🌿 Hunger2Hope: Feeding Hope One Family at a Time

Before we celebrate, let’s serve! Join fellow Rotarians and friends for a hands‑on service project supporting Nourish Up’s Thanksgiving food distribution. Together, we’ll pack 7‑Day food boxes to help families turn hunger into hope.

🕓 Saturday, November 7, 2026, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM (prior to the District 7680 Foundation Celebration)

📍 Nourish Up Hunger Hub 901 Carrier Drive, Charlotte NC 28216

👥 Volunteer Opportunities

• Help pack food boxes
• Capacity limited to 80 volunteers — secure your spot early!

👟 What to Wear: Casual attire; closed‑toe shoes required for packing.

🔄 Change Available: Lockers provided for a quick outfit change.

📝 Registration: This registration is just for the Service Project. Click here to sign up!

You will need to register separately for the Foundation Celebration Dinner. We will publish that registration soon.

🎁 Incentive: All Service Project participants will be invited to the Cocktail Reception at the Foundation Celebration event.

💙 Serve Today. Change Lives. Spread Hope. Let’s pack hope — together.

CART Annual Meeting and $4.55 Million in Grants Awarded!

Submitted by Kevin Kendrick, CART President-Elect

The Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust (CART) Fund, held its annual meeting again on Friday, July 31st at the Charlotte Airport Hilton Hotel. We had 114 registered guests for the event, exceeding the 70 we had last year.

DG Jerry Coughter welcomed those in attendance who came from Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and other venues, including North Carolina. We had good representation from District 7680 including DGE Sharon Heinrich and DGN Cindy Fink.

We learned that CART now has a presence in 31 states, an all-time high for us. Our goal over the next two years is be in all 50 states. We are going to emphasize the three areas where our researchers are making progress: prevention, detection and cure. CART will also remain committed to Roger Ackerman’s vision of ensuring every dollar donated goes to fund this critical research.

On a District level, it was wonderful to see the Salisbury Club recognized as the top-giving club of all clubs contributing to CART and District 7680 recognized as the top district of all contributing to CART. This recognition was true for years 24-25 and 25-26.

Our very own Chris Jones and Luther Moore were recognized with CART Presidential Gold Medallions in honor of their ongoing support of CART over the years!

At this year’s meeting, the CART Fund was thrilled to make a record $4.55 million in grants to ten different researchers. They included the following:

• Kapil Ramachandran (Roger Ackerman Memorial Grant): Mechanisms connecting dendritic Tau synthesis to formation of Tau PHFs (Columbia University) $500,000
• Peter Sicinski (Dr. John Trojanowski Memorial Grant): The molecular function of cyclin D3-CDK6 in Alzheimer’s disease pathology (Harvard University) $500,000
• Hongxu Xian: Ox-mtDNA Activates T Cells and Disrupts Microglia in Alzheimer’s Disease (Versiti Blood Research Institute) $500,000
• Vivek Unni: The role of nucleolar tau and alpha-synuclein in Alzheimer’s diseaserelated neurodegeneration (Oregon) $500,000
• Laurent Calvier: Identify rare human SNPs conferring resilience to cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (Univ of Texas Southwestern) $500,000
• Fulin Ma: Acute APP Elevation Drives Oligodendrocyte Degeneration and Demyelination – an Alternative Model of Alzheimer’s (Pittsburgh)  $500,000
• Nadav Ahituv: Characterizing the function of DNA double stranded breaks in Alzheimer disease (UC San Francisco) $500,000
• Barbara Slusher: Discovery of Small-Molecule APOE4 Therapeutics Using Ultra-Large DNA-Encoded Libraries for Alzheimer’s Treatment and Prevention (Johns Hopkins University) $250,000
• Joshua Kritzer: Blocking propagation of misfolded tau with brain-penetrant stapled peptides (Tufts University) $500,000
• Chih Hung Lo: Defining lysosomal heterogeneity as a foundation for lysosome replacement therapy in Alzheimer’s disease (Syracuse University) $300,000

Another Great Year for RYLA

Submitted by Scott Van Der Linden and Debbie Corbett

(Our summer youth leadership program is now known as RYLA, an acronym for Rotary Youth Leadership Adventures. This was changed to mirror the Rotary-branded program after our relationship with the Center for Creative Leadership ceased.)

