ROTARY INTERNATIONAL WORLD HEADQUARTERS:
One Rotary Centre, 1560 Sherman Ave, Evanston, Illinois, 60201, U.S.
Telephone: 847 866 3000. Fax: 847 328 8554.

General officers of R.I. for 2003-04
President, Jonathan Majiyagbe, Nigeria; President-elect, Glenn E. Estess Sr., U.S.A.; Vice President, Frank C. Collins Jr., U.S.A.; Treasurer, Gennaro M. Cardinale, Italy; Ronald L. Beaubien, U.S.A.; John J. Eberhard, Canada; John F. Germ, U.S.A.; Sushil Gupta, India; Michael D. McCullough, U.S.A.; David D. Morgan,Wales; Samuel A. Okudzeto, Ghana; Luiz Coelho de Oliveira, Brazil; John M. Pinson, U.S.A.; J. David Roper, U.S.A.; Ómar Steindórsson, Iceland; Kozo Sugo, Japan; Sakuji Tanaka, Japan; Constant A.G.M. Tempelaars, The Netherlands; John G. Thorne, Australia. General Secretary: Edwin H. Futa, U.S.A.

R.I. South Pacific and Philippines Office
McNamara Centre, Level 2, 100 George Street, Parramatta, N.S.W., 2150 or P.O. Box 1415, Parramatta, N.S.W., 2124. Telephone: (02) 9635 3537. Fax: (02) 9689 3169. Office hours: Open daily from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except weekends and public holidays. Administration: Manager, Harley Tarrant; Co-ordinator, Leanne Mackenzie; Literature Clerk, Michelle Fuller; Receptionist, Barbara Stuart. Club and District Administration (formerly service): Supervisor, Tony Quinn; Correspondent, Nicole Raymond: Co-ordinator, Graham Pretty. Finance: Supervisor, Brian Carroll; Co-ordinators, John Jiang and Wendy Tran; Assistant, Rebecca Tucker; Junior finance assistant, Cecille Costelo; The Rotary Foundation: Supervisor, Terry Davies; TRF Assistant, Amabel Pante. How to e-mail staff: Start with the staff member’s last name (up to seven letters), then add first letter of the first name, except John Jiang (jiangx) followed by @rotaryintl.org Example: smithj@rotaryintl.org for John Smith.

R.I. Internet address :www.rotary.org

Rotary Down Under — The Council
R. I. Director John Thorne, District Governors Doug Pascoe (9450), John Simmons (9460), Ron Geary (9470), David Moore (9500), Graeme Dodsworth (9520), Michael Rennie (9550), Hector Garrick (9570), Tony Holmes (9600), Ray Brand (9630), Max Wortman (9640), John Burkey (9650), Cheryl Bentley-Howard (9670), Danny Low (9680), Warwick Tester (9690), Peter Chivers (9700), Anne Louttit (9710), Elaine Lytle (9750), Robert Furner (9780), Bill Holman (9790), Donald Jago (9800), Jenny Coburn (9810), Ray Martin (9820), Kevin Shadbolt (9830), Charles Wilson (9910), John Rennie (9920), Trish O’Reilly (9930), Allan Birrell (9940), Lyn Holmes (9970), John Henderson (9980).

The Committee:
R.I. Past Director Bill Boyd (chairman), R.I. Director John Thorne, Past District Governors Paul Gillett (treasurer), Colin Martin (vice-chairman), Keith Mitchell, Terry Edwards, Peter Williams, Bob Aitken (Secretary) and Rotarian Barry Antees (business manager).

Advisory Committee New Zealand, Pacific Islands:
R.I. Past Director Bill Boyd (chairman), R.I. Past Director Grattan O’Connell, Past District Governors Geoff Dainty, Mark Tregidga, Fergus Cumming, Lindsay Knowles, Bruce Knowles and Stuart Heal.

Dear fellow Rotarians,

In this my final month as R.I. president, I hardly know how to begin to thank all of you for your support and encouragement throughout the 2003-04 Rotary year. I will begin with a tip of my Chicago baseball cap, a gesture that also honours Rotary’s birthplace, where we will celebrate our centennial in 2005.

One of my main emphases this year has been the family of Rotary, but I could not have anticipated how I myself would benefit from this initiative at the outset of my term. When my dear wife, Ade, passed away a year ago, the outpouring of love and condolences from Rotarians worldwide demonstrated beyond a doubt that Rotary is, indeed, one giant family.

On behalf of my own family, I would also like to thank everyone for their generous support of Ade’s Hope Fund for the Education of Women and Children. Through this special fund within The Rotary Foundation, Ade’s memory will live on as more and more women and children receive the education they need to become productive, independent citizens of the world.

I have also been gratified to observe that this year’s R.I. theme, Lend a Hand, has resonated so deeply with so many Rotarians. It refers to a simple gesture of kindness that cuts across every national border and cultural barrier to capture the essence of Rotary. The timeless nature of this phrase has caused it to appear repeatedly over the generations in discussions of humanitarianism and service to others.

For example, a fellow Rotarian recently informed me that Edward Everett Hale, a well-known U.S. author and clergyman who was Senate chaplain in the early 1900s, once wrote: “Look up and not down; look forward and not back; look out and not in; lend a hand.’’

Similarly, no less than Rotary’s founder, Paul P. Harris, wrote in The Rotarian in September 1912: “It is fair to assume that we shall not be indifferent to the welfare of the communities in which we exist, nor unwilling to lend a hand to the doing of those things in the interest of the public.’’
No wonder that today’s Rotarians have embraced the sentiment with such vigour and enthusiasm!

It is also appropriate that the final month of the Rotary year is dedicated to Rotary fellowships, international groups that provide opportunities for Rotarians who share common pastimes, vocations and interests to practise the first concept of the Object of Rotary: acquaintance as an opportunity for service. I urge Districts and clubs to encourage their members to participate in fellowships, which enhance the Rotary experience and collectively comprise a strong membership recruitment and retention tool.

It is time, fellow Rotarians, for me to end my final monthly missive on these pages. It has been an honour to serve you this year, and I will remain forever humble and grateful for the opportunity. Another successful R.I. Convention is behind us, and as we move forward into our historic centennial year, let us never hesitate to Lend a Hand to those in need. Thank you so very much.

Jonathan Majiyagbe
President, Rotary International