Welcome to Rotary in Central Florida

Dear Rotarians (and future Rotarians),

Welcome to Rotary in Central Florida, home to approximately 1,700 Rotarians who belong to one of the 42 Rotary Clubs across Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, and Sumter counties. Our district is vibrant, diverse, and engaged–with an amazing group of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds who live by our motto Service Above Self, using their knowledge, experience, and skills to do good in Central Florida and around the world.

It is a great honor to serve as District Governor in 2024-2025 and lead Central Florida’s District 6980 through volunteering and active involvement in our community. I am delighted to be a part of incoming President Rotary International President Stephanie Urchick’s team as he leads the more than 1.4 million members of Rotary with the exciting theme of The Magic of Rotary.

President Stephanie’s global theme aims at promoting actions that can create solutions that will magically effect positive change worldwide. Locally we are encouraging Rotary Leaders to FOCUS on ways to best engage, communicate, support, and grow our membership, but at the same time taking care of ourselves and our members while serving our community and the world.

We plan to continue our member-driven local and international initiatives while embracing Gordon’s guidance to focus on our members, to continue to elevate their Rotary experience, to help create and maintain Healthy, Vibrant Clubs and to Create a Legacy of Leadership within our clubs and the district.

Rotary, by virtue of our 46,000+ clubs in over 200 nations, and our Rotary Foundation is the leading humanitarian membership and service organization worldwide. We find solutions to common and uncommon issues. From supporting Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country as a result of unprovoked war to providing disaster relief after a natural disaster as in Southwest Florida, Haiti and Turkey this past year — we strive to help the world every day to make the world a better place.

As a global membership organization, we unite with a common vision:

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

Rotary is represented by people from every corner of the world, as well as from every culture, religion, ethnicity, language, age group, physical ability, and sexual orientation. We share common ethical and philosophical beliefs based upon our Four-Way Test to foster an environment of respect, acceptance, and understanding.

We are asking every Rotarian to invite at least ONE friend, family member, workmate, or client to a Rotary meeting this year (or maybe one of each). Show them why you look forward to your weekly Rotary Club meeting, volunteering events, business networking, and social outings with others who see value in belonging to the most active service organization in the world. Show them how working together we can make lasting change and Create Hope in the World.

If you are not yet a Rotarian, please click here to request an invite and we will facilitate an invitation to a Rotary Club near your home or place of work, where you can begin your own journey of Service Above Self.

Act on your desire to become part of something bigger than yourself. Join Rotary and augment the good you can do around the world through a network of professionals, community leaders, and business owners who actively imagine a better future for our local and global community.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Sonya Hightower Labosco
District Governor 2024 -2025
Rotary District 6980 | Central Florida Region