RYLA, a district project? Nay, your district project. A few stats:

• Scholarships provided by 27 District 7680 Rotary Clubs.
• Students were sponsored by 30 clubs, representing 54 high schools in 10 of our 14 counties.
• Volunteers from 18 clubs. 

In all, we enjoyed direct participation from 37 clubs. And that’s just this year!

Additionally, we use funds from the district, meaning that every Rotarian contributes to RYLA through their dues. That’s 100% participation!

The Rotary Club of Shelby-Breakfast helps prepare everything for Registration the eve before…a very big job that made early Thursday morning go smoother than ever before.

The Rotary club of Shelby helps with Checking-in at 7:30am on Thursday morning and Checking-out at 6:30am on Sunday morning. And they provided emergency water bottles and a golf cart (thank-you PDG Allen Langley).

The Rotary Club of Boiling Springs brings pizza and sodas for the Saturday night celebration of all the students have accomplished. Plus, Rotarians enjoyed a couple hours of karaoke and dancing provided by the Students.

Many of us keep coming back every year because we see the “magic” that happens. This program creates a safe space for Students to learn, experience and grow. Strangers on Thursday morning are best friends on Sunday afternoon.

Students are placed into Mentor Groups to explore topics with peers from different backgrounds. Each group includes a cross section of women and men; Students from urban and rural areas, private and public high schools, and different counties across our district; and a few Interactors and Students with Rotary connections.

The curriculum has been developed over decades, mixing classroom sessions with activities to reinforce each topic. And each topic is specifically designed to grow from the previous topic. We explore such issues as growth mindsets, communication skills, personalities, leadership essentials, goal setting, conflict management, ethics, values, and teamwork. Our revised curriculum now includes the Rotary Four-Way Test and other Rotary topics. Students are also introduced to Interact, Rotary Youth Exchange, and Rotaract.

There are other leadership programs for high school students, but I doubt many see the level of growth, maturity, relationships, confidence-building, and communication skills that our program produces. Each year we see so many students have “aha” moments. The quiet ones become emboldened. The loud ones learn to listen. They all experience success only happens when everyone succeeds.

If your club sponsored a student, be sure to have them be your special guest at a weekly meeting. The Rotary Club of Gastonia had their students and parents attend their club meeting only three days after RYLA finished. Students know they will be asked to say a few words and club members are encouraged to ask questions. Here are some takeaways for clubs:

1. Plan on a RYLA program for one of your club meetings…presented by one or two of our on-site Volunteers.
2. Look for a video of this year to play at your club meeting.
3. From all the Volunteers and Students…thank-you for your continued support of our district’s youth.

WASH Newsletter
Programs of Scale Grant!

Congratulations to Everyone for an Outstanding Year
By Wade Nomura on Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Congratulations to everyone on an outstanding Rotary year! Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our members, this has been one of the busiest and most productive years in WASH-RAG’s history. Together, we have helped improve the lives of countless people around the world through sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene initiatives.

A highlight of the year was the award of Rotary’s first-ever WASH Programs of Scale Grant. Congratulations to the Haiti HANWASH team for this remarkable achievement and for your continued commitment to bringing lasting change to the people of Haiti. It has been an honor to serve as your Project Support Advisor.

This will be my final article as Chair of the WASH-RAG Operations Team. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our incredible Operations Team for consistently going above and beyond in supporting Rotary clubs, communities, and fellow Rotarians. Serving as Chair has been a privilege, and I look forward to continuing my involvement in WASH projects as a Cadre leader.

