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October is Community Economic Development Month, a time when Rotary places particular emphasis on strengthening local economies and creating pathways out of poverty. It is also the month in which we observe World Polio Day on 24 October, renewing our commitment to one of the most ambitious humanitarian undertakings in Rotary’s history.
Both remind us that lasting impact is created when we go beyond addressing an immediate need and work to change what comes next.
Growing Local Economies
Economic development is about much more than income. It is about dignity, independence and opportunity.
Around the world, Rotary members are helping entrepreneurs develop viable businesses, providing vocational and financial management training, supporting sustainable agriculture, expanding access to employment and creating opportunities for women and young people to participate more fully in their local economies.
Within District 7030, we have an extraordinary opportunity to use the professional knowledge, networks and experience that already exist within our clubs to strengthen the communities we serve.
I encourage every club to consider a simple question this month:
How can our service help someone build a more sustainable future rather than simply meet an immediate need?
Perhaps it is mentoring an emerging entrepreneur. Perhaps it is supporting skills development, financial literacy, agriculture or small-business training. Perhaps it means partnering with organizations that already understand the economic challenges within a community and finding ways for Rotary to add meaningful, sustainable value.
Our greatest contribution is not always what we give to a community. Sometimes it is what we help a community develop for itself.
A Promise We Must Keep: Ending Polio On October 24, we mark World Polio Day. For me, polio has a face: that of Alioune N'Diaye.
I met him in 1976, on my first day of fourth grade. I sat down next to him, and we were inseparable for nine years, until we left for university in 1985, in different countries. We have
seen each other since, of course. But gone were the talks in the schoolyard at every recess, gone the waiting outside the dining hall so we could have lunch together.
Alioune, my friend, my brother, had had polio. One leg twenty centimeters shorter than the other, one ordinary shoe and one built-up shoe. We grew up together: same studies, same successes, same failures. But when we ran, he caught up with us long afterwards. He was on the bench at the edge of the field cheering me on, sitting beside the tatami watching me fight, on the seats along the wall while I danced. At the beach, he never put on a swimsuit.
I was becoming an athlete; he was becoming a great musician. His chest and arms grew stronger, but his legs stayed frail. And it hurt me to see him that way: his eyes dry with dignity, his heart aching at not being able to run by my side.
I never want to see those images again. In 1985, the very year our paths parted, Rotary launched PolioPlus. Since then, cases have fallen by more than 99% worldwide. We have never been so close to the goal, but as long as a single child remains at risk, our mission is not over.
For Rotary, the effort to eradicate polio is much more than another service project. It represents a promise made to the children of the world — a promise that we will continue until no child, anywhere, has to suffer from this preventable disease.
This October, I ask every Rotary and Rotaract club in District 7030 to help keep the promise alive. Raise awareness. Share the story of Rotary’s role in the fight against polio. Support PolioPlus. Engage your communities. Use World Polio Day to help another generation understand why this work still matters.
Let us keep going. For Alioune, and for the millions of children who would have wanted us by their side.
And as we strengthen local economies, let us apply that same determination to creating opportunities that endure long after our individual projects have ended.
Whether we are helping a person build a livelihood or helping the world eliminate a devastating disease, the principle is the same: Rotary sees what is possible and then brings people together to make it happen.
This is how we DARE. INNOVATE. SERVE. This is how we Create Lasting Impact.
And across our diverse District, let us always remember:
UNITED, WE ARE STRONGER.
Yours in Rotary service,
Maurice Saad
District Governor 2026–2027 Rotary International District 7030