Rotary International Theme 2025-2026	THE ROWEL Rotary Club of Durham		Rotary International President: Francesco Arezzo Rotary District 5160 Governor: Joy Alaidarous Durham Rotary President: Tom Knowles _____________ Editor: Phil Price Publisher:  Jen Liu
	July 22, 2025	Harvest Festival  2025 will be held on September 21, 2025

The Meeting Opening We met at the Butte Creek Country Club. President Tom Knowles called the meeting to order. Tom asked Daryl Polke to led the pledge, which he did. Rather than an invocation, President Tom recited a quotation from Confucius. He then asked Steve Heithecker to recite the Four-Way Test, which he sort of did, with help. But he overlooked Larry Bradley and a song (maybe because Larry had been absent last week).  So, Larry started singing “My Country Of Thee”, on his own.

Introduction of Visitors

Steve Plume introduced John Rhein from the Chico Noon Club.

Recognitions

President Tom recognized for their time in Durham Rotary, the following: Diana Selland for 2years, Eric Hoiland for 8 years, Jessica Thorpe for 6 years and Glenn Pulliam for 22 years

He also recognized Larry Bradley for his 48^th wedding anniversary.  He contributed $48.

Other Matters

Nothing else this week.

The Program

Next Meeting

Our next meeting, on August 5^th, will be at the Butte Creek Country Club.  We will have this year’s Camp Royal and Camp Venture students.

We will also be celebrating K. R.’s 100^th birthday, which will be on August 4^th.

August 5^th is also my wife’s birthday, so I will not be at the meeting.  Peggi has agreed to take notes and photos.  If anyone else takes photos of the students, please email them to me.  I will be doing the Rowel that week.

Membership

Bring guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member.  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.

District 5160 Governor, Dan Geraldi is asking each club member to bring at least one guest to a meeting 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 clean people’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.

Must Be Present to Win Drawing:

From Rotary International’s News and Features Website

______________________________

{Note that the following is not be the complete article.  See the complete article onRotary International’s web page.}

Final day of 2025 Rotary International Convention highlighted current and future Rotary leaders

By Etelka Lehockzy

The 2025 Rotary International Convention in Calgary, Canada, concluded in a spirit of fellowship and rejuvenation. Addressing the event’s closing general session, Rotary International President Stephanie A. Urchick urged members to recognize the power of their relationships.

“Rotary’s most powerful asset has always been you, our members. But we are only as strong as the people who stand beside us,” she said. “We talk a lot about goals and strategy. But without friendship, without encouragement, none of it takes hold.Rotary works because we belong here. … This is our community, and it matters.”

The session also featured Rotary’s future leaders. President-elect Francesco Arezzo described his commitment to the 2025-26 presidential message, Unite for Good.

“[It] means involving all members, but not only members, in our service. It means involving [partner] organizations … local administrations, other voluntary associations. In short, it means ‘expand our reach,’” said Arezzo, who was selected earlier this month as the next president. “Let us create one great shared dream that unites us, that excites us, that changes the world and changes our lives, too.”

Francesco Arezzo, who will become the 2025-26 Rotary International president on 1 July,speaks at the Rotary International Convention in Calgary, Canada, on 25 June. Arezzo said in the past he did not want to accept roles as club president and district governor because he had a stutter, but overwhelming support from Rotary members persuaded him and he went on to serve as an RI director and now president-elect. “I am confident that you will give me all the support and affection I have always found in Rotary,” he said.

Attendees spent the morning exploring various ways to maximize their impact. One breakout session, The Amazing Peace Race, explored how clubs can incorporate the eight Pillars of Positive Peace into their projects. The session Literacy Alive focused on the success of an initiative to build early reading skills in children in Belize.

A particularly crowded session was hosted by the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery, which fights human trafficking around the world. Earlier in the week, the action group had unveiled a permanent peace pole in downtown Calgary. The breakout session featured Cheryl Perera, founder and president of the Canadian nonprofit One Child and a nominee for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. She told how she — seeking a way to fight child trafficking while still a teenager — served as a decoy for a government sting operation in Sri Lanka.

“I wanted to get an insider’s look into the child sex trade,” she said. “I contacted [someone in] the government branch that was tasked with protecting children and asked if there was any way I could watch an undercover operation happen. He said, ‘Yes, actually, you can play the decoy.’”

Perera aided in the capture and arrest of a perpetrator. The experience cemented her commitment to the issue and was part of what led her to found OneChild, which mobilizes children and teens to raise awareness about child trafficking.

In the House of Friendship exhibition hall, it was impossible to miss a 20-foot-talltipi sponsored by Rotary District 5360 (parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada). The tipi was equipped with numerous learning tools to inform visitors about the concerns of Indigenous peoples.

“We’re very proud as a district to sponsor this exhibit, but we also don’t want it to be the last,” said Rotary member Cam Stewart, a 2023 Rotary People of Action honoree. “We [want] to help Rotarians around the world do more work with their Indigenous populations.”

As the convention’s final day drew to a close, Bryn Styles, chair of the 2025 Calgary Convention Committee, reflected on the success of the event.

“Everybody has told me how much they like the venue,” Styles said. “This building is just beautiful — warm and welcoming. And people love Calgary. I’ve just gotten rave reviews.”

Many attendees were already looking forward to upcoming gatherings. The chair of the2026 Taipei Convention Committee, Andreas von Möller, enthusiastically invited attendees to the 2026 Rotary International Convention in Taipei, Taiwan.

“The 34,000 Rotary members of Taiwan invite you to explore and truly experience the culture, impressive countryside, National Theater, and beautiful temples throughout the city,” he said. “The 2026 convention will provide an experience that will remain with you for the rest of your life.”

© 2025 Rotary International. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Terms of Use___________________________ri