Governor

GOVERNOR'S CORNER

Roy Maloy

P.O. Box 1264

King George, VA 2248

(540) 775-2652

Dear Fellow Ruritans,

The district had a very successful President's Meeting in February. It was very well attended and the attendees had a lot of good information to take back to their clubs. I would like to commend the Abingdon Club for hosting the event. They did a terrific job.

Judging by the clubs I have visited this year and the feedback I have received from the Zone Governors, many of the clubs in the district are off to a great start this year. Let us all strive to make this year the best year ever for our clubs and the district. We must continually reassess our clubs and our community needs. Then we must do our best as Ruritans to meet those needs.

I have been encouraging the clubs to get reports on their unique and interesting projects in the Crab and in the National Magazine. There are some great projects out there that the other clubs in the district (and nationally) need to hear about.

The district has a great website (www.chesapeakeruritans.org) and I would like to thank Stephen Lambert, the webmaster and district secretary, for the work he has done on the site. Please check the site regularly as we will be posting announcements and district news as the year goes on. Please submit your club's events to the Events Calendar on the website. This is free advertisement for your event. I encourage everyone to continually check the Events Calendar and if possible come out and support your fellow Ruritan clubs.

On March 8, my wife and I had the opportunity to attend another Reedy church Variety Show. It was fantastic as usual. Also in attendance were our National President Wayne Outlaw, National Director Bobby Burton, and National Director Carson Stanley, and their wives. It was great to see one of our club's activities in our district getting national attention.

The 2007 Blue Ribbon Awards have been announced. I would like to congratulate the Elmont, James City, and Reedy Church clubs for achieving the Blue Ribbon Award. I would also like to congratulate the 2007 Outstanding President Award recipients: Cindy Gatewood, Cleve Wright, and Wickham Coleman Jr. Only eight percent of the clubs nationally achieve the Blue Ribbon Award. In the Chesapeake District we had roughly six percent of our clubs achieve this award, We as a district need to improve in this area. I would like to encourage all clubs to strive for this award. We have many clubs in the district that could achieve this award if they make a conscious effort to do so.

I would like to remind the club secretaries that now is the time to submit the Quarterly Activities Report for the first quarter. The form can be found in your Secretary's Handbook. I want to also remind the clubs that May 15 is the deadline for filling the IRS Form 990. Remember that April is Rudy Bear's 20^th birthday. Do something special for Rudy and send your photos into National and to the Crab. The District has a Rudy bear suit that clubs can borrow. Please contact me if any club wants to borrow it. The district also has a Memorial Light that can be borrowed for funerals.

I want to encourage all of the clubs to keep up the great work that you have been doing and please support our district projects, such as the American Patriot Conference (May 15-18), the Cruise/Raffle, the District Crab Feast (July 26), and make plans for the District Convention (November 8) at the Crown Plaza in Williamsburg.

Yours in Ruritan

Roy Maloy

(Click here to see a list of Past District Governors)