We welcomed District Governor, Elizabeth Mahoney, a 10 year Rotarian, to our club as our guest speaker.She shared some words of congratulations to our club about serving the community, not just serving one another, but caring for the community. Especially during this time of Covid, the caring for community is more important than ever.
Elizabeth also recognized Jennette, as our club president, receiving the Community Service Award from the Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona. She recognized our club for our efforts in giving, Adopt a Family, and the Community Garden.
Then, the challenge: what does our giving and impact mean to ALL beneficiaries? The reason this question was posed is because of the experience she shared:
Elizabeth has a rule when there is an amazing opportunity- say YES! She took a trip to Africa with the Crutches 4 Africa program. She traveled with teenagers from around Arizona she met for the first time when they arrived at the airport to leave. They provided crutches and wheelchairs to those in need. What they noticed was a woman who had polio from the age of 4 and was literally on the ground since she was 4 years old. The high school students couldn't leave her that way. They walked 5 miles to the van to get a remaining wheelchair for her. She was then mobile at the age of 44 and her life was changed in an instant.
That opened an opportunity for that woman: dignity and freedom! Our club was able to help because of our contributions.
Elizabeth's shared experiences were inspirational, emotional, and couldn't help but motivate the listener to action. Elizabeth's reminder to us, in Rotary we do the work, it's ok to pause and share the impact of what we've done.
We invite you to listen and watch the meeting via Zoom by visiting this link and entering the password: &@0.Oi.7.
