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 I bring you greetings from Beautiful Malmo and Wonderful Copenhagen the site of the 97th Rotary International Convention. As International President, Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar indicated it was the first and best convention of the 2nd Century of Rotary! The theme of the convention was “Bridging the World”. The site bridged the countries of Sweden and Denmark, and as one of the approximately 15,000 registered from 134 countries, I saw how Rotary was bridging the world and changing lives.
Through multi-media presentations we saw first hand how Rotarians had made a difference and changed lives. After the tsunami, the Sri Lanka Rotarians had a goal for a new school in every district. This was not to be merely a replacement for the thousands of schools washed away, but a new modern school. Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces in the video and hearing a child say “My new school is a palace!” showed how Rotary proved that no hand in the world is beyond our reach.
Sister Ethel Normoyle, Director and a nurse at the Missionvale Care Center, South Africa, told us how poverty breeds illiteracy. Upon arriving at the care center, she realized that children needed to be taught to read and write. She used what was available to her and taught four hours a day under a tree before returning to her nursing responsibilities. She told us a heartwarming story of a 13 year old girl who wrote her name for the first time and the words I am beautiful. Sister Ethel reminded us that we take for granted wanting children, celebrating the joy of their birth, what it is like to not be hungry, learning how to read and having books a part of our lives. She reiterated that literacy is the only ticket out of poverty, and literacy builds confidence.
Rotary is providing soup powder to the Missionvale Care Center. As Sister Ethel told us, a hungry child can’t concentrate in school. Each person coming to get the soup powder and bread also brings a recyclable. The reason for this is two fold. First, the soup powder becomes not a hand out, and second, it helps with the garbage in the area. Rotarians are making a difference in feeding the hungry.
All of these presentations showed us how Rotary was “Bridging the World” and the greater the support the stronger the bridge.
As we begin our new Rotary year, I want to again say a special thank you to Dave Miller for his leadership this past year. His attention to detail has created a firm foundation for our 2006 – 2007 Board of Directors and our Club. Thank you Dave!
President William Boyd’s theme for the 2006 – 2007 year is “Lead the Way”. In our club we will focus on leading the way in our service to the world, community, youth and each other. Our year will start off in grand style with the Special Olympics National Games, as we will have a great opportunity to not only provide service, but to showcase our community. Thank you for volunteering to help in this special endeavor.
I believe that involvement is essential to participation, and I would like to see more committee involvement from our members. This will be especially important this year. Rotary International is in the process of adopting a new Leadership Plan, and we need to look at our club’s needs, strengths and weaknesses as we prepare for the future. Through our planning this year we will have the Leadership Plan in place for Dave Kraemer and our 2007 – 2008 Board of Directors.
This will be the time to look at our community for additional opportunities for community service. The same is true with international projects. Are we taking advantage of the international service projects available to our club? Literacy is a project that our club has embraced with financial support and the time and talents of our members. President Boyd will continue to focus on literacy this year. At the international convention he asked us to imagine what 1.2 million Rotarians can do to insure literacy in our world. I ask, what do the 67 members of the Ames Morning Rotary Club want to do to continue supporting literacy in our community?
Thank you for the opportunity to serve our club and all of you as your president. I am looking forward to working with all of you and will always appreciate your comments, suggestions and concerns. Together, we will “Lead the Way” the way in our Ames Morning Rotary’s 2006 – 2007 year!
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