Feeding Those in Need with Joe Solway

Joe Solway is a retired broadcaster and a proud Rotarian. His passion is feeding people in need. That is why Joe is producing the 6th annual Concert to Feed the Need.

Learn Joe's story and how to support the concert on this episode.

Transcript

Rotary Ad: 0:21

Welcome to this episode of Talking Rotary. I'm Peter time and I'm a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg Charleswood. And I am Mandy Kwasnica, past president and also a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg Charleswood. We are so happy you have joined us here and I are so excited for this new podcast and thankful to our many listeners. Let's start talking Rotary.

Peter Tonge: 1:07

Hi, everyone, I'm Peter Tonge. Welcome to another episode of Talking Rotary. I'm here with my friend and colleague Joe Solloway. And Joe Solly is in Bowmanville, Ontario. How are you?

Joe Solway: 1:20

I'm good. Peter, how are you?

Peter Tonge: 1:22

I'm doing really well. Happy Thanksgiving. For our listeners around the world today is Canadian Thanksgiving. We're doing this anyway.

Joe Solway: 1:30

And you as well.

Peter Tonge: 1:32

Thank you so much. Joe, can you sort of orient our listeners to where Bowmanville Ontario is?

Joe Solway: 1:39

Yeah. Bowmanville is about about 50 kilometers from Toronto east of Toronto, maybe a little shorter. Because whenever I get on the highway, it always says 70 And that's the downtown. So it's just east of Toronto, and it's located in what's called the Durham Region. Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area, you'll often see something that says GTA, which means Greater Toronto Area, and that's made up of Toronto, the City of Toronto and some surrounding municipalities. And the Durham Region is just east of Toronto and it takes up the it's it's the municipalities of or the towns I guess of and some in some cases the cities of Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, Bowmanville, Newcastle Oxbridge and Port Perry, those are the sort of the main towns in, in Curtis in the Durham Region. And so Bowmanville is one of the smaller spots in the Durham Region just east of Oshawa.

Peter Tonge: 2:41

And, and that is probably the biggest Canadian population base did you take in Toronto and all those surrounding regions?

Joe Solway: 2:51

Yeah, I think they're I think they're 5 million people in the GTA, although Don't hold me I don't want to be wrong. But yeah, it's huge.

Peter Tonge: 3:00

This is by Canadian standards, that's a lot. that is something we can share with our listeners. No, no, Joe, I knew like me, you're proud Rotarian but before we get into that, I know that you had a career in media because I'm a podcasting guy. I'm really interested in that. Can you share some of that with us, please?

Joe Solway: 3:23

Sure. Yeah. I went to school for a couple of different things, I ended up in the film in film. And from there, I became a film editor worked on a couple of documentaries. One about the the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline, and, and how it impinge on indigenous cultures there. And I, I kind of got the media bug from that. And I got the the documentary in the kind of news and current affairs bug from that. After a couple of forays into publishing and book writing actually wrote a book about the Blue Jays, which never backed up, which which never got published his 1985. And it was titled Blue Jays win a souvenir edition. And they didn't win. So it didn't get published. But I ended up in as a producer at an a now defunct radio network called Sicario. people of a certain vintage will remember that their stations across the country, it was an all news network. And I managed to land a job producing the morning show, because I walked in and they said, I had heard about the job. My father actually was working there a little bit. He was in the media as well. And they said okay, so how would you get the Minister of sections and Minister of, of Foreign Affairs in my interview, and I said, Well, I suppose he has cember You call up? And you say, can we talk to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and somebody hired me. I worked there for about five years, I did some political work. The the I worked there from 85 to 89, get some political work. The unfortunately the in 89, the network went belly up. And I found myself at loose ends, I get some political work, ended up back in Toronto, producing a show called The Andy berry show, which was a top cop show in Toronto, and never caught CFRP. I did that I did some TV. And then I ended up with the CBC in 1998. And I was there I was, I was a producer there, they called me because I was local. They called the classification was actually associate producer, but I was doing everything and a producer guys, it was just at the local level. So I was there from 98 until 2000, at the end of 2017, when I turned 65. And I said, that's enough. That's it. I want to I think I've had enough, even though I was quite capable of, you know, I'm still working. And the great thing about that job is that I was totally immersed in so many things, in politics in social fabric, community, all sorts of stories, I get a lot of a lot of stories about film. And because that was my original love was film. And I was sort of the go to guy for for local film for the Toronto Film Festival. And for documentary festivals. I did all the work on our show about that I was mostly with the with the morning show Metro Morning, which was the flagship show in Toronto is still is. And I would get up at about four in the morning and heading there and start at 630 in the morning. So I had a pretty large Rolodex and electronic that we didn't have paper rolodexes. There you go no, no, no. Well, you know, we did earlier. But then we had an electronic Rolodex. And so when I left when I left the CBC, when I retired at the end of 2017, I, I knew a lot of people. And I kind of knew I kind of had the chutzpah to call people up cold, tell them who I was, and can I talk to you. So that's where I found myself when I joined rotary if you want to. And that was basically how I left the media and started a new career.

