November is Rotary Foundation Month - When Together, We Do Good In The World

Article by PDG Peter Garnett, Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator

I suggest November is one of the most important months for each of us as Rotarians. It a time for us to reflect on why we are in Rotary. It is the month when Rotary has as its theme The Rotary Foundation. Personally I see Our Charity, The Rotary Foundation, as the “jewel” which stands us apart from other service organisations.

For this charitable arm of Rotary International, enables us to tap into a global network of Rotarians who invest their time, money, and expertise into our priorities and our causes; into eradicating polio, undertaking large projects focused on one of our seven causes or participating in local community based projects.

The Foundation’s Mission is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty. These causes resonate with today’s Rotarians, future Rotarians and donors.

Here are some words of wisdom from a man and Rotarian I look up to with huge respect – Past RI President and TRF Trustee “Ravi” Ravindran:

“... when I consider, as I sometimes do, the ways in which my life would be different today; I realize how much poorer I would be now had I not joined Rotary; not in money perhaps, but in affection, in respect, in achievement, in friends, in everything that is worthy and worthwhile.
- I might, perhaps, now have a larger bank account, but I would be a smaller person.
For Rotary is a place where people go, not to make their living, but to make their contribution; heeding the words of Winston Churchill, that “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”
To me, Rotary is both a means to an end, and an end in itself; it is a way to make the world a better place, but it also makes my world a better place, for me and for my family. It is a way to give of what I have; but what it gives in return makes my own life richer. It allows me to make my mark on the world—and yet it also has made its own mark, indelibly, inalterably, upon me.”

(extract from his address on being conferred with a Doctorate of Business Administration by the University of Korea, Dankook).

These words resonate with me. They reflect in so many ways why I am a Rotarian and why I have personally chosen to actively support The Rotary Foundation.

For The Rotary Foundation is “Our Charity”. As such, it relies on regular contributions from both our clubs and from us as individual Rotarians. November is the month when I make my personal contribution to Our Charity.

I ask each of you (who haven’t already done so) to join me, to make a pledge to start your personal giving to our Foundation this November.