Lend a Hand

RI President in Taiwan

Intercity Meeting
Taipei, Taiwan

 ( 27 January2004 )

Translator

DGE Pauline, D3520

My fellow Rotarians  –  

        Kung Hsi Fa Tsai. 

       It is a pleasure and an honor to be with you today for your first Rotary gathering of the new Chinese lunar year.  I think it is fortuitous to begin the new year with an Intercity gathering – a wonderful event that brings so many Rotary clubs together, celebrating the simple joy we all feel when we come together as a family – the Family of Rotary.    

In our present time – none of us can take the Family of Rotary and the comfort it gives us for granted.  No matter where we live in the world, we are overwhelmed by the level of international hostility that our world is experiencing.  We are further overwhelmed by an abundance of negative images in the newspapers and on television – images of wars, bombings and natural disasters, images of hungry children, images of exhausted refugees – images of violence, fear and despair.  

In the midst of all of this, surely we ask ourselves – “What can one person possibly do?” 

As long as we are in Rotary, we do not need to answer – or even ask – that question.  Because as long as we are in Rotary, we have a respite from feeling overwhelmed, a respite from feeling as though we are helpless and alone in the face of the world’s suffering.    

Because in Rotary, we gather with like-minded people who share the same vision – a vision we work toward by acting upon one of our most natural impulses – an impulse we have whenever we see our brothers and sisters in need – the impulse to Lend a Hand.   

Rotary is a strong presence here in Taiwan – and you are finding many ways to Lend a Hand in your communities and in our world.  You carry out countless acts of service your own communities – like collecting and distributing food and clothing for the poor, assisting local schools with financial and volunteer support, taking care of community health needs with health fairs and educational campaigns. 

Rotarians throughout the Taiwan are also enthusiastic participants in Rotary’s international programs – such as Youth Exchange, Group Study Exchange and World Community Service. Through these programs, you are able to forge bonds between clubs in Taiwan and clubs throughout our world.   

All over the world, time and again, we see that Rotarians from different countries working together get results.   That is why we have launched an exciting new program to commemorate our Centennial anniversary – the exciting new Twin Club program.  The Twin Club program has these four objectives:   

• To emphasize the international avenue of Rotary service and friendship.

• To establish a long-term relationship with another club that will lead to complex ongoing projects.

• To enhance the understanding of other cultures, and –

• To further international understanding and foster goodwill. 

Twin clubs are two clubs from different countries which create strong ties and agree to team up to complete a special project – such as an international service effort – but it could also be a Rotary Youth Exchange, or Friendship Exchange.  Clubs that already have a twin should start implementing their special centennial project.  Clubs that need a twin should start making inquiries now.    

The preparations for Rotary’s Centennial are well underway this year.  I am certain you will want to mark this important occasion in Rotary’s history by supporting all of Rotary International’s Centennial goals.  In addition to establishing a twin club relationship, these goals are:  

-       carrying out a special centennial service project

-       supporting The Rotary Foundation’s goal of $100 per Rotarian, per year contributed to the Annual Programs Fund of The Rotary Foundation and

-       working toward RI’s membership goal of 1.5. million by 2005 

In considering how we will reach that last goal – increasing our membership – let us remember not only why we joined Rotary –but why we stayed.  Most of us joined Rotary because we wanted help others, and because we didn’t want to do it alone.  I believe that most of us stayed because we made friends and because Rotary became an important part of our lives.   

I am convinced that if all our clubs offered the kind of caring fellowship that I and so many others have enjoyed in Rotary, no members would ever want to leave.   To support this effort, I have asked every Rotary club to form a Family of Rotary Committee to help us find even more ways to foster a family atmosphere within our clubs – because such an atmosphere makes our good work outside of our clubs possible.   

A few years ago, a fellow Rotarian told me a story about something that happened in his club. 

The son of his club’s newest member, a college student, happened to be in the vicinity of a football game when a riot broke out.  The police surrounded the area to contain the conflict, and the Rotarian’s son was trapped with the rioters.  The police attempted to subdue the crowd with tear gas, which only made the rioters angrier and more violent.   In the confusion that ensued, this most unfortunate young man was shot in the leg.   

The news of this terrible incident quickly spread among the Rotary club members and within an hour, a small delegation of Rotarians was at the hospital.  We can certainly imagine how distraught this family was – and how difficult it was for them to cope with this crisis.  The Rotarians stayed with them through many long hours – supporting their newest member and his entire family during the process of dealing with the doctors and the police.       

