“People of Action”, “Service Above Self”, “He Who Serves Best Profits Most”. These are the slogans and type of words that Rotarians have described themselves with for over a century. We are proud of how we have risen up, reached out and helped our fellow man across our communities, nations and across the world.
Our world, our nation, and especially our community has been hit hard by disasters like we have never seen. Locally, trying to do our best to prevent and limit the spread and effect of Covid-19 and then to have the most significant supply of food in our community to go up in smoke overnight has been devastating.
But the thing that has been supremely evident to me is how our community has responded. Our Rotary Club has a little less than 30 members. Our community has 3500+ residents. From what I have witnessed our entire community has adopted the very words that Rotarian have held so precious. Name a group in our community and they, or at least several of their members, have risen to respond.
From our First Responders to our Ministerial Alliance, from the San Saba Mobile Food Pantry to our schools, all have met the present crisis head on.
Are we winning? Some would say “not yet”, others would say “we have already won”. I believe all would agree we are fighting the good fight.
We may be a very small community, we may have limited resources, we may be rural and backwoods, but we have something that exceeds all those challenges. We, the people of San Saba County have an indomitable spirit. Our forefathers came and carved this community out of a beautiful but unforgiving land. They recognized something special and choose to stay and conquer the challenges. We the people of present day San Saba County recognize those same special qualities of the land and people. We too choose to stay, work and conquer the challenges of this day.
Are the hard times over, I suspect not. Will there be sometimes that may make us ask the question “Is it really worth it?”. I suspect so. Will we stay and fight for what we have and what we dream about for the future? Most all of us definitely will. We are “A People of Action”. We hold “Service About Self”. We know that “He who Serves Best Profits Most”. Do we all proudly wear a circular pin displaying the Rotary Wheel? We may not all be Rotarian but I, for one, am proud to be part of a community that has chosen to fully embrace the very principals that our Rotary Club holds dearly.
When we are on the other side of this crisis consider continuing to be a part of a global group that fully believes in being “A People of Action”. Our club meets every Thursday, at least we will once Pepperbelly’s is allowed to serve food inside the restaurant again. We work hard to make our community, our nation, and our world a better place to be. Come Hang Your Hat With Rotary.
Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is a non-political and non-religious organization open to all. There are 35,000+ member clubs worldwide, and 1.2 million individuals, known as Rotarians.
The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world. Our foundation is rated in the top ten in the world by Charity Navigator, an international organization that monitors and rates not for profits.