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FUTURE
MEETINGS: Meetings
will be at the location noted, at 6:00 pm.
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July
14th: A Club Assembly, led by Tom.
July
28th : At BCCC but the program in unknown.
Aug
11th: At BCCC - Refurbishing of Old
Tractors by Dax Kimmelshue.
Aug
25th : At BCCC. Larry will present
the Camp Royal students.
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Announcements
We
did receive more Thank You letters this past week. Two were from
scholarship recipients,and one was from K. R.’s family, which included
a $100 donation.
After
dinner the discussion led by Larry related to the Harvest
Festival. Apparently, wedid not pay the Sheriff’s Department for
use of the Captain Bob last year. So we will pay double this
year. But we will have the Captain
Bob.
We
did buy a lamb at the Junior Livestock Auction.
Peggy
and Imogene will be promoting our Harvest Festival at The Durham
Farmers Market on August 30th.
Larry
also suggested that all members, who have not become a Bell Ringer yet
this year,should contribute enough to become a Bell Ringer before the
end of the month. Check with Jessica if you are not sure of the
amount it would take.
Next Meeting
The
next meeting, will be a Club Assembly on July 14th , at the
BCCC.
Membership
Bring
guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member. We Need More Members! Your
dinner and your guest’s dinner will be paid for by the Club.
Also, bring a guest to one of our occasional social gatherings.
President
Tom is asking the members to bring in new members this year.
Go to the
following Rotary International web site for information on membership
development: https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-topic/membership
.
From this website there is access to membership development and
other related information.
The
Rotary Foundation Donations
You can make a difference in this world by helping
people in need. Your gift can do some great things, from supplying
filters that cleanpeople’s drinking water to empowering local
entrepreneurs to grow through business development training.
The Rotary Foundation will use your gift to fund
the life-changing work of Rotary members who provide sustainable
solutions to their communities’ most pressing needs. But we need help
from people like you who will take action and give the gift of Rotary
to make these projects possible.
When every Rotarian
gives every year, no challenge is too great for us to make a
difference. The minimum gift to The Rotary Foundation is
$25.00. An annual $100.00 gift is a sustaining
member. Once your donations accumulate to $1,000 you become a
Paul Harris Fellow.
If you have any
questions, ask Steve Heithecker.
It is possible to learn more about The Rotary
Foundation on the Rotary web site.
Your gift can be made online or by sending Jessica
Thorpe a check made out to The Rotary Foundation to Durham Rotary,
P.O. Box 383, Durham, California 95958.
The latest District Newsletter has been uploaded
to DACdb - to view it there go to the District tab, open the District
Bulletin file and look for the pdf file named Rotary District 5160
Newsletter.
From
Rotary International’s News and Features Website
The theme for the 2026–2027 Rotary year is
"Create Lasting Impact”n
RFrom powerful
performances and speakers to global service commitments, more than
38,000 people celebrate Rotary’s global spirit
By Wen
Huang Photos by Monika Lozinska and Kristen
Wei
The
Rotary
International Convention in Taipei, Taiwan, ended on a high note as
singer Leona Lewis brought thousands of attendees to their feet with a
stirring performance that included the resilience anthem “Fire Under
My Feet” during the closing ceremony on 17 June.
Taipei’s
warm
hospitality was on full display as hundreds of Rotary volunteers
formed a human corridor outside the venue, greeting departing
attendees with cheers and celebratory gestures. Many people stopped to
take selfies and exchange farewells before heading home.
The
four-day
event attracted more than 38,000 people from 140 countries and
regions, making it one of Rotary’s largest conventions in recent
years.
“This
year,
I spoke often about uniting for good,” said Rotary International
President Francesco Arezzo, a member of the Rotary Club of Ragusa,
Italy. “These past days, we have seen what that means. Rotary is a
meeting place —where strangers become friends, friendship becomes
trust, where trust becomes action.”
Inspirational
speakers
The
convention
featured impressive speakers, led by Malala Yousafzai, they
oungest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a leading advocate for
girls’ education.
Yousafzai,
whose
father was a Rotary member, began advocating for education in Pakistan
before she was a teenager. At age 15, she survived a Taliban attack
aimed at silencing her activism. Following months of surgery and
rehabilitation in the United Kingdom, she co-founded the Malala Fund
to continue her campaign for girls’ education worldwide. In 2014, at
age 17, she received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her
efforts to advance education and equality. She graduated from Oxford
University in 2020 with a degree in philosophy, politics,and
economics.
“I
started
my campaign for education at 11 years old,” Yousafzai said during the
second general session on 16 June. “At first, it was just me and my
father speaking out for girls’ right to go to school. But it is the
people who have come alongside us, our collective work, that gives me
hope.”
While
acknowledging
progress, she noted that about 120 million girls worldwide remain out
of school, and she urged attendees to support girls as leaders. “Girls
understand the problems best, and they understand the solutions
best,”Yousafzai said.
She
also
encouraged Rotary members to help ensure that every girl has access to
quality education.
