BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Rotary District 6970 Governor Mickey Ulmer and Area Governor Jim Troiano visited the Starke and Keystone Heights Rotary clubs on Wednesday, August 21.
With 64 clubs and over 3,200 members, Ulmer leads an area covering 12 northeast Florida counties from the Georgia line to Daytona Beach and Ocala.
His business career includes operating an advertising agency, leading marketing for Sonny’s Barbecue, and later becoming a Sonny’s franchisee in Fernandina Beach.
The magic of Rotary
Ulmer highlighted Rotary International’s 2024-2025 theme, “The Magic of Rotary.”
He said Rotary International’s President Stephanie Urchick came up with the theme based on a trip to the Caribbean.
“Stephanie is from Pittsburgh, and she and some of her club members went to the Dominican Republic about 12 years ago to install water projects in three small villages up in the hills,” Ulmer said. “The idea was to divert water from the running river into the villages and the individual homes.”
Ulmer explained that the water remained unfiltered until it reached each residence. Urchick demonstrated the filtering system to villagers, allowing some water to come through unfiltered and dirty, then turning on the filtering system to reveal clean water.
“Everybody marveled at it,” the district governor continued. “They decided it was time to go off and take some pictures with the mayor, and she turned the water off, and they started to leave.”
As the group was departing, a boy approached Urchick with a request.
“The little boy said to her, Lady, make the magic happen again.,” Ulmer said, retelling the story. “She said that what impressed upon her was that, for him, that was pure magic. The reason it’s our theme is that she wants you, and I want you to remember that everything we do in Rotary, all the service that we provide, big projects, small projects, local, international, every time we do a project, we make magic happen. You make the magic happen. You may never meet the people that you help. You may never see them. They will probably never meet you, but they will know that you were the ones that made magic happen in their lives.”
Rotary passion
Ulmer challenged the members of the two groups to reconnect with their passions, whether it be clean water or helping children at the Keystone Heights High School Resource Center.
“Think about what your passion is,” he said. “When did you last talk about your passion here in this club? When was the last time you said, ‘Hey, I think there’s something we could do.’”
Ulmer also emphasized the importance of a growing membership.
“Membership provides hands,” he said. “More members, more hands, more members, more new ideas, and more members, more money fundraised to pay for all that service.”
Ulmer engaged in a back-and-forth with the members of each club, asking them about the clubs’ histories, past projects, and fundraising ideas.
During the Keystone Heights meeting, Ulmer swore in Foundation Chair Rick Ergle and concluded both meetings by stressing the importance of connecting with other clubs in the district and attending leadership development events.
