Greetings and Gomarjoba!

Yesterday, we said goodbye to our Open World delegates, and as I write this, they are all safely back in Tbilisi. My house seems quiet, and the dogs wonder where those fun girls went!

The project has ended but will continue reverberating in our hearts and minds. These bright, dedicated young professionals have returned home with fresh inspiration and more appreciation for what they are accomplishing.

I expect them to start a new Rotary club in Tbilisi and stay in touch with Valley View Rotary of La Crosse.

As a club, we owe a profound debt of thanks to Shari Laffredi and her team: Brad Teske, Sandy Heck, Robert Smith, and Paul Patros. After all the weeks of preplanning, they still had to pivot and roll with the punches when there were last-minute changes.

The week of meetings and presentations was terrific, and the delegates were engaged and appreciative throughout. Tan Pham and Tom Byerly drove the van and handled transportation. Tan, Greg Clark and I offered our homes as host families and participated in some of the week’s programs. I think we all found it thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding.

This is not a complete list of every club member who helped with the project in some fashion; that list is probably much longer.

I want you to appreciate that Valley View did a top-notch job on this project. Every group that interacted with the delegates, from WTC students to judges in the courthouse to every nonprofit organization they visited, was impressed by the delegates and us for putting this together.

I am, as always, so proud of my Rotary Club!

We will return to a regular meeting schedule this week, and our presenter will be the Lockmaster for Lock and Dam #7 in La Crescent/Dakota, MN. As one who finds it fascinating to watch boats go through the lock, I can’t wait.