Peter Tonge: 7:40

That's pretty amazing. And you also worked with one of my favorite people at the CBC. Tell me a little bit about her.

Joe Solway: 7:47

Who was that? Oh, yeah, Ing Wong Ward. Yeah. Ing was just an incredible and incredible force. And she, you know, she, she had a disability, and it has a long name, I'm really not sure what it was. But, you know, I learned so much from her. And she was just, she was my boss for a little while. She was a wonderful journalist. And she was they call her, she had, I guess, they call her a miracle mom or piano miracle baby. And she said she could never conceive. And she had a baby, and she had a child. And sadly, a few years ago, she succumbed to cancer. But, you know, the thing that she really taught me and this is you can cut this out if you want. But we had a disagreement over something. And should we always reminded each other this over the years, I said, you know, what you've taught me is a person with a disability can be as big of a, or use the word jerk can be as big of a jerk as anybody else. And, and so we like to tell that story, that my language is a little more colorful, but but she, you know, she it was it was wonderful. She was just a great, a great person and a great journalist.

Peter Tonge: 9:12

Absolutely. No, I'm not cutting that out, because that's why I wanted to use part of the reason why I wanted to tell you the story, but most of my listeners know I'm a person with a disability, and hey, like every other human I can be and I'll use your polite language jerky too. And I'm usually not referred to as a jerk, but usually stronger language.

Joe Solway: 9:34

I was a bit stronger that day.

Peter Tonge: 9:42

I think as we all navigate through the world in our own ways, I think that's a really important point that, you know, people with disabilities are this homogeneous group of tasks of whatever where people like everybody else and we can Be as loving, kind, rude mean, nasty and jerkish as anybody else. Yeah. Well, I think that's an important important story. And, and I mean, I'm glad you shared about your, your journalism because that's how you and I first connected whatever, Mary Lou Harrison, whatever we call it recordings I was telling her about the podcast. And she said, I have so many that you have to meet. And it was you so I mean, that's, I love that. So let's that's now sort of take a foray into the rotary stuff in there. There is a in the Durham Region, there's a program known as Feed the Need. Can you tell me about that?

