Dear Rotary Friends and Guests,

Our responsibility as Rotarians is to do the most good we can.
Alone, we might be able to help individuals here and there, to make small changes, to help in small ways. Together, our abilities are stronger. Together, we really can make a lasting difference on a global scale.

Together there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

Water, literacy, health and hunger - these are the categories of Rotary service that have endured now for several years and with good reason.

These are the areas in which local Rotary clubs, working individually and in cooperation with other clubs, can do the most good.

They are areas in which we now have many years' experience and expertise. They are areas of wise Rotary investment.

They are areas that let us do the most good with everything that we have.

Every day, in every part of the world, children die from preventable causes. 30,000 children under the age of five die every day.

They die because their needs are not met in the areas of water, health and hunger, and literacy. Children die for the lack of a seatbelt or a smoke detector.

Children die because they have no where safe to play. Children die because their parents cannot afford health care. Children die not because nobody can help them but because too often, nobody cares. But you and I are Rotarians and helping is what we do best.

There is not a single Rotary district where local club projects cannot save lives.

We will Make Dreams Real by bringing clean water to their communities.

We will Make Dreams Real by giving children the chance at health through improving their environments and their access to care.

We will Make Dreams Real by making sure that more children have a chance to go to school, because it will only be through education that the deadly cycle of poverty can be broken.

We will Make Dreams Real by giving children hope and a chance at a future.

Our job is a simple one. It is saving lives with our hearts and our minds and our souls. Our job is to Make Dreams Real.


D.K. Lee

President, Rotary International 2008-09