Rotary recently recognized six of our fellow members aged 30 or under as “People of Action: Champions of Tomorrow”. Each of these service-minded leaders started initiatives to improve their communities. Among them is Olivia Raley, a member of the Rotary Club of Bardstown, Kentucky (D6710). Her project addresses youth mental health, in cooperation with other local organizations. Activities include creating community gardens and educational materials, as well as leading mental health workshops. As a result, 20% more local youth are accessing counseling services. See local TV coverage of Olivia’s recognition here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8REJC-WJnJc.

(image from WLEX-TV)

If you’re from District 6780, or if you’ve been attending our Zone Institutes, you’re already familiar with “Doughnuts for Dollars”. Started for World Polio Day in 2018, Rotarians partnered with Dunkin’ Doughnuts franchisees to sell “purple pinkie” doughnuts as an End Polio fundraiser. As clubs in the South and Northeast adopted the model, they’ve raised $7.7 million so far. See more of the story on Page 32 of this month’s Rotary magazine.

Poliovirus cases and positive environmental isolates reported this week:

As the United States and United Kingdom stop funding Polio eradication, representatives from Rotary and the Japanese government reaffirmed their commitment to achieving global polio eradication at a meeting in April.

World Immunization Week 2026 (April 24–30) centered on the theme “For every generation, vaccines work” and highlighted that immunization has saved over 150 million lives in the past 50 years. Key results included the conclusion of “The Big Catch-Up,” which delivered over 100 million doses to 18.3 million previously unreached or under-vaccinated children.

World Polio Day 2026 is coming up on October 24th. Take advantage of these materials to start planning:

• Brand Center event planning resources
• End Polio Now creative assets
• End Polio Now event flyer and social media graphic templates
• Raise for Rotary fundraising platform
• Using AI: What members need to know

Poliovirus cases and positive environmental isolates reported this week:

Gambier, Ohio is a small college town of about 2,000 residents, located southeast of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. That’s where Amy Henricksen, a member of the Rotary Club of Mount Vernon (D6690) helped create the Kokosing Nature Preserve. The Preserve sits on a former golf course but is now made up of 23 acres of prairie land designated for burials, and about the same amount of land planted in native grasses and wildflowers.

If you’ve never heard of conservation burials or green cemeteries, this is an alternative to embalming and cement vaults, coupled with conservation efforts. The burials are much more personal than “traditional” funeral home or church ceremonies.

Read more about Amy’s project at: https://www.rotary.org/en/after-life-a-return-to-the-earth.

Have all the clubs in your district entered their 2025-26 goals in Rotary Club Central? Those that have not could use a reminder that in order to be eligible for a Club Excellence Award, they must do so. And for those clubs and those that DID enter their goals, they must also report on having achieved those goals.

Now would be a good time to remind clubs that both must happen by June 30th (as well as being current on their dues) for the club to be eligible for the award.

Poliovirus cases and positive environmental isolates reported this week:

Rotary International has just released Artificial Intelligence guidelines to help us use AI tools responsibly, ethically, and in alignment with our mission and values. Some of the suggested “good” uses for AI include using these tools for nonconfidential, public-facing work, such as:

• Drafting social media posts
• Writing public newsletters or event invitations
• Preparing presentations or talking points
• Analyzing publicly available data
• Generating creative ideas for projects and outreach
• Translating content into other languages

Other topics covered by the new guidelines include:

• Ethical practices
• Confidentiality
• Data privacy
• Data security
• Intellectual property
• Use of photo/video likenesses
• Data accuracy
• Disclosing use of AI

Download the five-page Guidelines by clicking here.

The Learning Center has a number of courses, some new this year, for members of your district newly assuming committee roles. Some of these include:

• District Interact Committee Essentials
• District Leader Essentials
• Service-Learning for Youth Program Advisers

One of the advantages of Rotary membership that is often overlooked, especially when talking with prospective members is the excellent leadership training Rotary makes available through both in-person and online resources. These skills are easily transferrable to the workplace and can help members prepare themselves for positions of greater responsibility in their workplaces.