“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” These inspiring words embody Rotary’s spirit of action and initiative and the importance of putting our own gifts and abilities into making a positive difference in our communities and around the world. That moving sentence sounds much like it came from a sage and wise soul who is experienced in service and the world. That quote though came from the pages of thirteen-year-old Anne Frank’s Diary. Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who was forced into hiding in Amsterdam during World War II. She and her father, mother and older sister hid in a secret annex behind her father’s business building for almost two years before being discovered on August 1, 1944, and sent to Nazi concentration camps. Only her father survived. Anne was 15 when she died, along with her sister Margo, of typhus at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Rich and I visited the Anne Frank house and secret annex on our trip to Holland and were awestruck by the strength and unwavering spirt of hope and humanity that Anne retained throughout the war and Holocaust. In fact, just three days before her capture she wrote in her diary that despite everything that she believed “people are still truly good at heart.” Just imagine what that incredible young girl would have done with her life had she lived longer. What she had done though with the fifteen years that she graced the earth was help us all reflect on what is truly important in life - loving one another, inspiring hope in each other and to quote Rotary “unit[ing] and take[ing] action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.” Thank you so much to all of you for the privilege of doing so alongside you and being inspired by your hearts and your acts of kindness and care for others and our world.

With Gratitude, 

Trudie