President's Message

The Rotary Club of Lubbock, Texas

 July 15, 2010

I am honored to begin a year of leadership in "Service Above Self" to The Rotary Club of Lubbock-

Lubbock's longest serving civic club.

Rotary International is the World's first service organization.  Rotary just passed the centennial mark and has 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries all over the world.  We are part of something that is larger than ourselves.

We have a great tradition, great resources to work together for good, and great visions to change the world for the better, one step at a time.  That would sound grandiose-until you look at Rotary's track record:  We are a major player in the campaign to eliminate Polio world wide.  In the last year, The Rotary Club of Lubbock issued a $20,000 matching challenge to the other clubs in our District.  Our challenge was met and surpassed.  The last vestiges of polio remain in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria.  Rotarian's fund immunizations that will eradicate this terrible disease.

Locally, our Rotary Club is changing lives one child at a time through our Literacy programs giving books to under performing schools and feeding the hungry through our long-time commitment to support the South Plains Food Bank.  During the past year, we hosted two Adoption Fairs for the Child Protective Services.  This is a fun Saturday morning for adoptable children in foster care and potential adoptive parents.  We provide six college scholarships for high school seniors.

Internationally, we host Youth Exchange students, sponsor Ambassadorial Scholarships for graduate study in foreign counties, and participate in Group Study Exchanges that send young professionals from the U.S. to foreign countries afor a month and receive young professionals from another country to visit U.S. businesses and promote international understanding.

 The Rotary  International Slogan for this is "Building Communities, Bridging Continents."

Visit us any Wednesday, at twelve noon, at the  United Methodist Church in downtown Lubbock.  Enjoy great fellowship with Lubbock business leaders and hear, challenging, and informative speakers..

Yours in Rotary,

ANN GRAHAM