My passion for WASH began in 2006 with my first project in Mexico, and that passion remains as strong as ever. I will continue supporting projects that bring clean water to communities in need, while also contributing to this newsletter and serving as an advisor on Global Grants.

As I close this chapter, I leave you with one piece of advice: give as many people as possible the opportunity to experience their own Rotary moment. There is no greater gift we can offer through Rotary.

WASH Newsletter

WASH Summit Update Featuring our own Ann Evans

World Water Summit 2026 Report 
By Michael Fernando on Tuesday, July 21, 2026

WASH-RAG Summit 2025 – Taipei, Taiwan

The 2025 WASH-RAG Summit was held in Taipei, Taiwan, on the morning of 13 June, immediately before the Rotary International Convention. This year’s theme, “Water and Vulnerable Environments,” brought together Rotary leaders, WASH professionals, and humanitarian experts from around the world to explore innovative solutions to some of the most pressing global water and sanitation challenges.

The Summit’s Guest of Honor was Past Rotary International President Gary Huang, representing the host country of Taiwan.

The program featured an outstanding lineup of speakers. Iryna Odontsova, from the Rotary Club of Dnipro Novyii, Ukraine, shared the inspiring story of providing safe water in schools during wartime, while District Governor Olha Paliychuk provided a broader perspective on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

Attendees also learned about the growing global threat of arsenic contamination in groundwater from Dr. Yum Keung Ip of the Rotary Club of Birkenhead, New Zealand. Steve Bender introduced The Million Drop Challenge, and Past Rotary International Director Faiz Kidwai provided an update on the SMART Villages Project in Pakistan.

Additional presentations included Kaloy Manlupig, Volunteer CEO of Safe Water for Every Child, who discussed delivering safe water in the world’s most vulnerable communities, and Brian Ashworth of Disaster Aid Australia, who explored how safe water supports Rotary’s Seven Areas of Focus. Steve Werner also provided an update on the WASH-RAG Ambassador Program.

The Summit concluded with a Rotary Action Group panel discussion featuring Ann Marie Kimball (Rotary COVID Task Force), Angela Benson (Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health), G. Ann Evans (Blindness Prevention Rotary Action Group), Deb McCaslin (Rotary Action Group for Girls’ Empowerment), and Aziz Memon (Chair, Pakistan PolioPlus Committee and Past Rotary Foundation Trustee).

Recordings of the Summit presentations will be available on the WASH-RAG website in the near future.

The Rotary Club of Inner Peace welcomes New Leadership!

Distinguished Rotarian Award Recipient Brings a Vision of Belonging to Rotary

Submitted by Quanta Dawn Light, past President

(The Rotary Club of Inner Peace is an Impact Club of the Charlotte International Club in District 7680.)

When members of the Rotary Club of Inner Peace elected Willie Stewart as Club President, they chose someone whose philosophy of service was shaped long before he ever became a Rotarian.

Stewart is a disabled United States Marine Corps veteran living with Multiple Sclerosis whose journey has included military service, healthcare leadership, nonprofit work, international humanitarian partnerships, and a lifelong passion for bringing people together around a shared purpose.

Recently, Stewart was honored with Rotary’s Distinguished Rotarian Award, recognizing his commitment to Rotary’s ideals and his growing impact through service.

As he begins his presidential year, Stewart is introducing a leadership philosophy he calls The Global Living Room.

“The Global Living Room is built on a simple belief,” Stewart says. “People don’t stay because they attended a meeting. They stay because they found a place where they belong.”

Rather than focusing first on business, the Rotary Club of Inner Peace intentionally focuses on building authentic relationships among members from different communities, professions, cultures, and countries. Meeting virtually has allowed the club to welcome people from diverse backgrounds while creating meaningful conversations that naturally lead to service.

That approach has already begun attracting healthcare professionals, educators, veterans, nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, media professionals, and community servants who share a desire to make a difference both locally and globally.

