Josh Olewiler By Josh Olewiler, RI Planned Giving Officer For a Planned Giving Officer, it can be hard to keep track of months — and years if I’m being completely honest. We’re basically time travelers, always looking ahead as we coordinate gifts that, in many cases, won’t be realized until we’re all comfortably retired. That…
Rotary Peace Fellow Elise Nassif speaks about the plight of families in Lebanon. By Elise Nassif, Rotaractor and Rotary Peace Fellow As a member of Rotaract and a Rotary Peace Fellow at the University of Bradford, I wear many hats: peace builder, Rotaractor, and professional in security and governance. But above all, I am Lebanese,…
Interactor Suhana Rahman Shukonna delivers a message about Project Talk Hope, which is focused on preventing suicides and promoting health awareness. By Suhana Rahman Shukonna, past president of the Interact Club of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and coordinator of Project Talk Hope My journey in Rotary began when I became the charter president of the Interact Club…
Jason Browne in Raleigh, North Carolina, during his storytelling tour. By Jason Browne In September 2024, I found myself in an unexpected situation: I was “held hostage” by an entity whimsically named Mr. Privilege. He forced me into a disaster simulator where my water was scarce, my light extinguished, and my shelter stripped away. It…
One of the trash collecting teams celebrates during the SpoGOMI tournament. By Hiroyasu Goami, Rotary Club of Fukushima, Japan In Japan, picking up trash is a sport. SpoGOMI, or Sport x Trash Pickup, began in Japan in 2008 and involves teams competing to pick up the most trash. Fukushima prefecture has the dubious distinction of…
By Martin Parnell, Rotary Club of Cochrane, Alberta, Canada Martin Parnell In April of 2023, I met David Falconer, a high school principal from Cochrane who works in Calgary. Falconer is founder of “Classrooms Without Walls,” an organization that provides online educational courses for students in Myanmar, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. I offered to give a…
Tracey Craft, adult services coordinator for the Springfield Library, and Tracy Obremski, a technical services librarian, read on two of the benches earned by the Springfield Rotary Club through the plastic film recycling challenge. By Martin Cohn, Rotary Club of Springfield, Vermont, USA Last year, I read about a project conducted by the Capital City…
By Jeffrey Walsh, Rotary Club of Bloomington-Normal Sunrise, Illinois, USA Jeffrey Walsh I am a former Army medic and a returned Peace Corps volunteer. I joined Rotary recently, and I am excited to be part of an organization that is working to eradicate polio. I would love nothing more than to help achieve our top…
Gregor Baum with his host dad in Mexico. By Gregor Baum In 2016, at the age of 17, I traveled from Frankfurt, Germany, to La Paz, Mexico, on a Rotary Youth Exchange. The vibrant colors and rhythms of Mexico were the backdrop for this transformative journey, one that opened my eyes to the boundless beauty…
Vasanthi Ranganathan By Vasanthi Ranganathan, a member of the Rotary Club of Ambattur, India; Rotary Positive Peace Activator; member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, and member of the India chapter of the Rotary Action Group for Peace. As Rotary celebrates the intersection of literacy and peace this year, I am reminded of…