TRF Chair Message – October 2015

TRF to kickoff Centennial Celebration at Seoul

The 2016–17 Rotary Year will be the centennial year for The Rotary Foundation, which started at the 1917 Rotary convention in Atlanta. This issue is filled with information about the exciting 2016 convention to be held in Seoul, May 28–June 1 — and part of the excitement is due to the kickoff activities for the Foundation’s centennial celebration.

The Foundation has a Centennial Celebration Committee, which is chaired by Past Trustee Stephanie Urchick, and the committee has comprehensive plans for a full year of celebratory events, which will culminate in a giant celebration at the 2017 Rotary convention in Atlanta. The Foundation trustees, Rotary International directors, and Rotary staff members are all committed to a successful recognition of the Foundation’s anniversary because of the Foundation’s significant role in helping our clubs and districts to conduct service projects around the world. The Rotary Foundation clearly has been a tremendous force for Doing Good in the World!

And as we contemplate our high-level plans for the centennial, we once more pause to recognise and appreciate that the totality of what happens in our clubs and districts is far bigger and longer-lasting than what happens in Evanston and at the conventions. As a result, the true success of the centennial celebration will depend on the quality and quantity of the celebratory events in our clubs and districts. The big question is whether our Rotarians around the globe will embrace the Foundation’s centennial and undertake their own centennial projects and celebrations. So please do your part to stimulate the interest and involvement of your club.

The Rotary Foundation has been highly successful in assisting our clubs and districts to promote international understanding, goodwill and peace in the world — and therefore, it is appropriate that all of our clubs and dis-tricts should participate in the centennial celebration. As usual in Rotary, there is no prescribed way in which the clubs and districts should join the celebration, andI hope our clubs and districts will be as creative in their celebratory activities as they have been in their myriad humanitarian projects throughout the years. This is the right time for all of us to express our appreciation for The Rotary Foundation!

Ray Klinginsmith
Foundation Trustee Chair