We are less than a month away from our District Conference 2024, and we are even less than three weeks away from the visit of the Rotary International President-Elect Stephanie A. Urchick. RIPE Stephanie will be visiting the eastern part of our district as early as May 13, and in addition to visiting some of our clubs and the conference, she will have the opportunity to meet with a number of public officials and local community leaders. 

The Rotary Clubs of Trebišov and Košice Classic, which will have the opportunity to present their projects and service results on the very first day of the incoming President's visit, have also prepared meetings for Stephanie with the Mayor of Trebišov Marek Čižmar and the Mayor of Košice Jaroslav Polacek, with the participation of the former President of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Rudolf Schuster. The next day RIPE will spend in the company of members of the Rotary Club Poprad. She will visit the site of their most important community project - the Slovak Red Cross House in Spišská Sobota, which, thanks to the help of the Poprad Rotarians, now serves the elderly and infirm. Stephanie will also visit Central Slovakia, where she will have a meeting with members of RC Martin.

In Bratislava, the incoming RI President will meet the Mayor of the Capital City of Bratislava, Matúš Vallo, as well as a celebratory luncheon with the U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, H.E. Gautam A. Rana. A reception with the President of the Slovak Republic, Zuzana Čaputová, is also expected.

RIPE Stephanie's main goal, however, is to attend our district conference. In addition to her individual presentation with a message from RI President Gordon McInally, Stephanie will also participate in a panel discussion on the topic: the Culture of Collaboration in Rotary and with Rotary. The next member of the panel will be Ms. Beata Hirt, a long-time trustee of the Healthy City Community Foundation operating in Banská Bystrica. Ms. Hirt is a respected human rights advocate, she is also dedicated to improving the status of the Roma community in Banská Bystrica and has been instrumental in programs to engage the citizens of Banská Bystrica in public affairs. Other panelists will be our Rotarians Jan Školník from RC Broumov and Vojtěch Bednář from RC Olomouc City. Jan has made a significant contribution to the development of the Broumov region and has successfully linked both Rotary service and his club with the local community. Vojto is a successful sociologist and motivator with extensive professional experience.

Walter Ebner, RI coordinator of our region, confirmed his participation in the conference. Together with RIPE Stephanie will also participate in the social program and look forward to informal meetings and conversations with our Rotarians and Rotaractors, our Rotex and alumni members.

The 150 Rotary club delegates, 30 Rotaract club delegates, nearly 60 members of our exchange student - inbound group, as well as our alumni and several dozen accompanying persons will be a worthy representation of the Rotary family in our district.

We look forward to seeing you there!

District Conference 2024 Organising Committee