Our theme for the 2021-22 Rotary year was “Serve to Change Lives.” And that you did.
This poem has moved and motivated me all year. It led to the theme of the 2022 District Conference, “The Hands of Rotary”:
The biggest gift we are given
Is the power to touch a life
To change, to make a difference
In the circle of life.
If we can reach out
With our hands, heart, and soul
The magic will begin to happen
As the wheel begins to roll ...
Let’s turn the wheel together
So all humanity thrives
We have the power and the magic
To serve ... to change lives ...
~Shekhar Mehta
RI President 2021-22
The part where President Shekhar speaks about “the magic” was so apparent all year and even more so in late February when Putin and the Russian Army brutally invaded Ukraine. You reached out first with your heart and soul. I received messages, “how are we helping?” Not whether we will but how we will. You are People of Action!
Then the wheel began to turn, and you reached out with your wallets, your advocacy, and your hands. Over the next two months you raised well over $100,000 to give to the Rotary Disaster Response Fund; secured a grant to help provide trauma medical supplies to Ukrainian hospitals on the frontline; collected over 1000 pounds of medical supplies from all corners of the District to contribute to the shipments leaving Chicago; supported refugee women and children in Warsaw; and engaged our community partners in support. I hope you realize the lives you saved in these efforts. It was the power of your magic as individual Rotarians, as Clubs, as a District, and as a global organization.
It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as your District Governor. I have never been prouder to be a Rotarian and never been more proud of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for entrusting me to this position. I am grateful.
Spiral Up!
~Carol