Posted by Faron Barr
We are, now, one month closer to our Gathering For Good Foundation event on April 6th!  We are going Back to the 80s. We will have an 80s themed night with a DJ playing 80s music we know you all love. It is not required to dress up. However, we encourage you to dress in your favorite 80s attire if you so wish. We will have an 80s themed trivia challenge, 80s themed props, and an 80s themed backdrop for all of your fun photos. As before, there will be a silent and live auction with our auctioneer extraordinaire, Charlie Moon, calling our live auction once again. This year, the Gathering For Good will be held at Doubletree by Hilton in Lawrence. This event, as before, will be a very fun filled night with all of the funds raised going to The Rotary Foundation Annual fund in the name of the person purchasing any item that is available. DGN-D Michelle Sink recently sent an email out to the club presidents about putting together club baskets for our silent auction. If you have an idea for a silent or live auction item, please contact me (fbarr@t-mfinancial.com) or Michelle Sink (msink@kansasbigs.org). We can discuss where your item or auction package can be placed. Last year, we raised over $24,000 in one night and had a wonderful time! I hope you can join us and help us raise even more this year.
 
Attending our Gathering For Good event this year will be Eric Thompson who is our Major Gifts Officer with RI. He will conduct a session at 3:00pm before the Gathering For Good event where he will be speaking about some the unique ways in which you may make a Major Gift to Rotary. Everyone is welcome to attend this session for free.
 
Any of us in the District Foundation committee would be happy to speak with you or present to your club on several Foundation topics, including Endowment/Major Gifts, Global Scholars, Global grants, District grants, Paul Harris Society, Polio Plus, and alternative ways to give a significant gift to The Rotary Foundation (TRF). I encourage you to reach out to us if you would like us to present to you.
 
As of March 1st, we have, as a district, given 45% of what we contributed last year to TRF Annual fund and 59% to Polio Plus. With 4 months left in our Rotary year, we still have time to match or exceed our numbers from last year. Your District Foundation committee is dedicated to helping our members with various ways of contributing to TRF and with various ideas for projects that can benefit from those funds.
 
The impact of all your TRF contributions is truly amazing and is enhancing lives in our communities and the world! Thank you for all of your efforts so far! Let’s continue the momentum and finish this year better than the last!