District Governor’s Message

Dear Fellow Rotarians and Central Floridians,

It is the vision and intent of your District Leadership Team that each year we serve as District Governor, Central Florida’s Rotary District 6980 shall be:

A Membership-Based, Service-Focused Organization Promoting Goodwill and Volunteer Service – while Creating Value for our Central Florida Community, through Good Citizenship, Leadership, High Ethical Standards and Respect.

To achieve this vision, District Leaders, Area Governors, Club Presidents, and Rotarians may rely on your Leadership to:

• Maintain a “Continuity of Leadership” in order to best achieve our goals and objectives.
• Communicate the value of Rotary as a membership-driven service
• Foster service projects, member programs, and initiatives to deliver Service Above
• Promote leadership development and growth opportunities for every
• Continue promoting a “culture of giving” to benefit our local and global
• Promote Rotarians’ involvement in Rotary’s Areas of Focus and Global
• Treat every Rotarian with respect and dignity to ensure diversity, equity, and
• Instill professional values based on accountability, responsibility, and

We invite every Rotarian in District 6980 to support, uphold, and contribute to this vision through Rotary’s Guiding Principles, which include delivering Service Above Self, living by the Four Way Test, supporting the Object of Rotary, and taking an active role in Rotary’s Avenues of Service.

Commitment is key to our success as a volunteer-based service organization. As Rotarians, we have all made a commitment to an altruistic culture of serving others selflessly in a non-political and non-religious humanitarian organization.

Service Above Self is a way of life, manifested through the goodwill of men and women who make time in their busy lives to help others. We can achieve this by encouraging each other to remember the original commitment we each made to our Rotary Clubs, with the goal of serving our Central Florida community using our minds, hearts, and hands.

Respect, integrity, and tolerance are core values for Rotarians to live and work by when interacting with other human beings—regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, economic status, and other diverse backgrounds.

Every Rotarian should find purpose in volunteering with their knowledge and skills, as well as in contributing to The Rotary Foundation to support Rotary’s work around the globe. Additionally, each one of us is an ambassador of goodwill who can promote the virtues of Rotarian service in the Central Florida community, ensuring our Rotary Clubs’ growth and continued success

As a District Governor, I am committed to promoting fairness, goodwill, and generosity—all common denominators in the way we think, speak and act as Rotarians. Therefore, we believe that as Rotarians we all have a chance to make the world a better place through alignment with Rotary International’s Vision Statement:

“Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”

And never forget this aspect of our District Leadership Philosophy:

The Rotarian and the Rotary Club are the most important part of our organization, and our district will do everything possible to support Rotary clubs.

Rotarians are stronger together. Remember, each of us may be one individual but together we make up a group of more than 1.4 million people who belong to one of 33,000 Rotary Clubs across more than 200 nations around the globe. We must reassure our community that Rotarians can deliver hope to a world plagued by need, inequality, despair, and social challenges that are seen by some as too difficult to overcome.

Let’s all work together as Rotarians to make this world a better place— to Create Hope in our Communities and in the World!

Don Harris
District Governor 2023-2024
Rotary District 6980 – Central Florida Region