My mission here today is nothing less than to convince you to begin to reconceive the ways in which you think, particularly about the foundation of our culture. All our aspirations and presumptions are predicated on the notion of education, of our imbuing generations of students with the knowledge and values that will allow them to succeed in later life. But how often havewe challenged ourselves to ask whether those concepts of knowledge, success and values have stayed current and relevant?

The following was prepared in 2015 when I was an Immediate Past District Governor at the request of a friend from Madras/Chennai, India. A Past RI Director of Rotary International and a very successful business executive, he was preparing a book of compiled Rotary Moments reflecting experiences of Rotarians from around the world who had belonged to clubs from different societal areas and cultures.   

In six years, the Wilmington Rotary Club will celebrate a second 100-year anniversary---the establishment of our Scholarship Program. The program began in 1924, instituted originally to provide educational loans to deserving college-bound high school seniors.

As I waited in the seemingly endless line, watching the clock tick inexorably toward the moment when I would again be closed out before getting the check mark that I so desperately needed to avoid going back to prison, I felt my heart racing, my frustration rising and my anger building.

I’ve been fortunate for the life lessons I was taught by my parents. Both the big ones and the little ones. The one I have the earliest memory of is the one I learned the most from: Giving.

My name is Dwayne Adams, founder and executive director of Breaking Barriers, a nonprofit organization aimed at improving the health of the Wilmington community by encouraging healthy eating and exercise, particularly on the (ERG) rowing machine.

District Governor Pete Booker: It is a great honor to guide our district for the next year. This year, we will ‘Be the Inspiration”, and we will “Celebrate our Clubs!” You can “Be The Inspiration” in everything we do every day!!!

Samantha Diedrick Harris, President 2017-2018, End of Presidency Thank You speech at Dave Fleming’s Installation on July 12, 2018

“Sameness” hardly seems like the most inappropriate word to describe anything associated with the recent Rotary International Convention in Toronto.

Believe it or not, I am in my 50th year as a member of the Wilmington Rotary Club, having been inducted in 1969, the same year as Bob Crowe. We are not the oldest or longest-serving, living members of the Club.