“Over
the
years, I’ve learned that one person cannot change the world alone,
that every movement in history was built by many hands,” Yousafzai
said. “When you go home, look for girls in your community who are at
risk of dropping out. Ask teachers what you can do to support their
work. We need your bold and ambitious vision to build a better future
for girls.”
Yousafzai
also
received a warm response when discussing mental health and her
recovery from the attack.
“I
initially
focused only on physical recovery, but later I realized the importance
of mental health,” she said. “Therapy helped me recognize that asking
for help is strength, not weakness. I chose to be open about my
struggles because young people around the world need to know they are
not alone.”
Another
challenge
for the future came in the closing session from Salome Agbaroji,
the2023-24 National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, who
performed her poem “HOPE.”
“When
you
change hope from an attitude into an action, we get much closer to
building the world we aspire to,” she said after performing the poem.
“You, Rotary members, are the scientists and engineers of the small
social revolutions that achieve great and measurable good.”
Expanding
Rotary’s
global impact
Rotary
Foundation
Trustee Chair Holger Knaack highlighted the global reach of Rotary’s
humanitarian work and introduced the newest Programs of Scale grant
recipient: Collaboration for Sustainable Water and Sanitation Systems
in Haiti.
The
initiative,
led by Haitian Rotarians, builds on work with Haitian organization
sand the national water agency. It aims to reduce waterborne disease
by strengthening local capacity and by training community leaders,
water operators, and municipal officials.
“It
answers
a question that matters to every Rotarian in this room: Can we deliver
lasting change in places where change is hardest?” Knaack said. “This
program is going to prove we can.”
Knaack
also
announced an expansion of the Rotary Healthy Communities Challenge to
add Papua New Guinea. The program will train an additional 2,100
community volunteers in more than 1,000 villages, aiming to cut
malaria deaths in half.
Michael
K.
McGovern and Valarie Wafer of the International PolioPlus Committee
highlighted both the progress and challenges in Rotary’s effort to
eradicate polio. Although Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only
countries with ongoing transmission of wild polio virus, variant
outbreaks continue to be a challenge in parts of Africa, including
Nigeria.
Supported
annually
by US$50 million from The Rotary Foundation and US$100 million from
the Gates Foundation, Rotary and its partners continue to integrate
polio vaccination campaigns with broader health initiatives that
strengthen health systems and improve community well-being.
House
of
Friendship showcases global fellowship
The
House
of Friendship featured more than 200 exhibits from Rotary and Rotaract
clubs, districts, and vendors around the world.
A
highlight was the Taipei Village, sponsored by the Host Organization
Committee,which recreated a section of Taipei’s historic old town.
Visitors immersed themselves in Taiwanese culture through Chinese
calligraphy, tea ceremonies,Indigenous traditions, and other
participatory experiences.
“It
is thrilling to see the internationality of our organization in one
place,” says Brenda Waugh, a district governor-elect from Scotland, a
member of the Rotary Club of Annan & District, and a first-time
convention attendee. “I enjoyed the fun and fellowship, and I’m proud
to be part of this massive international organization.”
The
convention’s
opening and closing ceremonies dazzled audiences with large-scale
productions combining traditional Taiwanese dance, drumming, and
acrobatics with contemporary staging. Italian singers and musicians
also captivated attendees with spectacular operatic arias and beloved
classics, including “Caruso.”
With
large
Rotary promotional billboards at Taoyuan airport and in Taipei’s
subway stations, short TV clips in taxis, and extensive daily media
coverage, the convention has enabled Rotary to raise awareness of its
global and local impact in Taiwan, where membership has grown
exponentially.
Looking
ahead
The
convention
also set up Rotary’s annual leadership transition. On 1 July, Olayinka
H. Babalola will begin his term as Rotary International president for
2026-27, while Larry A. Lunsford will serve as president-elect.
Nearing
the
end of his year of service, Arezzo emphasized the importance of
continuity in Rotary leadership.
“I
like
the image of a relay race,” he said. “No runner owns the race. The
most important moment is not the running — it is the passing.
“Rotary
is
a relay. We receive. We carry forward. We pass it on. And every
generation of Rotarians must leave the organization stronger, kinder,
and more hopeful for the generation that follows.”
-
Gundula Miethke contributed to this story.
Malala
Yousafzai,
the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, speaks about girls’
education and peace at the second general session of the Rotary
International Convention in Taipei, Taiwan. 16 June 2026.
Note that
the photos in the original article may not have been reproduced here.
©
2026 Rotary International. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Terms of Use
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The Rotary International web site
is: www.rotary.org
District 5160 web site is found at www.dacab.com. But you
will need a user name and password. Contact your editor
for instructions.
The Durham Rotary Club site
is: www.durhamrotary.org
The Rowel Editor may be contacted at: pbprice1784@gmail.com
The deadline for the Rowel 10:00 am on
Wednesdays.
The Editor’s photographs published in the
Rowel are available, upon request, in their original file
size. Those published were substantially reduced in file
size.
If anyone finds an error in this Rowel, please email me. I
can do a corrected Rowel within the first day or two.
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