medical community of Tamaulipas state across the border in Mexico. DIF Tamaulipas will in turn distribute the equipment to hospitals and rural clinics to provide medical support to a population of approximately 2 million. This project is being coordinated by Brownsville Sunrise Rotary Club Rotarian Enrique Medellin. We are truly Connecting the World with this project!
On January 18 in Corpus Christi we will hold the next Rotary Leadership Institute Session 1 and 2. As I have mentioned before if you have not yet attended RLI now is the opportunity to get started. You will be glad you did! Space is limited but at this point there are still seats available for both sessions. Again, you have to take the sessions in order so you must start with session 1. As I have explained before, this program is a way to learn more than you ever knew about Rotary and in Districts that implement it has led to much higher member retention. Please plan to attend.We have a real treat on February 8 in Harlingen at the Rotary Foundation Awards Dinner. We are honored to have Suzi Howe, Rotary International Director Elect, as our keynote speaker for that event. Suzi will share her Rotary story and how she came be one of 
the few woman directors of Rotary International. You certainly will want to be there if your club is receiving an award (list of award winners is at www.rotary5930.org). One way or the other you will be inspired by hearing Suzi’s story. Registration is open now.
the few woman directors of Rotary International. You certainly will want to be there if your club is receiving an award (list of award winners is at www.rotary5930.org). One way or the other you will be inspired by hearing Suzi’s story. Registration is open now.
I also need to mention again PETS training to be held in Dallas Feb. 28-March 1, 2020. It is a requirement in the Rotary manual of procedure that all presidents-elect attend a PETS training. And Lone Star PETS is known as the premier PETS in the nation. There is also a training track for presidents-nominee. You can sign up now at www.lonestarpets.org.Finally, I would encourage you to continue to share your Rotary story with prospective Rotarians. When they hear our stories that is great motivation for them to join you in Service Above Self.