Joe Solway: 10:46

Well, yeah, I'll just back up a little bit and tell you how to feed the needed, please. When I retired in 2017, I had a very close friend here, see, oh, he's still very close friend, who he kept telling me oh, yeah. So when you retire, I want you to, you know, join Rotary, you know, you come to a rotary meeting, you would love it. And I sort of said, Yeah, whatever. You know, the only thing I knew about rotary was that they did this Rib Fest. I didn't really know what they did. But they did a Rib Fest, which was so crowded that my wife and I would run in and get ribs in and bring them home. Because because it was a people there, which is great. And so it was I remember vividly it was it was 2017. It was Remembrance Day of 2017. And my friend Ron and I were at the Remembrance Day downtown. That sounds very small. We were at the Cenotaph and it ended and there's a there's a parade where you go there all the veterans and Legion people. They'll walk from the Cenotaph down to the Legion, which is I don't know about four blocks down Main Street. And so we were walking and we got to the Legion, and there were the mayor, the MPP. And the MP were all there and run it well. He didn't have to introduce me, we went to them. And because I knew all of them from my, from my journalism days, and especially the mayor who I'd been friends with, since he even before he even entered politics, because everybody sort of knows everybody here. And Ron said, yeah, he's going to join Rotary. And I said, Oh, okay, I guess. And so here I am with with these three, you know, leading dignitaries and political politicians in town, and they think, Okay, I'm going to join Rotary. So, you know, I kind of had to, I went to in the new year after I retired and went to a couple of breakfasts. And I really felt at home, I felt this is great. It was a little weird, because they they all stood up and they kind of sang this prayer. before. Before breakfast, there's a breakfast meeting. And we met in a church. And I really, okay, so Okay, here's a singing a prayer, that's nice. And, you know, be toasted the Queen and did a couple of other things. And right away, I said, this is great, because people were standing up, and they were talking about the work that they were doing in the club, which was great, and how they touch people's lives. And I said, this is this is pretty cool. And we went out for breakfast and just started talking to one of my longtime Rotarians and I had an idea. And even before I was a member, he said, Okay, run with it. And it was a film festival for town of old films, which was kind of a passion of mine. You never got off the ground because it was too expensive. But right, you know, I realized right then in there, or it was wonderful to be taken right into the into the fall. And there was an opportunity there for me to really do something and spread my wings. I was asked to write, they were having a furry fest. They were having a children's festival it showed on stage. And I said well, why don't I know somebody who might be a who might be a good MC for that. And so, I got the MC and then I said you want me to produce it? And he said, Sure, go ahead and produce it. So here I was a new Rotarian. And I was producing a stage at our at our Rib Fest which was called Grimson brews. And I did that and then I went to a I became a member of the of the fundraising committee, and I got an idea after a meeting it hit me that maybe we should do a stage to raise money for food. At the CBC, we had something called sounds of the season which raised funds was an all They music of event at the CBC building in Toronto. And they raised literally hundreds and 1000s of dollars for food for it was the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, and some for food banks outside of the city. And I thought, hey, maybe we maybe our rotary club could do something, particularly for Durham, especially for the Durham Region out here. So I approached the I approached our, our fundraising chair. And he said, Sure, I love it. Go ahead. And I approached the people that feed the need and urine. And who was actually I had known her from the CBC. It's a long story. But she said, Yeah, sure, we're interested. And so I started working on this event, little did I know that the way things work is you actually have to go through the club to do it. So here I am putting this concert together, and somebody said, You better tell the board what you want to do. And so I went to the to the rest of the club, and I said, here's what I want to do, the board approved it, thankfully. And there I was. And what I discovered was about Feed the Need was that not only was it you know, a food distribution place, but its reach and its importance in the community in the community wide community of gear and the communities of Durham was immense. And I started learning more about food insecurity in the Durham Region. And I started actually volunteering there at at Feed the Need once a week, helping to sort and to get food ready to be to be sent out to various distribution hubs. And I just saw the number and the names of some of the places across the Durham Region. And I was just blown away. So I had this idea for this concert. And I just started calling people I didn't know anything. I didn't know a thing about music in the Durham Region, frankly, really, seriously, I didn't. But the first thing I knew I needed to have was I needed to have a host. And so I called up the local radio station. And I told them who I was. And I said, Would you like to have somebody host our show? And in they said, they got me somebody? They said, Yeah, so sir Carolyn Alice, who hosts the morning show at a Kx 96, which is country music station. And we'd like to host and so there you go, you have a host from community radio from from a radio station that's big in the community, right. And so what you need is you need some musicians, which I had no idea how to get. And I just saw I started Googling, you know, country music, Durham. And I found some people and I basically just called them up cold. And I started calling people. And at the same time I had a friend who had a band. And I said, Would you do this? He said, Sure. And so there I was, and I've got this one band, and I started calling people. And everyone said, Oh, you must know all these people in the Durham Region. I said, Are you kidding? I don't know anybody. I just started calling people and telling them about the concert. And people started Yeah, yeah, well, we'd love to do it. So that was born. And that was the first one was 2018. And we did it at the Bowmanville High School. We did crazily. We did two shows, which I sort of got tucked into but that's fine. It was great. We did an afternoon show and an evening show. On a Sunday. We did that for two years. And so we started raising money, I started becoming involved in the community a lot more than than I've ever that I had ever been. I started meeting people and it was fabulous. And

Rotary Ad: 18:48

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Peter Tonge: 19:17

Yeah, that's really really neat. Raise your as you're telling me the story about putting it together. I remember Bob Geldof telling a similar story about putting putting why they gathered he used a similar approach to attract people he got like one really big ban to start with like Queen and then call it everybody else. But you have to do it because Queen are doing it.

