Club Assembly - District Conference Recap

President Dave opened the meeting by having members sing America the Beautiful, followed by Bob Carris’ Invocation. Newest members, Wayne Kinney and Marlene Katafias were presented their framable "Membership Certificates."

Members Tammy Bonifield, Bob Carris, Sharon Pommerville, Erin Dobbins, Claude Kendrick, and Dave Stechholz were excited to share their experience at the 6400 District Conference held in Windsor, May 30-June 1. Since today was a Club Assembly, the attending members formed a panel in the front of the room and each member had their time to share with the group their most memorable takeaway from the

conference. Claude focused on meeting Sylvia Whitlock, who was the first ever woman inducted as a Rotary member and the first woman Club President. It was mentioned that it took 11 years of litigation and involvement of the Supreme Court before Rotary officially accepted women as members.

Erin Dobbins was excited to have the experience of running the video cameras to record various speakers and activities of the conference. She wasn’t planning on doing this, but stepped up to fill a need and did so like an expert. She also produced the "In Memoriam" presentation that paid tribute to deceased Rotarians.

Sharon Pommerville, with her history of serving as Club President 3 times, and being the first woman President in our district and of the Livonia AM group, was introduced to Sylvia Whitlock, and the two were photographed side by side. (Bob Carris made this happen). Bob shared that he was impressed with the musical performance by the Grammy Award winning Gaby Moreno, who is also a Rotary International Ambassador.

Tammy Bonified shared that this was her eleventh Rotary Conference since 2012. She admitted that this conference was not her favorite because there were no hospitality room set-ups or time to just hang out with other Rotarians and the District Governor.

Nancy Darga stated that this was her first conference, and one of the things she noticed first was how happy everyone seemed. She noticed that the attendees acted like “One big happy family”. Nancy got a little weepy remembering the impact of seeing all the flags on display from around the world and realizing that Rotary is a strong force and has an amazing Global reach, besides changing lives for the better through its many projects.

Dave Stechholz received a book from the conference called "Good Influence, How to Engage Influencers for Purpose and Profit" by Paul Katz (can find on Amazon or bribe Dave to borrow). ​

Erin Dobbins shared that $170,000 was raised by District 6400 over the weekend to support the Guatemala Literacy Project.

And to top off today’s Club Assembly, the group celebrated receiving the Richard Hedke "Avenue of Service Award" - what an accomplishment!

Richard Hedke was District Governor from 1928-29 and President of Rotary International from 1946-47.

Thank you Dave for putting together a wonderful slideshow that captured the memories of the Conference but also allowed members who could not attend, enjoy moments of the conference.

View Dave's slideshow presentation HERE.

Next District 6400 Conference is in Frankenmuth, MI, May1-3, 2026

Victoria Haltom