We are having a great Rotary year as we all make new connections. I am about half way through the club visits and have found every club to be active and ready to serve their community and world. Sandy and I just returned from our Zone Institute in Denver. Our new Zone 26 is paired with the other new Zone 27. We are now part of the Zone structure that include the entire western half of the United States and a little bit of Canada. We also have Hawaii in our Zone.

I spend a lot of time thinking of family, not just my own or the extended family of Rotary, but also the families we are helping in the communities we serve. In many parts of the world, mothers and children face challenges to survive that most of us will never comprehend. According to the World Health Organization, the risk of a woman in a low-income country dying during pregnancy or childbirth, or from related causes, is about 120 times higher than that of a woman living in a high-income country. It is encouraging that infant mortality rates are declining globally, yet 4 million babies annually still die within the first year of life.

Sandy and I have been on the road the past weeks visiting Rotary Clubs and seeing the wonderful towns in District 5730. We started our club visits with Canadian and were treated to a great lunch and wonderful hospitality from the club. We spent the afternoon visiting the Citadel and the fantastic art on display. We even watched a movie in the restored Art Deco movie house downtown. You have to make a stop in Canadian sometime, maybe when the fall leaves change color. A great Rotary Club doing great things in a great town.