Members of the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club enjoy a service project. By Barton Goldenberg, member of the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club, Maryland, USA I had the pleasure to be invited recently to an online Rotary discussion regarding member apathy. We were two past district governors, an assistant governor, two past club presidents – one from…
Jeffrey Thompson, Elizabeth Piwonka, Madalyn Smith, and Sarah Jenkins were motivated to create a new club from their experience leading RYLA camps in District 5830 in 2019 and 2020. By Sarah Jenkins, president of the E-Club of Leaders in Service (District 5830), Texas, USA In 1996, Rotary District 5830 held its first ever RYLA (Rotary…
Members of the Rotaract Club of Nürtingen, Germany, plant trees in a cleared area last spring. Dominik Huhndorf By Dominik Huhndorf, vice president of the Rotaract Club of Nürtingen, Germany My Rotaract club established a project, Treety of Generations, to motivate clubs around the world to plant trees in cleared areas. In doing so, we…
Katey Halliday By Katey Halliday We have no place for harassment in Rotary. People won’t join or stay if they are exposed to harassment. Rotary’s policy on maintaining a harassment-free environment at meetings, events, and activities makes it clear that harassment will not be tolerated. It even stipulates that all Rotary leaders, including club presidents,…
Soumya and Rupa Mohanty “Those we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch.” —Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child By Soumya Mohanty, Rotary Club of Bhubaneswar Smile, India We all fall in love, at different stages of life. But there is always that one person you meet…
Elizabeth Usovicz By Elizabeth Usovicz, Rotary International director-elect When I speak with Rotary members about the importance of mentoring future leaders, I often hear, “I would love to be a mentor, but I don’t have the time.” My response is a question and this story. When was the last time you created a mentoring moment?…
Trustee Brenda Cressey By Brenda Cressey, Trustee and Rotary Member of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA Several years ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to take part in a multi-project mission with more than 100 Rotarians, spouses, Rotaractors and even a few new Rotarians from Rotary District 5280. We flew to Panama to…
Chiang’s class at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. By Mina Chiang, Rotary Global Grant Scholar to University of Sussex, 2017-18 I will never forget the miracle that changed my life. I call it a miracle because the sheer chance of it happening is close to zero. I was living in…
Rotarian Mike Pollard confers with volunteer Janie Griffin about the price of an item at the barn sale. By Marty Peak Helman, Rotary Zone 32 Innovative Club Associate The Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, in my district has held an annual fundraiser every summer, selling donated items during a live auction the first weekend…
Taking part in a service project in Manila. By Maria Elena “Marilen” Tronqued-Lagniton, past president of the Rotary Club of Cubao Edsa, Quezon City, Philippines I shall pass this way but once. Any good that I can do or kindness I can show let me do it now. But what if today was the last…