President Brad Hoch and District Governor, Paddy Rooney are shown above.
President-Elect Ken Farabaugh introduced our speaker for the day, the 2019-20 District Governor Patrick “Paddy” J. Rooney. Pastor Rooney is a native of England and completed his undergraduate studies at St. Mary’s College, London; studied philosophy at Catholic University of America; has a Master’s degree in Counseling from Shippensburg University and completed his Lutheran studies at Gettysburg Seminar. The Reverend Rooney retired in February of 2012 having served as the Senior Pastor of historic Christ Lutheran Church (1733) in York, PA. He has worked extensively in the human services field including serving as Special Assistant in the Department of Welfare and as President and CEO of a large non-profit entity serving the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled. For almost five years, he also served as the interim Executive Director for two local ecumenical agencies.
In his retirement, Pastor Rooney is an active member of the Rotary Club of York - the 25th largest club in the world. He served as President in 2016-17, has achieved perfect attendance every year and has served on more than 20 club committees. In 2013, he served as Team Leader for the GVSE team to Argentina. He served on the District Conference committee in 2015-16 and was the conference committee chair for 2016-17. He also serves on a number of other District committees. He completed all three levels of RLI and now serves as RLI faculty and as faculty at MA PETS. Paddy is a Major Donor to the Rotary Foundation and a member of the Paul Harris Society. He has received the York Club’s President’s Certificate of Appreciation for Service Above Self and the Avenues of Service Citation. He will serve as District Governor for District 7390 in 2019-20
District Governor Rooney addressed the group with great passion for the Rotary organization. First addressing the question, “Why Rotary?” He stressed the importance of Rotary in helping to solve community issues around the world. He noted the pride our 1.2 million members have in providing opportunities for hope and making a difference in our local and our global communities. He stressed that Rotary can be the organization that helps unite our divided country and world because, ‘together’ we care about the wellbeing of our communities.
DG Rooney highlighted the ways Rotary connects the world. Examples included our successful youth exchange programs, global grants programs and individual connections we have to Rotary members around the world. Our 3-prong approach to world service is a model for connecting members – from the local to the District to the International levels. Our mission statement is a good summary; “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.”
As District Governor, Patty will spend the year helping to grow Rotary. For the last 20 years, the international membership has stayed level at 1.2 million members. The challenge will be to find ways to get new individuals interested in community service, to join our clubs. He cited new meeting and club structures, like alternate meeting times, as examples of how we can attract and retain new members. He also highlighted the new Passport club as an example of a different approach to club membership.
Our members were encouraged to increase our impact by DG Rooney and make a lasting change. Rotarians undertake significant giving in our District and around the world, however, support for the Rotary Foundation can be stronger. He noted that because of successful giving, Rotary has 26 club grants and 8 global grants receiving funds to help serve local and international communities.
In closing, District Governor Rooney cited ways we can become involved in the Rotary. “If you are passionate about making lasting change in the world with clean water and sanitation, or maternal and child health, or peace and conflict prevention/resolution, or basic education and literacy, or economic and community development or disease prevention and treatment, then Rotary has a place for you!”
We are all encouraged to find our passion for Rotary.
