Posted by John Ester on Aug 15, 2017
Our own Kris Thomas told us what happens in Rotary at the District level.
 
Following her term as President of Benzie Sunrise Rotary, Kris spent the next five years working for Rotary District 6290 in various capacities. She reminded us that District 6290 is comprised of about 60 Rotary Clubs in an area ranging from Holland in the south to Wawa, Ontario in the north. Our club is also a part of international Zone 29.
 
District Governors serve one-year terms, and Ed Swart from Holland is our current one. Ed will be paying us a visit on October 3rd.  There are 13 Assistant Governors in our District, and Jon Catlin is the one for the Manistee River Region in which we fall.  Other key people in our District include Kathy Hegedus, who runs the "District Office" (her home) in Spring Lake, and Nancy Thornton, the District's public image guru from Traverse City.
 
Kris reviewed how the District is financed (mostly from member dues, plus money coming back from Rotary International), as well as the grants available from the District Foundation for Clubs such as ours. For  a one-club local project we can get up to $2,500 in a matching grant; the figure increases to $3,500 per club if we go in with another club.