I hope your new year is off to a great start! Here's what we are going to cover this month ...
DG’s Message
Membership Update
Building New and Current Rotary Clubs!
North Richland Hills (New!)
Forest Hill (New!)
Veterans Club (New!)
Brownwood (New!)
380 Providence Village (Current Club with New Possibility!)
Denton-Lake Cities (Current Club with New Possibility!)
Veteran-Focused District-Wide Club
Youth Services News!
Paul Harris Society Update (Do You Need a Chevron?)
Blood Drive in a Box
Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group Update
Upcoming District Events
Upcoming Club Events
DG'S MESSAGE
We're in the 4th quarter and we're ahead!
So don't stop playing! You can still reach your goals!
Rotary Strong is our District-Wide initiative to help you finish this year and start next year as strong as possible. We encourage you to do that with a three-step process:
CONNECT with and RETAIN your current members!
Strengthen relationships within your club and across the district
Reach out to members who have not attended recently.
Consider a personal phone call or hand-written note!
Avoid a year-end drop-off in current members!
Invite a new member for coffee and get to know them personally.
38% of new Rotarians leave within the first two years!
Your club can turn that around!
RE-CONNECT - Bring former Rotarians back into the conversation
Reach out to former members; let them know what projects the club is working on, and that their previous contributions made a difference!
Maybe their situation has changed, and all they need is in invitation from YOU to come back
Consider a Homecoming Happy Hour!
GROW - Continue to ATTRACT and bring in New Members!
Remember the Power of Invitation!
Be active in the local Chamber of Commerce
Intentionally connect with visitors
Support your club's (and other clubs') Social Media channels
Your District Team is here to help you however we can. Let's finish the year ROTARY STRONG!
Membership Update
Please make sure your membership numbers are up-to-date in ClubRunner or DACdb!
Many of our clubs have already reached or surpassed 15% growth this year! Here are the clubs that are leading the way in membership:
Top Twelve Clubs in % Growth
Kennedale - 53%
Mineral Wells - 38%
Red River - 37%
Southlake - 23%
380 Rotary Club - 22%
Breckenridge - 21%
Denton Evening - 17%
Fort Worth East - 16%
Colleyville - 15%
Highland Village - 15%
Arlington Sunrise - 12%
Burleson Area Mid-Day - 12%
Top Twelve Clubs in # Growth
Fort Worth Downtown - 15
Mineral Wells - 13
Red River - 10
Kennedale - 9
Arlington - 8
Arlington Sunrise - 8
Colleyville - 6
Highland Village - 6
Wichita Falls - 6
Decatur - 5
Lewisville - 5
Southlake - 5
34 of our clubs have shown a net increase in membership this year!
KEEP THAT FOCUS! IF THESE CLUBS CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU!
BUILDING NEW AND CURRENT ROTARY CLUBS
Birdville (Serving North Richland Hills, Richland Watauga, and Haltom City)
Our next club to charter will be the new Birdville Club!
President Greg Gideon - 817-428-2700 greg.gideon@edward-jones.com; PE Sean McGaughey - 817-798-2853 sean.mcg@edgehomefinance.com and AG Tito Rodriguez have led the effort to form this new club!
North Central Texas Salute to Veterans
President-Elect Kevin Sellers is leading the effort to establish a new stand-alone club focused on supporting veterans.
Our goal is to bring in new Rotarians. Reach out to Kevin Sellers at 405-503-6450, or kevins@excelmedstaff.com
The Colony (NEW Club Opportunity)
We are in the initial stages of forming a club in The Colony. If you know of people in this area who would be potential Rotarians, please contact DGE Angie Cox - angiecoxrotary5790@gmail.com.
Denton-Lake Cities (considering a Companion club)
Denton-Lake Cities has updated their Strategic Plan to include starting a companion club!
If you have ideas about expanding your club or launching a new or companion club, contact District Membership Chair Kurt Bartley and the District Membership Success Team. They are ready to partner with you to GROW ROTARY!
Veteran-Focused District-Wide Club
As mentioned above, Kevin Sellers is leading our effort to start a District 5790 Veteran-Focused Club. This concept, which would be new for our district, has been successfully implemented in other districts around the country.
The Veterans-Focused Club would be cause-based rather than geographically based. Our vision is that club membership would be open to anyone - veterans and non-veterans alike - with a focused interest in recognizing, honoring and serving veterans, and veteran-related causes.
Our intention is that members of this club would for the most part be NEW ROTARIANS. Other districts who have formed this type of club report that few members come from existing clubs - almost everyone is a new Rotarian, and that is our goal as well.
