A warm welcome to President Jennifer Jones who will be the first woman to serve as Rotary International President! She officially begins her duties on July 1st and 2022-23's Rotary Theme will be Imagine Rotary. President Jennifer hails from Windsor, Ontario, where she is founder & president of Media Street Productions.
Rotarians help sort supplies for war-torn Ukraine
2022-23 Rotary
Theme & Logo
Orion Jean, TIME Magazine's Kid of the Year
With thanks to Past-President Tony Villanueva who gave Thursday's Newscast, having just returned from the RI Convention in Houston! Rotary had a net gain of 100,000 new members over the past year, bringing total global membership to 1.3 million members in 46,000 clubs. No matter where you visit globally, you can make a Rotary meeting!
Other highlights from Tony's comments:
The Rotary Ukraine Relief Fund has raised $15 million and many clubs from the Ukraine and surrounding European countries are providing on-the-ground assistance with food, water, shelter, clothing, and medical supplies. Rotary membership in the Ukraine has actually increased since the war began!
End Polio Now continues to compile impressive progress. Only two countries reported cases of wild polio - Pakistan and Afghanistan - with just 8 cases! Did you know that Rotary is the only organization that receives a 2 for 1 match from the Gates Foundation?
The Convention's Closing Keynote was delivered by 11-year-old Orion Jean from Fort Worth, Texas. Orion was TIME Magazine's Kid of the Year. He has developed successful programs to collect & distribute food, books, & clothing to those in need. Orion stressed the importance of kindness & its ripple effect, offering four steps to achieve kindness:
K stands for Keep Your Eyes Open for kindness opportunities -
they can be small (like holding a door open for someone) or big.
I stands for Including Others in your daily lives and your daily
acts of kindness.
N stands for Nothing is Too Small.
D stands for Just Do It – Don’t think about it, take action.
Many thanks to Tony for his report on the RI Convention. Mark your calendars - next year's convention will be Down Under in Melbourne, Australia between May 27 - 31.
