DG Lisa’s Corner October 2026

What Does “Lasting” Really Mean?

We've been talking all year about Creating Lasting Impact. But lately I've been thinking about one particular word in that phrase: Lasting.

It's relatively easy to do something good once. Hold an event. Write a check. Volunteer for a few hours. Serve a meal. Plant a tree. All ofthose things matter. But lasting impact asks something more of us. It asks: What happens after we leave?

October is Rotary's Community Economic Development Month, and that's a particularly good question to ask when we're trying to strengthen communities. Sometimes the greatest impact isn't what we do for someone. It's what we're able to build with them. Maybe it's helping someone gain the financial knowledge to make better decisions. Maybe it's supporting an entrepreneur, helping someone develop a new skill, connecting people with resources, or bringing organizations together around a community need.

We've seen examples of that kind of partnership right here in District 7120, including this month's Remote Area Medical clinic in Mt. Morris. You'll read more about that elsewhere in this Grapevine, so I won't steal that story!

But October gives us another extraordinary example of lasting impact. October 24 is World Polio Day. Rotary began its first polio vaccination project in the Philippines in 1979. More than 45 years later, we're still at it. Together with our partners, we've helped reduce polio cases worldwide by 99.9 percent and protect billions of children.

Think about that…Rotarians who began this work decades ago knew they might never personally see the finish line. Yet they started anyway. Other Rotarians picked up the work. And others after them. That's lasting impact.

It's also a reminder that lasting doesn't necessarily mean fast. This month, clubs throughout District 7120 are finding their own ways to support our effort to end polio. Check the District 7120 calendar for World Polio Day activities happening around the district and join one! And if you're ready to make a longer-term commitment, consider joining the District 7120 PolioPlus Society. Members pledge at least $100 each year until the world is certified polio-free. It's a wonderfully simple way to say, I'm staying with this until the job is done.

Some problems require patience. Some require persistence. Some require generations of people willing to keep showing up because the goal is worth pursuing.

So, this month, I'd like you to think about the work your club is doing and ask: What will still matter after we're gone? Maybe the answer is a healthier community, a stronger local organization, a young person whose possibilities have expanded, or one more child who will never know what polio was.

We don't always get to see where the work we begin will ultimately lead. We just have to be willing to begin it, and sometimes, to keep going. Never give up. Never quit. Never surrender.

That's how we Create Lasting Impact.

Yours in Rotary,

Lisa Norwood, District 7120 Governor