The club is in the initial formation stages. Please take a few minutes and think about people you know who may be interested in this type of club. If you or someone you know is interested, please reach out to Kevin Sellers at 405-503-6450, or kevins@excelmedstaff.com
Youth Services in D5790 is very active. To maintain our momentum, we need your help!
INTERACT
If your club sponsors an Interact Club, please email Steve Trine at strinerotary5790yeo@gmail.com and let Steve know the school(s), and about how many kids are in the club.
RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award)
RYLA 2026 will be June 18 - 21.
Watch for RLA notices to come out in the next few days
Rotary Youth Exchange
We also need clubs to commit to Rotary Youth Exchange.
We currently have two inbound long term exchange students from Slovakia and Germany, living in Wichita Falls and Abilene, respectively
Applications for Short Term Exchanges for Summer 2026 will continue to be accepted until March 1st, 2026.
The Paul Harris Society is different than being a Paul Harris Fellow. The Paul Harris Society means you have pledged to give $1000 per year to the Rotary Foundation. It is not automatic. In other words, you have to sign up - just because you give $1000 a year does not mean you are automatically a member.
Once you sign up, you are eligible to receive a nifty PHS Chevron, as depicted above. However, this also is not automatic. You must notify your District Foundation Chair that you have joined the Paul Harris Society.
If you are a member of the Paul Harris Society and do not have a chevron, please email District Foundation Chair Scott Hendricks at jscotthendricks@yahoo.com.
Blood Drive Update!
Blood Drives are one of our top priorities this year! We want to make District 5790 the Blood Drive Champion of Rotary!
Since June of 2025, Rotary Clubs in the Carter Blood Care area across North Texas have hosted 219 blood drives and have collected 3427 units of blood, with 661 of them being first time donors.
Rotary Clubs in District 5790 that work with Carter Blood Care have collected 870 units of blood. The top clubs are:
Stephenville - 243 (WOW!)
Pilot Knob - 150
Breckenridge - 88
Decatur - 84
Weatherford - 54
Arlington - 53
We are encouraging every Rotary Club to hold one or more blood drives this year. Many clubs are already holding multiple blood drives. If you need help, check out the Blood Drive in a Box at Rotary5790.org.
At the District Awards banquet in June 2026, we will announce the Governor’s Blood Drive Champion Club for the club with the most per capita donations!
Let’s Make a Difference This Year in Advancing the Seventh Area of Focus
It’s not a secret that our world is facing some serious environmental challenges. Why don’t we agree that we can take some proactive steps both personally and in our clubs to influence change. Let me introduce the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG.) I like to refer to this group as the “boots on the ground” for “Protecting the Environment,” Rotary’s seventh area of focus which impacts every other AOF in its board reach and importance. Boots on the ground means that ESRAG goes beyond lip service and encourages clubs and individuals to take action with concrete projects, expertise and grant assistance.
Like Rotary International, ESRAG has areas of emphasis:
Biodiversity
Circular Economy
Climate
Pollution
Food Systems
Sustainable Living
Each club, and cascading down to each Rotarian, can choose to implement choices, which in aggregate can positively affect the environment.
Identify your club’s C.E.O., Club Environment Officer. This person or small team works with your club’s committees and members to estimate your carbon footprint and find a way to reach zero. Invite your Interact, Rotaract, or other local groups to help. Estimate your club’s GreenHouseGas emissions baseline. Keep it simple at first. A typical club emits 10 to 15 tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
On the website above, there are estimators to calculate your club’s CO2 burden. Here are some ideas that your club might think about to reduce the burden:
Avoid single use items.
Share or compost left-over food.
Source your meal ingredients locally.
Offer vegetarian meals with smaller serving utensils.
Offer ride-sharing.
Reduce travel by encouraging virtual alternatives.
Select projects that help care for the environment and mitigate climate change.
Share your good work with others in your community.
Lead or participate in projects that sequester carbon like planting/maintaining trees, re-vitalizing marshes, mangroves, etc.
Lead or participate in projects that support renewable energy.
Help your community to improve building standards.
Initiate and support the circular economy.
When travel is necessary, compensate for the carbon consequences with ESRAG’s Flight Carbon Estimator.
There are tons of great ideas for action and to initiate projects on the ESRAG website: https://esrag.org/
I’m Mike Weaver, your District 5790 Environmental Advocate, and I’d really like to tell you more about ESRAG. Please invite me to be a speaker at your club meeting and be in touch to learn more about what’s possible with ESRAG. Please give me a call or send me an email to talk about your ideas for the District and how to promote environmental protection.
