Michael Pritchard Opens Our Year with humor and motivation.

The first meeting of our new year saw 46 members and guests arriving to hear nationally acclaimed keynote speaker and youth motivator (and Rotarian of long standing) Michael Pritchard.

Michael taught us the value of optimism, love, and helping others by using funny voices (especially kids' voices), quoting Martin Luther King, Thoreau, his son, his grandkid, Frank Capra ("It's a Wonderful Life") Gandhi, Dickens (Scrooge) and his own imagination. He talked about bullying, toxic sarcasm and cynicism. He compared the negative feelings and attitudes engendered by those attitudes with the feeling of self-worth, human value, happiness, and contentment that comes from helping others.

Rotary and Rotarians seem to be a really GOOD audience since he spent time validating the work we do, the causes we support, and the love we show to each other and to others. Plus, he knew and mentioned that Charity Navigator gave our Rotary Foundation 100 points (the highest possible number) and 9th straight 4 Star rating (highest possible as well).

We presented our donation to the Foundation in his name, and left feeling ready to conquer the world with love!