Nearly 180 Rotary members representing 47 North Central and Plains area Texas Rotary clubs showed up in Graham, Texas on Saturday April 30th to Imagine Rotary in their communities for the 2022-2023 Rotary Year starting July 1, 2022.
 
Incoming District Governor Dan Steele kicked of the day of Rotary learning with an emotional discussion about all the various Rotary mentors he had over the years starting with the very church in Graham where the event was being held.
 
Dan was followed by a rousing presentation by the team of Amber Scarborough and Patrick Harrison on "Public Image is Everything".  Amber is the Assistant Rotary Public Image Chair for our region and Patrick serves as our areas Rotary Public Image consultant. Their message resonated with us we entered our chosen training break-out sessions with the realization that every single individual in Rotary represents what the public believes about our organization. It may start with what is learned through our Public Image publicity, but it ends with meeting Rotarians face-to-face and being exposed to the passion Rotary members have for making our world better.
Members then attended 2 different one hour training sessions. Attendees choose from a list or 10 different Rotary topics that were being presented at breakout sessions throughout the campus. The training topics included strategic planning, secretary training, Rotary Club Central, Foundation, Membership, Vocational Service, Youth Service & Youth Exchange, Public Image and Grant Certification Training. The first set of training breakouts were followed by 10 additional sessions so that every member had the opportunity to learn two Rotary activities that most suited their leadership skills need for their club.
We reconviened in the main hall following the breakout sessions where a delicious lunch was served. Following lunch, DGE Dan Steele shared information on his Backpack Buddies Governor's Service Project. The afternoon keynote speaker was fellow Rotary member. Mineral Wells ISD Superintendent, Dr. John Kuhn who presented some distressing facts regarding hunger among children in our school systems. While our school systems can feed the children breakfast and lunch while they are in school, they would go hungry on week-ends and school breaks if it were not for programs such as Backpack Buddies.
 
Our session ended with the recitation of the Rotary 4 Way Test and a firm resolution to not only Imagine Rotary but to re-imagine our Rotary clubs so that our impact is felt in the community and the world.