Hampton Roads Rotary - A Message from the Club President

I would like to thank the members of the Rotary Club of Hampton Roads for the honor to serve as your President for the 2011-2012 Rotary year. During our Rotary year I promise to uphold the history and traditions of our club and work with you to make any changes necessary to help us grow and remain a vibrant leader in the Rotary community.

The 2011-2012 Rotary International Theme is: “Reach Within to Embrace Humanity”.

Rotary International President, Kalyan Banerjee said about this year’s theme, “In 2011-2012, I ask Rotarians to Reach Within to Embrace Humanity. I ask you to look within your selves to understand that all of humanity has the same dreams similar hopes, the same aspirations and similar problems. Whoever we are and wherever we live, each of us yearns for the same peace and contentment and for the same fulfillment in our daily lives. What we work to bring to other, we must first find within ourselves because what we wish for ourselves is what other wish for themselves as well.”

This year President Banerjee has asked us to have three emphases in our Rotary Service. The first is to strengthen our family both at home and within Rotary; the second is to continue what we do best; and the third is to change whatever needs to be changed.

We need to continue to look within to see how we can strengthen and grow our Rotary family. Our fellowship activities and programs need to encompass the interest of all Rotarians. We also need to recognize that if we are to grow Rotary and meet the increased challenges facing our community and the world, we must make the necessary changes to satisfy the needs and interests of our existing members and be willing embrace the crucial change that it will take to reach out across all generations.

I realize that we are a small spoke in the large Rotary wheel….

But we can make the last days of a child and their family a little less painful by supporting hospice for children.

We can give shelter to homeless children and their families and give them a supportive structured environment to rebuild their lives and once again become self sufficient.

We can support the families of children being treated for cancer, as so many people supported my family when our son was being treated for the disease.

We can support an organization that builds character, teaches citizenship, and prepares young men for the challenges of life.

We can make the lives of severely handicap children just a little better.

We can give people throughout the world clean water, clothing, food, and shelter in the face of disaster; supplies for orphanages; medical facilities; and, help fight illiteracy throughout our community and the world.

And lastly, we can contribute the dollar…that buys the vial…that contains the vaccine…which is used to inoculate…what would have been the last polio victim on earth.

Reach within to embrace humanity.

Thank you.

Richard Brinkley

President

Rotary Club of Hampton Roads