“All politics are local” is a phrase commonly used in the United States. As we know local decisions can have fare reaching impact. It is a truth that can rightly be applied to Rotary. As Rotarians we are members of our Rotary Club from which all our service generates. What we often don’t see is the impact that our local membership and service has on a global scale. This was driven home to me during the weekend I spent in Kalamazoo at the President-elect Training. So, while I am currently your president, I am technical also your President-elect since I have been elected for the second term 2024-25. Sitting in a room with 450 other Rotarians from the Great Lakes area who will be taking office in July made me realize that we are part of something big. REALLY BIG.
Rotary is the oldest and largest service organization in the world. Internationally, we have 1.4 million Rotary and Rotaract members in over 46,000 club across over 200 countries. That's the Power of Rotary.
Did you know that Rotary members contribute nearly 47 million volunteer hours a year, worth an estimated $850 million, to communities around the globe.
I thank you for providing me this leadership growth opportunity. I was able to network with the future presidents of the LaPorte, Chesterton and Valparaiso clubs. There are many things that we are doing well and some areas where we can do better. I came away from the three days of training with lots of ideas to share with our Board of Directors and you. It is a great honor to be your president and to be a Rotarian.
Rotarian saved hundreds of children at risk of being killed by the Nazis in the lead up to World War II
“If something is not impossible, there must be a way to do it,” Rotarian Sir Nicholas Winton once said. Known to his friends as “Nicky,” the British stockbroker rescued hundreds of predominantly Jewish children from the Holocaust in the months leading up to World War II. Winton, who died in 2015 at the age of 106, is now the subject of a new film, “One Life,” starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter. It was released in January 2024 in the United Kingdom.
The film tells the true story of how Winton rescued 669 children from the Nazi advance and found homes for them in the United Kingdom. During a visit to Prague, Czechoslovakia, in December 1938, Winton saw numerous families who had fled the spread of Nazism in Germany and Austria. The refugees were living in desperate conditions, with little or no shelter or food, as the German invasion of Czechoslovakia loomed. Winton immediately realized it was a race against time: How many children could he rescue before the borders closed?
Producers Emile Sherman and Iain Canning first contemplated telling Winton’s story when they co-founded See-Saw Films more than 15 years ago.
“We were very lucky to have had the opportunity to meet Nicholas Winton before he passed away,” Canning says. “He was the most modest, generous human being. [He] felt the film should not glorify him, but celebrate how the most ordinary of people can make a huge impact.”
With the blessing of Winton’s daughter, Barbara Winton, See-Saw approached screenwriter Lucinda Coxon to adapt Barbara’s 2014 book “If It’s Not Impossible.” Collaborating with Barbara, the screenwriting team gained access to Nicholas’ archives and letters. Barbara was a familiar face at Rotary district conferences. She passed away in 2022, during the making of the film.
Barbara’s book was an essential resource for the cast. Explaining how she got a sense of Nicholas Winton’s mother, Babi, Bonham Carter said, “Barbara was named after Babi. I was very lucky to speak to Barbara, to have her perspective as a granddaughter.”
The restoration of freshwater ecosystems is a vital part of combating three of the most serious threats to our planet: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Rotary has launched a new collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to further empower Rotary and Rotaract members to restore, protect, and monitor their local waterways. Community Action for Fresh Water builds on the success of a pilot project, Adopt a River for Sustainable Development, which began in 2020 with the UNEP and District 9212 collaborating on projects to protect rivers in Kenya and Ethiopia.
To take part in the new program, Rotary and Rotaract clubs, either individually or in groups, can make a commitment to a local river, lake, estuary, natural reservoir, or wetland area. Working with other community groups and residents, your club can identify any major threats to the body of water and develop a plan to protect, restore, and sustain it. Some project costs can be funded by district grants or global grants from The Rotary Foundation.
Rotarian saved hundreds of children at risk of being killed by the Nazis in the lead up to World War II
The restoration of freshwater ecosystems is a vital part of combating three of the most serious threats to our planet: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Rotary has launched a new collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to further empower Rotary and Rotaract members to restore, protect, and monitor their local waterways. .png)
