Led by District Governor Loralli Johnson, our Interact District 5495, with its 90 Interact clubs, will be sponsoring two major conferences this year for Interact and Rotaract clubs. The Fall Leadership Conference is being hosted by the dynamic Interact Club of Barry Goldwater High School in Phoenix on Saturday, November 4. The fifth annual Interact District Conference will be hosted by the Interact Club of Perry High School in Gilbert on Saturday, February 24, and is expected to have a record 500 registrations.
The AZ Interact Ambassadors to Kenya team, together with their advisors and David & Candice Talbot, founders of the Rotarian Crutches 4 Africa nonprofit organization, dramatically changed lives in Kenya this summer, delivering the container full of crutches and other mobility devices collected by AZ Interact clubs over the past year.Featured at the Fall Leadership Conference will be the incredible AZ Interact Ambassadors to Kenya team that so admirably represented Arizona Interact in that country this summer. The four top Interactors, independently chosen by a special Rotary Youth Exchange committee for this assignment, were directly involved in distributing the shipping container full of crutches, wheelchairs and other mobility devices collected this past year by Arizona Interact clubs. They worked with the poorest victims of polio in Kenya, who had never been able to stand on their own, until our AZ Interact Ambassadors arrived to give them the incomparable gift of mobility. They served together with partner Interactors, Rotaractors and Rotarians in Kenya, along with David and Candice Talbot, the founders of the phenomenal Rotarian sponsored Crutches 4 Africa organization. These remarkable young leaders will be sharing their personal thrilling stories about the lives they helped changed, thanks to the ongoing statewide Interact Crutches 4 Africa Project. To our knowledge, no other Interact district in the world has ever attempted to do what our Arizona Interactors are accomplishing through this unique project.
 
Interact club leaders and club advisors can register for the Fall Leadership Conference online as individuals or as clubs via the Interact District 5495 website, www.Rotaryazinteract.org. The registration deadline is October 28, and the cost is $25, including lunch. However, clubs can take advantage of the Early Bird Registration Fee of only $20 if they are registered by October 14. Payment for registrations are to be made payable to Interact District 5495, and mailed to Interact Registrar Kathy Rossetti, 21405 W. Brittle Bush Lane, Buckeye, AZ 85396.
The exciting photos , along with a daily blog, from the first AZ Interact Ambassadors to Kenya international service adventure are posted on the Interact district’s website, www.rotaryazinteract.org.  Online applications to be selected as one of the next five-member AZ Interact Ambassadors team to Kenya, slated to leave Phoenix on June 29 and return on July 15, will be open October 1, with an application deadline of December 15. Details about the opportunity and the individual costs involved are also posted on the Interact district website.
 
Are you aware that, since 2009, suicides among youth have increased by 81 percent? Dr. Lily DeBlieux from Speak Up/Stand Up/Save A Life will also be speaking at the Fall Leadership Conference, sharing with the participating Interactors, Rotaractors and Club Advisors what they need to know, and what they can possibly do, to help address this increasingly serious problem.
 
Photo:  The AZ Interact Ambassadors to Kenya team, together with their advisors and David & Candice Talbot, founders of the Rotarian Crutches 4 Africa nonprofit organization, dramatically changed lives in Kenya this summer, delivering the container full of crutches and other mobility devices collected by AZ Interact clubs over the past year.