Before anything else, I am proud to share with you that in less than a month into the Life-Changing Year, our district has already attracted 239 new members whom we have inducted during the District Handover and Induction Ceremony last July 3. This number is a huge feat for our term, but I am more excited about their added value to the work we do in our organization.
Most of you are probably invited by your friends to join Rotary; some may have probably heard of our organization for a while and got curious about what it does, and so you joined. Some of you may have been looking for an avenue to volunteer and serve, and saw a platform and opportunity through Rotary. Regardless of how you began as a Rotarian, one thing is sure, you made good friends along the way.
As RI President Shekhar Mehta challenges us to grow more and do more, may the idea of creating more connections and relationships within Rotary be our selling point in encouraging our friends, family members, workmates, or maybe new acquaintances, to engage themselves in humanitarian service. After all, Rotary is about fellowship through service.
Apart from that, there is an epiphany in what we do, a sense of euphoria when seeing positive change manifest in the communities we reach out to — a new library, the first flow of clean running water, a growing forest, a child’s happy face. This is the beauty of being a Rotarian. Not only do you grow your network, but you fulfill the greater purpose that most people neglect — selfless service.
I encourage you that as we work towards increasing our membership, do not simply look for members. Look for teammates, for friends, for passionate humanitarians and philanthropists. There is a general saying that goes “a stranger is a friend you have not met”. And like I always believe, not everyone can become a Rotarian, but a Rotarian can come from anyone.