This style of caring strengthens the service activities of any Rotary club and inspires club members to do more, which was exactly what happened in the case of the new Rotarian whose son was shot in the leg.  He was so deeply touched by how his fellow Rotarians rallied to help his family that he immediately volunteered to participate in the club’s next major service project – which happened to be a National Immunization Day. 

Every Rotary club can create these kinds of bonds – the bonds that mature and ripen into true friendship rather than mere acquaintanceship.   It is these bonds that will make Rotary strong – because friends don’t leave each other.   

For many months now, I have been traveling to clubs and districts throughout the Rotary world – and I have heard wonderful stories about how Rotarians are forging these bonds of friendship. 

For example, an important way to nurture the Family of Rotary is to reach out to the spouses of deceased members – like Marla Lefler of Claremont, California.  When her husband, Rotarian Ronald Lefler, developed brain cancer, she was grateful for the support and encouragement provided by her husband’s club – support that continued even after Ronald succumbed to the cancer.  When she was asked to join the Claremont club herself, she recalls – “I remembered how the club members gave selflessly to our family during my husband’s illness.  My answer was yes.” 

That was in 1994 – and since then, Marla has been dedicated Rotarian.  When she moved to Jamaica, she remained active in Rotary – even though at that time, Jamaican clubs did not have any women members.  Her business supported fundraisers sponsored by the local Interact club and she worked with the Rotary Club of Ocho Rios in Jamaica to raise money for a school for special needs children.  The Jamaican Rotarians made her an honorary member of their club. 

But Marla aspired to do more.  She was in the process of selling her house in Jamaica when she learned that she could donate the house to Rotary.      When her house was sold, half of the proceeds went to the permanent fund of The Rotary Foundation, half went to the District 5300 Foundation in California and The Rotary Foundation recognized Marla as a Major Donor. 

After returning to California, Marla has continued to work tirelessly on behalf of Rotary – when her district got the opportunity to host a GSE team from Israel, Marla chaired the Group Study Exchange Subcommittee  

None of these wonderful things would have been possible without the spirit of the Family of Rotary – without the Rotary Club of Claremont reaching out to the widow of one of their members.    

It is my hope that when we think of each Rotary club as a family, our responsibilities will become clear.  A family gives its members acceptance and support.  A family relies on the wisdom and experience of its older members. And a family is constantly renewing itself with new additions.   

Forming a Family of Rotary Committee is one of the requirements for earning a Presidential Citation this year – in addition to setting and achieving service goals in each of the Four Avenues of Service.  In so doing, Rotarians everywhere will Lend a Hand in this year’s other areas of emphasis: poverty, illiteracy and health concerns.  

We can fight poverty by providing immediate relief to those who are physically suffering from the effects of poverty:  projects to distribute food, warm clothing and blankets.  We can also fight poverty through projects that give people the help they need to earn a living – such as vocational training projects and microcredit projects that provide small loans to establish businesses. 

There is no greater weapon against poverty than education.  We can raise literacy rates with projects that focus on woman and girls – who have lower literacy rates throughout our world because they are denied access to education.  We can support the schools in our communities by donating books, desks and school supplies and – perhaps most importantly – by volunteering to read to children. 

Education can also be a key strategy to improve the health of people around the world. Education can also be a key strategy to improve the health of people around the world.  We have certainly seen this during National Immunization Days – where educating parents about the importance of vaccination is critical to reaching all of the children in a community.   We still have a great deal of work to do in order to eradicate polio once and for all and to support that goal, the Rotary Foundation Trustees have reinstated fundraising activities for the PolioPlus Partners Task Force.   

In addition to supporting PolioPlus, there are many other ways we can improve the health of people in our communities and in our world – we can provide proper nutrition and prenatal care to expecting mothers, distribute mosquito nets to protect children from malaria, help communities establish sources for clean water, teach people how to protect themselves and their families from AIDS – the needs are virtually endless. 

 Hunger, poverty, illiteracy, disease, poor health – these are disasters that have befallen millions and we must Lend a Hand to pull them to safety with the same sense of urgency that we would pull someone out of raging floodwaters.   

And whatever service goals you achieve in this year – whether in your own communities or halfway around the world – I wish you all the greatest success as together, as we –  

Lend a Hand  to alleviate poverty

Lend a Hand to educate the illiterate

Lend a Hand to relieve the scourge of disease

Lend a Hand of fellowship to all of the family of Rotary.  

Thank you.