–submitted by Ellsworth Brown
Through the invitation of club member Ed Futa, Rotary International President Gordon McInally addressed Downtown Rotary’s meeting, which included invited clubs in and around Madison.
President McInally’s Rotary year is nearing an end, but the theme he has chosen– Create Hope in the World—will endure because it describes in five words what Rotary International does. He shared moving incidents that reinforce the theme:
- In 2022 he vaccinated a Pakistani child with two drops of fluid on his tongue, eliminating his risk of polio.
- In northern India, at a school funded by the Rotary Foundation, he spoke with an eight-year-old student who said that her education was the “key to the golden door and a noble future.”
- Also in India, he spoke with a woman of 46 who appeared to be 70. Rotary gave her a grant for medical care a prohibitive 12 hours away, cataract surgery and her first pair of glasses, enabling her to earn a living and see her grandchildren for the first time.
These are examples of how Rotary holds hope in the collective hands of our worldwide clubs’ members.
If you missed our meeting last week, you can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuZM_NjsnRc.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 