Holding a pride of place at the transgender award ceremony titled Matram (change in Tamil) hosted by the Rotaract Club of Shri ­Krishnaswamy College for Women in Chennai was the veteran Noori Saleem, a transwoman from Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, who emerged victorious after battling long years of societal pressure, taunting, and all other forms of humiliation and discrimination to create a home for over 300 HIV positive children abandoned by their families because of their infection.

The motive power of Rotary is friendship,” said Paul Harris at the Rotary Convention held in Edinburgh in 1921. The friendships that are forged between Rotarians can be the beginning of great things for our community.

Near the market yard of ­Panvel city in Raigad district of Maharashtra, a two-acre urban forest — Rotary Ghandat (dense in ­Marathi) Jungle — with a park in the front has sprung up, thanks to RC Panvel Central, RID 3131. This green hub has become a centre of attraction for locals and tourists alike.

Rotary Club of Calcutta, RID 3291, in association with the Howrah ­Municipal ­Corporation (HMC), has set up the district’s first blood centre — the HMC Rotary Blood Centre — at Howrah, ­Kolkata. The facility was inaugurated in February by Arup Roy, state minister-in-charge for urban development.

A multipurpose mega service project titled ­Create Hope reached out to over 800 beneficiaries from diverse fields at the Ayana ­Convention Hall, Vijayawada, on the sidelines of the two-day ­district conference of RID 3020 named Sneham (friendship) in January. RC ­Vijayawada Midtown hosted the ­Discon in which 1,200 Rotarians from around 90 clubs took part in the sessions and other events.