"Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story."

We come to the end of another Rotary year. Next week, we will take a well-deserved rest in honor of the Fourth of July. The following week, we’ll be right back at it under Rodney’s energetic leadership. But this week, we pause to celebrate all that we have accomplished together this year. In other words, we party!

"NO ADMITTANCE EXCEPT ON PARTY BUSINESS."

Are you ready for a party? We will wear our party clothes to the meeting. Ron Rubin will, I'm sure, wear a party hat. Heck, maybe I will too. We’ll invite friends who want to know why we are Rotarians because hearing all that we've accomplished this year will make converts of the undecided. We’ll toot our own horns and give ourselves awards and pats on backs and eat all the deserts we want. And in that same self-indulgent vein, I’m going to stuff my last column full of all the (arguably) relevant Tolkien quotes I’ve been sitting on all Fellowship Month.

"All’s well that ends better."

This year, we completed 18 service projects, contributed 3,000 volunteer hours, raised about $141,000, and donated a further $5,700 in goods and services. That’s QUITE a lot of service. We conducted projects or activities in each of the six areas of focus. We had family friendly service projects. We had four socials (one, the Scavenger Hunt, conducted remotely). We expanded our club to recognize new membership benefits (i.e. clone members) and membership types (family memberships and corporate memberships). And we moved to online meetings for the last three months and learned how to thrive on Zoom without missing a single meeting.

"It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish."

Of course the year did not go entirely as planned. That pandemic curveball in March did lead to new opportunities, such as the creation of the small groups and the Small Group Leaders with their Past President Advisors. However, there were some things that fell by the wayside at that point. I never did get that organization chart created. We still need to update our strategic plan for this coming Rotary year and beyond. We didn’t get our District’s partnership with Toastmasters off the ground quite as we were hoping. So what I’m saying is… there’s work left for Rodney’s year, and he’s letting me continue on behind the scenes with what we’d planned for this year.

"The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out."

Most importantly, if we’ve learned anything this year it’s that "Rotary Connects the World" is only true as long as Rotary is part of the world and reflects the reality of the world. Or as outgoing RI President Mark Maloney put it at the convention this week: If we say that Diversity is one of our five core values in Rotary, then it needs to actually BE one of our core values. Furthermore, we cannot wait for those we have neglected or excluded in the past to come to us. We must make room at the table for every sector of our community, every voice, every heart ready to serve. Or as Mark said, "Now it is time to bring all the People of Action of the world into the Rotary family."

"The world is indeed full of peril and in It there are many dark places."

Rotary can bring light to the dark places of the world. We can bring hope and even safety. We have a tremendous ability to change the lives of those around us for the good through our belief in service above self, but we will not do so as long as we hold ourselves apart from the world we serve. The days of the stereotypical Rotary Club consisting of a chosen exclusive few at the top of their respective professions has passed into history. And frankly, thank goodness. The Rotary Club of today is a vibrant assemblage of folks from all walks of life, all beliefs, all political philosophies, joined in a common desire to serve and do good. And what a beautiful thing that is!

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

In shaping our club for the years ahead, we each of us will do our part to contribute what we can, whether that’s in inviting new members or writing letters of support to the president and his board members. (Seriously, your emails have been life to me this year). I challenge each of you to party, take a rest, and then think about what you want to contribute to the Rotary year ahead. I am so proud to have been your president this year and so very, very glad to call you "friend."