RI President DK Lee urges to continue to "Make Dreams Real" in the new Rotary Year

When I returned home, I began to read more about the issue of child mortality. It became clear to me that this was an area in which Rotarians could make a major impact. This is why, when I became president of Rotary International, I chose Make Dreams Real as the RI theme and asked Rotarians to work through our emphases of water, health and hunger, and literacy to reduce child mortality in our world.

As I end my year as RI president, I am inexpressibly proud of the work I have seen Rotarians do. When I first learned about the problem of child mortality, 30,000 children were estimated to die of preventable causes every day. Now, UNICEF reports that figure at about 25,000 – still far too large a number, but a significant decrease. There is no question in my mind that Rotary’s service has played a role in this change – and that we must continue our work until not one child dies of hunger and poverty. And so I ask you all to continue to Make Dreams Real in the new Rotary year. The Future of Rotary Is in Your Hands – and the future of the world’s children is as well.

See the full speech here in the RI Website