Rotary is an organization where its 1.2 million members share a passion to create positive change, lasting change, a difference

 

Sometimes I think it’s easy to forget that Rotary International is an international service organization.

 

But that’s what we are a part of. We’re part of an organization whose main goal is service. To perform this service, we bring together businesses and nonprofits, working professionals and retirees who work together to make a difference.

 

Sometimes that difference is huge and international like when we fundraise and fit wheelchairs in Belize, Panama and now Costa Rica, or when we fight Polio or send ShelterBoxes to places in desperate need. Sometimes the difference we make seems smaller but long-lasting and local like when we fund a scholarship, create the Bar Harbor Kids Book Festival or work to revitalize the Park Street Playground, or even when it’s just an hour of our time making a lunch for a hungry kid or working at the food pantry.

 

Rotary is an organization where its 1.2 million members share a passion to create positive change, lasting change, a difference. That’s the big picture. But the little picture is that it starts with us. It starts with us caring enough to volunteer, to engage, to think of projects, to support existing projects, to figure out ways to make our club stronger and healthier and more inclusive.

 

I would like you all to think of ways we can do that, and to think of ways where you personally can make a difference to the health and future of our club. Sometimes it is difficult to think of a worthy cause or an idea which can benefit society and even harder to put those ideas into a forward and positive motion. That is okay, because as long as the desire to make a positive difference or create positive lasting change is always within you, you will be able to recognize a need when you stumble across one without even meaning to. You KNOW that is how these things work!

 

In the meantime, to satiate your desire to do good, you can volunteer your time for other projects and causes. One local cause that has a need for volunteers, in the very near future, is the Bar Harbor Kids Book Festival. This Wednesday, at out noon meeting at Birch Bay Village, you will have the opportunity to hear our very own Carrie Jones tell us about the Festival, what the Festival’s purpose is and what the needs are for volunteers.

 

I expect that I will see all of you fine folks on Wednesday, so have a great time until then!

 

Shaun