John Drusedum, the new District Governor for Rotary District 5520, was the featured guest speaker at the July 12 meeting of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos at Cottonwood on the Greens. Photo by Linda Hull
BY LINDA HULL
Vice President
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
John Drusedum, District Governor for Rotay District 5520, 2022-2023, visited the Rotary Club of Los Alamos on Tuesday to share his visions and goals for the new Rotary year. Drusedum, a member of the Rotary Club of Roswell, expressed his interest in expanding projects in Rotary International’s areas of focus: peace and conflict resolution; disease prevention and treatment; water and sanitation; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; economic and community development; and environmental stewardship.
In keeping with Rotary International’s theme for the new year, Imagine Rotary, Drusedum is planning to create a District workshop, Empowering Women and Girls, to engage Rotarians in this topic. He is also advocating a District-wide initiative to host community blood drives and to continue support of PolioPlus, the ongoing Rotary International project to eradicate polio, especially in its two remaining strongholds, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Before the Club’s lunch-hour meeting, Drusedum met with the Club’s newly installed Board of Directors.
Drusedum was accompanied on his visit to Los Alamos by wife Sharon, also a Rotarian, and by Donna Pedace, District Operations Chair, of the Rotary Club of Los Lunas. District Lt. Governor Debbie Cox from the Rotary Club of Angel Fire and her husband, Gordon Cox, an Assistant Governor, also attended.
Customarily, the new District Governor visits all of District 5520’s 67 clubs before the December holidays. The District, which encompasses all of New Mexico and west Texas, is geographically the largest in the United States.
John Drusedum is co-founder of LGR Projects, LLC, a New Mexico corporation that purchases and manages rental real estate. He and wife Sharon are owners and managers of the Lonely Goat Ranch and Chuckwagon located just outside Roswell. They also own a hair salon in Roswell.
Drusedum grew up near Philadelphia and served during the Vietnam era in the US Navy as a Data Systems Tech (now IT). He received both his BA and MA degrees from Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma and served churches in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico in pastoral ministry for 30 years.
Drusedum joined the Rotary Club of Santa Fe (main club) in 1996. In addition, he has been a member of and has held various leadership roles in the Rotary Clubs of Santa Fe Centro, Rio Rancho, and Roswell, and in Austin, Texas. He and his wife are Rotary Major Donors and Paul Harris Fellows. They have three grown children and nine grandchildren and remain in touch with the Rotary Youth Exchange student they hosted from Finland in 2018-2019.
Drusedum enjoys chuckwagon cooking, playing bass guitar, admiring classic cars, and through Rotary, empowering the next generation and pursuing peace and clean water/sanitation initiatives.
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos, through its Club Foundation, is a 501(c)3 non-profit and one of over 34,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary, which now has 1.5 million members, was founded in 1905; the local Club was chartered in 1966. Rotary areas of focus include promoting peace; fighting disease, particularly polio; providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; supporting education; saving and enhancing the lives of mothers and children; growing economies; and protecting the environment.
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos meets in person Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00, in the Community Room, Cottonwood on the Greens, at the golf course. A Zoom option is available by contacting Linda Hull, Rotary Club vice-president, 505-662-7950. Hull is also happy to provide information about the Club and its humanitarian service.