In addition to enjoying the festivities, a well-prepared (and consumed) brunch and good fellowship, Diane Kessel Knight, from Rotary International, provided the keynote thoughts to the group.
While it is impossible to bring her spirited words to life in print, here are some of her more salient thoughts for Rotarians to celebrate, as well as ponder and digest:
To paraphrase Helen Keller, “A Rotarian is only one, but still is one. That person cannot do everything, but still can do something; and because he or she cannot do everything, will not refuse to do something.”
Right now Rotarians are achieving wonderful things, both locally and throughout the world. Examples abound in the District:
For our club, notable efforts include our support of the Reading by 9 project aimed at helping kindergarten through 3rd grade students read at grade level by the age of nine, the semi-annual Dental Clinic projects in Mexico, and the Stoves project to uplift living environments in developing countries.
Other clubs in the District distribute dictionaries to 5th and 6th graders to assist their education, bring books for the children of Project Amigo or send needed textbooks to the Sacred Heart Seminar in Uganda.
Globally, more than half of Rotary's 33,000 clubs are attempting to break the endless cycle of poverty and misery through alleviation of mass illiteracy in developing countries. Throughout the world Rotarians have participated in helping bring normalcy to devastated areas struck by natural disasters, and water projects abound to construct water distribution, storage and sanitation systems to millions in the needy areas of the world.
We continue to assist in distributing polio drops in places such as Caborca, Mexico, preventing blindness in India, providing wheel chairs in Korea and aid hospital workers to provide medicine and treatments to ailing poor populations.
As we go forward, our Rotary Foundation, working to fulfill its mission, Service Above Self, must do whatever every one of us can do – no matter whether small or large – to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty.
The Foundation has been developing a Future Vision Plan to direct us into another century of work. We have an opportunity to be a pilot district. As we have worked successfully at polio eradication, we now have the support of the Gates Foundation to assist us in working with partners like WHO, UNICEF and Centers for Disease Control.
Every Rotarian has a reason to celebrate. These few examples help explain why Diane is a Rotarian and what she encouraged each of us to consider and become. If you didn't attend, you truly missed something meaningful.
The celebration gave our club a special reason to spread the benefits and opportunities of Rotary as Bret leads our District this next year. Let's give him a Standing-O as he goes forward!