The club is currently supporting projects ranging from agricultural electrification in Türkiye to expanding humanitarian relationships throughout Africa, while continuing to seek opportunities to connect people who have a heart for service.

Stewart believes Rotary’s greatest strength has never simply been its projects—it has always been its people.

“The projects matter,” he says, “but relationships are what make the projects possible.”

Ironically, the inspiration for the Global Living Room came from reconnecting with a childhood friend after nearly forty years. Because of childhood trauma, Stewart has lost many memories from his early life. During their reunion, his friend reminded him of something he had completely forgotten.

As teenagers, friends regularly gathered in Stewart’s family’s living room. Stewart thought they came simply to play Dungeons & Dragons. His friend explained that they kept coming because they had found something much more valuable—a place where they were accepted, encouraged, challenged, and where they truly belonged.

One sentence from that conversation profoundly impacted Stewart:

“I’m glad you accepted me then and now.”

That moment helped him realize they had unknowingly created a living room where people from different backgrounds could learn together, grow together, and help one another become better.

Forty years later, Stewart says he is simply building a bigger living room.

The vision also aligns closely with Rotary’s current leadership emphasis on continuity, collaboration, creativity, and finding new ways to tell Rotary’s story while expanding its reach and impact.

“As I begin this year as President, my goal isn’t to reinvent Rotary,” Stewart says. “It’s to help people rediscover what has always made Rotary special—friendship, belonging, and service. The Global Living Room is not a departure from Rotary’s values; it’s an invitation to experience them more personally. I believe that when people genuinely connect with one another, service becomes a natural outcome rather than an obligation.”

For Stewart, that is the future he hopes to help build—one conversation, one relationship, and one act of service at a time.

Queen City Impact Recognizes Maternal and Child Health Care Month!

Submitted by Kevin Kendrick, Dilworth Rotary

Our Charlotte Dilworth Rotary Club is fortunate to have a wonderful partner in the Charlotte Queen City Impact club. In recognition of July being “Maternal and Child Health” month for Rotary, the group decided that supporting the Diaper Bank of North Carolina was a good fit! Jerry Garcia at the DBNC made it happen, even though he had FIFTY other volunteers there today packing diapers!

Our group of 11 Rotarians and friends focused on period products as the larger group worked on diapers. Representing Rotary were District Governor Jerry Coughter of the Rotary Club of Charlotte, Chris and Rina Luther Arline of the Charlotte International Rotary Club, Dawn Peterson and Holly Or of the Queen City Impact Club and Amarja Webb, Doyle George and Kevin Kendrick from the Dilworth Club. Several friends and family members of Holly joined us to complete our lineup!

All together, we packed almost 7,000 period products today, representing enough to supply 228 women in products for 30 days!!

THE ROTARY CLUB OF GASTONIA …  

Fighting Food Insecurity, One Family at a Time

The Rotary Club of Gastonia continues to demonstrate the strength of community partnerships in addressing food insecurity among families at H.H. Beam Elementary School.

Through funding provided by the Community Foundation, more than 200 families received essential groceries during a recent food distribution event. The food, supplied by Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, included nutritious items designed to help stretch household budgets and support family well-being.

Rotary Club members partnered with H.H. Beam Elementary to bring the event to life. Volunteers dedicated several hours to organizing and bagging food, welcoming families, and distributing groceries with warmth, compassion, and a shared commitment to service.

The impact of the initiative extended beyond the day of distribution. Remaining nonperishable items were donated to the school’s food pantry, helping ensure that students and their families have continued access to food throughout the school year.

This effort reflects Rotary’s ongoing commitment to creating lasting impact by uniting community organizations, volunteers, and resources to address one of the area’s most pressing challenges. By working alongside H.H. Beam Elementary School, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, and the Community Foundation, the Rotary Club of Gastonia continues to make a meaningful difference in the lives of local families.