We left last week's meeting with a sense of renewed faith and optimism about Rotary's future, thanks to the dynamic presentation by Eli Hauber, A Rotaract member at UNC Chapel Hill. Eli has a heart of service and he shared his story via a virtual video presentation. He grew up in Colorado Springs in a Rotary family; his father was deeply involved in the local Rotary club. But Eli's personal journey in Rotary began in high school where he initiated an Interact Club during his junior year at Cheyenne Mountain HS. It was after the COVID pandemic shut-down and Eli was looking for a way to find his "people" and a way to belong to something bigger than high school.

Eli also spoke about his multi-year involvement in RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) where he currently sits on the board. He is an avid supporter of RYLA and his involvement has energized both students and Rotarians to lift up RYLA and support its continuation. Eli created a wonderful recruitment video that showcases to prospective students what RYLA is and how beneficial it can be. He shared the video with us and I think it made all of us excited to support next summer's program.
Rotaract is Rotary's college-level club organization and Eli is a member at UNC Chapel Hill. One of the club's initiatives matches members with local Rotarian mentors. Through his mentorship with a past District Governor, Eli got connected with Ugandan organization, All We Are, where he recently served a one month summer internship. Their mission is simple: to bring clean, affordable energy to rural communities in Uganda. Rotary is one of the organization's key supporters. He also spoke at the Restorative Leadership Academy, sponsored by the nonprofit, Love Does, which fights for human rights, cares for the vulnerable, and provides education in conflict zones since 2002. His experience was incredible. It inspired even greater desire to do more, to find ways to provide more resources and know-how to address the challenges of everyday Ugandans. "There is so much need," Eli said, "So many things are broken." But Eli is an optimistic In concluding his presentation Eli shared his vision for the future: Together WE can fix what is broken.
Please click on the links in this article to learn more about RYLA, All We Are, and Love Does. You can also email Eli directly by clicking on this name in paragraph one. I encourage us all to embrace Eli's vision.