💧 March: Make a Ripple. Lead with Impact.
March is Water and Sanitation Month—a powerful reminder that access to clean water changes everything. It improves health, strengthens education, and fuels economic growth. This month is also packed with President-elect leadership development. Let’s dive in to see What’s Ahead for March.
🚀 Key Dates, Requests & Reminders to Our Members
- Heartland President Elect Learning Seminar (PELS) – Thursday evening, March 26th to Saturday morning, March 28th in Wichita for all presidents-elect to attend. Club vice presidents and nominees are encouraged, too. Assistant Governors and district leaders will have leadership roundtables. Featured presenters & round table facilitators include RI President Nominee Larry Lunsford, RI Director-Elect Tom Gump, and Zone Public Image Chair Patrick Harrison.
Bonus: Public Image Basics follows Saturday afternoon, March 28th – led by Patrick Harrison
- District Grants Training on April 6, 2026, at 6pm via Zoom. To qualify for district grants, each club must have at least one member who has attended a district grants training certification seminar within the last three years prior to the District Grant application deadline, (August 31, 2026). Click here to register.
- Gathering for Good – April 11, 2026. Our annual fundraiser for the Rotary Foundation Annual Fund returns to the DoubleTree - Lawrence. Please begin planning silent auction items and wine or liquor pull donations—there will be exciting experiences to bid on—including a special dinner experience with RI President Nominee! To register, please click:
- Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) – Recruitment Is Critical
RYLA will be held May 31–June 4 at the University of Kansas with participants being housed in Hashinger Hall.
Applications and payments due soon. This year, KU will require 60 students to host RYLA - If we do not meet this number, KU will not hold RYLA in 2026. —please prioritize recruiting participants now.
Please:
A new Winter Quick Takes video on RYLA releases this month—featuring a recent graduate and an alum sharing career impact.
🏆 Rotary International Club Excellence Award – Scoreboard
Earning this award is the first step towards winning the District 5710 Governor's Cup
As of February 28th:
- 24 clubs have set 14+ goals
- 3 clubs have set 13 goals
- 5 clubs have set less than 13 goals
- 8 clubs have not yet entered goals
To earn the award—and compete for the Governor’s Cup—clubs must achieve at least 13 goals.
Beginning in April, we’ll report the number of clubs that have achieved 13 goals.
🎥 District 5710 Winter Quick Takes – a New District 5710 Program
These are short and informative YouTube videos about Rotary topics you can watch anytime. They are:
- All About our Global Scholarship Program with Anna McCarten, current scholarship recipient & Steven Graham, Scholarship Team Chair
- Effective Rotary Storytelling with Whitney Hahn, public image chair of Key City Rotary Club in Frederick, Maryland
Note: Whitney has also included additional Rotary storytelling resources. These can be found at the same below link
- First Peace Fellowship Class Reactions at the Bahçeşehir University Rotary Peace Center, Istanbul, Turkey, with Peace Fellow Karla Jordan and Rebecca Gould, Peace Fellowship Chair
A special thanks to Vernon Turner, district technology chair for making these happen along with all Quick Take video participants.
🌍 Polio Immunization Trip to India
Maria Wilson, District PolioPlus Chair is excited to invite and encourage members of our district to consider volunteering for the Polio National Immunization Day in India, October 21-28, 2026.
If you’ve ever wanted to deepen your PolioPlus involvement—this is your moment. Financial assistance is available.
Please, don't let financial concerns be the reason to not step forward, as there is some financial assistance available, thanks to some generous and supportive Rotarians.
🎉 Rotaract Anniversary Week - Monday through Sunday during the week of March 13th
Hats off to the K-State Rotaract and its Rotary liason, Chris Culbertson of the Manhattan Rotary Club and the amazing work they do improving the lives of the people they serve.
I am excited at the awesome job Lauren Barr of the Topeka South Rotary Club is doing to re-start the Washburn University Rotaract Club. She and the Washburn students are making great progress
💧 March - Water and Sanitation Month!
Help support this main Rotary cause. You can get involved by:
Clean water is one of Rotary’s most transformational areas of focus.
🕊 Rotary Peace Fellow candidates – now is the time to start identifying
Now is the time to identify strong Peace Fellowship candidates in your community. These highly competitive, fully funded fellowships prepare global peace builders. Qualified candidates may not be Rotarians.
🔜 Looking Ahead - April is Environmental Month
Final Thought for March
Thank you for continuing to strengthen your clubs while serving others. Remember that strong membership growth plus strong Foundation donations equals stronger clubs doing more to serve those in need & stronger friendships.
Together, we are living Service Above Self and answering the call to Unite for Good.
