The Rotary Review

"Service Above Self"
by Jesse Katen

Thank you for visiting! Please return to this blog to read current and past postings of Jesse Katen's column, "The Rotary Review," published weekly in The Deposit Courier. Your feedback on the column and on the club’s activities are always welcome--simply add a comment by clicking at the end of each entry.


Saturday, August 30, 2008

September 3, 2008

Our club was lucky enough to be visited by our District Governor at each of the last two lunch meetings!  Lana Rouff, as District Governor, is responsible for overseeing all 44 Rotary clubs that comprise District 7170, which includes most of the Southern Tier of New York, from Deposit to Ithaca.  Since a new District Governor takes office each year, Lana has been spending the summer meeting with all of the clubs she is responsible for to discuss their goals, projects, and visions for the future.
 
On August 20, she met with our club's Board of Directors before lunch, going over our club's plans and strategies for bringing in new members.  She made us very happy when she announced that our club was exemplary.  During lunch, President Nancy Zacharias introduced Lana to our general membership and listed her many accomplishments.  Just to name a select few, Lana Rouff has served as President of the Binghamton University Foundation, Executive Director of the Binghamton Philharmonic, and worked to organize the Empire State Games held in Binghamton.  She is truly a well-respected leader in the Southern Tier and Rotary is thrilled to have her as our District Governor.  Our club was also quite pleased that she joined us for lunch.  I love her, in particular, because of her commitment to the arts and the fact that she studies ballet!
 
During her speech to our club, Lana listed the many projects, both local and international, in which our club could choose to take part.  She spoke about Rotary's Polio Plus program and proudly announced that polio has been eradicated except for in four countries.  She quoted someone from India who had said "When the Rotarians came, our children stopped dying," in reference to Rotary's efforts to bring the very simple polio vaccine to the children of the most remote parts of the globe.  I think we all felt very proud to be Rotarians and Lana's address inspired us to work even harder on behalf of all of Rotary's charitable goals.  Feel free to come have lunch with us any Wednesday at noon at the Methodist Church on Second Street!

1 comment:

Wouter & Tine said...

My dearest Depositarians, I happened to stumble upon your blog and it filled my mind with fond memories of when I was fortunate enough to be welcomed by your club as an exchange student many years ago. It's hard to believe it has already been more than 14 years ago that I got to enjoy the weekly meetings and the warmth of the club members and the community.

I hope all is going well and all the best to all of you.

Wouter