Not goodbye, but good work

Jun 2023Jun 29 2023 Jennifer Jones

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Speaking to you through the pages of Rotary magazine this past year has brought me so much joy. I have especially enjoyed sharing the incredible stories of the wonderful people Nick and I have met on the Imagine Impact Tour.

1. At the Global Citizen Festival in New York City, RI President Jennifer Jones announces that Rotary will commit an additional $150 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. 2. Visiting Zambia in August, Jones talks with health workers participating in Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia, the recipient of Rotary’s first Programs of Scale grant. 3. Jones stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Lucky Johana Mishel Chutá Simón, a student she met during a tour of the Guatemala Literacy Project.

4. In July, at a stop on her Imagine Rotary Canada Tour, Jones hugs a stuffed grizzly bear wearing the red serge tunic of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 5. Jones and actor Sibongile Mlambo (centre) have fun at a soccer game at the Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda.

From Patzún in the mountainous western highlands of Guatemala to a small village outside of Lusaka, Zambia, we have been greeted by countless people who imagine and work toward a better world.

We were inspired by teachers who imagine a better education for girls and boys facing gender-based violence, by Rotaractors in a refugee settlement who created a flour mill to provide for their families in a critical food shortage, and by brave polio workers who push tirelessly to reach every last child.

6. Accompanied (at right) by her husband, Nick Krayacich, and Judith Diment, dean of the Rotary Representative Network, Jones greets King Charles III in London on Commonwealth Day. 7. During an Imagine Impact Tour stop in Taiwan, Jones and her husband enjoy a quiet moment while seated in a cabbage patch.

8. Jones with her brother, Darren, whose painting Imagine One’s Dream inspired her presidential tie and scarf. 9. Jones poses for a photo at a seminar in Texas for Rotary club presidents-elect. 10. Jones and Krayacich ride tall in the saddle at the annual Calgary Stampede Parade in Alberta.

All of us have imagined Rotary this year. This means looking past what we are today and reaching for what we could be tomorrow. We imagine a Rotary that will continue to tell our stories in impactful ways, work to reduce our carbon footprint, and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts that lift every voice in our organisation and beyond.

Nick and I want to thank all of you for the moments we’ve shared and for your efforts to Imagine Rotary. And now, we look forward to continuing these efforts as we Create Hope in the World. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve with each of you.

Jennifer Jones
President, Rotary International

Pictures by:
1. David Alexander; 2, 5. Esther Ruth Mbabazi;
3. James RodrÍguez; 4, 10. Carol Tichelman;
6, 8. Courtesy of Jennifer Jones; 7. I-Hwa Cheng;
9. Monika Lozinska

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