Entering the 2007-08 Rotary Year, I am particularly honored in serving as the President of the Rotary Club of Abbotsford during the year of RI President Wilf Wilkinson, whose theme is “ROTARY SHARES”. When we are so blessed as to live in this country and province of abundance and opportunity, we must be careful not to take our good fortunes for granted. Our theme this year reminds us of that. It reminds us to share with our less fortunate fellow citizens, locally and on the international front. President Wilkinson talks about the reversibility of our theme and he urges us to also “SHARE ROTARY”. In this Rotary Year, it is my hope that the Rotary Club of Abbotsford will reach out in a very tangible and personal way to those fellow citizens less fortunate than we are.
On the international front, we are sending a team of 28 medical and non-medical personnel to the Philippines on a Rotaplast mission. Not only is the Rotary Club of Abbotsford funding the mission through its fundraising and its own Foundation, 10 of the 11 non-medical personnel of this mission including the Assistant Mission Director are members of the Rotary Club of Abbotsford! That is what the theme “ROTARY SHARES” is all about…that is what hands-on sharing is.
Locally some of our fundraising is being directed to the Children’s facility of the Regional Cancer Center. The possibility of our funding, and hands-on involvement in the development of, a Rotary House for the families of out of town patients undergoing treatment at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital/Treatment Center further exemplifies the “ROTARY SHARES” theme.
We must also Share Rotary. The more we “SHARE ROTARY” the greater the success of these endeavors. We can broaden our “Friends of Rotary” and examine ways of increasing “Rotary volunteers”. Partnering like this is a great way of sharing Rotary.
“ROTARY SHARES” aptly describes our motto of “Service Above Self”.
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