Joy in Action, Presented by Sunrise President Lori Rodrigues
Our very special speaker for Thursday, February12, 2026 was our own Sunrise President, Lori Rodrigues, with a little help from other club members. Lori presided over an interactive group discussion of “Joy in Action: Serving, Connecting, and Thriving.” The topic grew out of a previous interactive discussion about grief, which helped Lori get to know fellow club members on a deeper level. In addition to her service as our club president and her other Sunrise activities, Lori is a CPA and has years of experience handling tax returns, negotiating tax disputes, and even working for the IRS!
Lori’s presentation included a brief introduction, with thoughts from poet Mary Oliver and author Sue Monk (“The Secret Life of Bees”), thought-inducing suggestions and questions for group discussion, and a brief summary of the results of the group discussions. The group suggestions/questions included members sharing small moments of joy from the past week and describing they joy felt in Rotary. The small moments of joy mentioned by members ranged from a member hearing that their cancer is in remission, a member's new golf swing designed to overcome a disability, a videotaped amazing grandchild interaction, a member’s joy in working with people through Rotary, and the simple joys of singing and eating a steak! The joyful Rotary moments were also varied and included the weekly joy of attending a Rotary meeting, hearing our wonderful speakers, appreciating the humor of our Rotarians during our meetings and events, and the many opportunities Sunrisers have to give back to the community. Here's link to a joyous video Lori provided with her meeting slides. YouTube video about Joy
Many thanks to Lori and the group leaders for presenting this thoughtful and rewarding discussion. We live in a particularly challenging time and it helps to remember the importance of joy plays in our daily lives. As the poet Mary Oliver wrote: “it is a serious thing // just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.”