Joe Solway: 19:48

Yeah, no, no. And you know, it's interesting I'm sure you know this but you know you're a, you know, incoming DG and you're really active in Rotary. If you have passion for some I think that's the best way to get other people involved. They see your passion. And, and they really want to, you know, get be involved in it. And one of the things that I did, as a new Rotarian back in 2018, was that I, I tried to go and do as many district events as I could, and get to know people around the district. Because I, you know, I had something that was going to be I had to sell tickets through the district too. But the more I did that, the more I became inspired as a Rotarian just to meet people and find out what they were doing in other clubs, which, you know, spurred me to work. I guess even harder with what I was doing, just because everyone was doing so many great things around the region. And yeah, so we made for two years, we did the show at the Bowmanville High School. And then our third year, it was the pandemic. And so we did. We did a test, which I guess it comes down to a telethon, was a four hour show on Facebook, which was, which was a challenge to putting that up, they all sent their videos in all the local. And by the way, all the musicians are our local, they're all for nice. Yeah, they're all from the Durham Region. Some of them are, you know, they're not all born here. But this is kind of their base. And then, the fourth year we were at, in we've decided to go to Oshawa, because I brought in the show, what I did, or what we did, I guess we went from having it as a Bowmanville Rotary Club show where we sold tickets across the Durham Region, to a show where we actually involve as many Durham clubs as we could. So last year, I think we had seven or eight clubs involved. Sitting on the committee, donating money with sponsorship money, finding sponsors, and we did it in Oshawa instead because Asha was the hub of, of culture in the Durham Region. Okay, yeah. So we in our in Oshawa, again, we're at a place called the Biltmore theatre, we're having our sixth year. And in the, in the five years that the show has been operating, we kicking in, we've netted about $90,000 for FY they needed her, which is really Yeah, which is really gratifying. And you start to think about it, you know, and we live on sponsorships, and sponsorships have just been fabulous. Rotary members are stepping up as individuals within within companies, people in the community, small businesses, we have a lot of small businesses who step up with, with contributions with sponsorship of up to 50 or 500, or $1,000. And in some cases even more, and it's really gratifying. And now we're at the point where, yes, we have a lot of retirees committee is basically made up of Rotarians. But we also have community members now in the committee, which is great, because this is not hunger is not, you know, limited to are they the, the, the I won't say solution, because there is no solution. But but the response to hunger is not limited to rotary. And while it's a rotary event, we welcome people from across the community who want to help out. The musicians are great. We pay them a small token of to thank them for their time. After the after COVID. They were they hadn't worked. And so we we really didn't want to ask them to come and do something for free, but they may as well, you know that it's it's basically it's lunch money.

Peter Tonge: 23:57

It's a thank you.

Joe Solway: 23:58

Yeah, it's basically a thank you. We haven't unlike some of the other some other shows, where you have like a headliner, and an opening act. We have this year we have 7x. Last year, we had eight, and they'll come on in a couple of songs to three songs. Maybe we'll do an interview in between the sermon from Feed the Need, or, or a politician, although all the local mayor's come, they like to be part of this will grant peepees local MPs, they can like to be part of it. So you know, we give them a little bit of time on stage. I trust that at all, because it's hard for them to sometimes do

Peter Tonge: 24:40

it not to generalize but that's my experience too is sometimes when you give a local official a microphone, it's it's hard to keep it inside of the fence.

Joe Solway: 24:56

Sure.

Peter Tonge: 24:57

As you said, this is the the sixth concert in Support of Feed the Need. So here's your perfect opportunity. Give me the pitch, why should people be coming to this?

Joe Solway: 25:12

Okay! Seven Fabulous acts everything from country to folk to maritime music to bluegrass, to classical, a little bit of rock, we really don't have a lot of time to do rock because you have to set up drums and all that stuff. So it's basically they come on, they plug in, they do a few songs and move on. But we have some of the great musicians in in the Durham Region. We have we open our opening act is the doozies who are well known across the Durham Region. They're fabulous. A trio. And I think this year we're going to be closed Well, we're going to probably going to be closing with a wonderful young singer. We've seen her grow up from age 14. And now she's 18. A woman, a young woman and Calista Wilson, who is just wonderful. She's played with a lot of local events. And she's got she's a real songbird, she's fabulous. And this year, we've we're going to have her her classical music teacher woman named Christina and divino, who is a multi talented everything music teacher opera singer. She's an indigenous singer who is involved in entrepreneurship. She's an incredible community asset here in in Durham, and especially in Oshawa, in neighboring Oshawa. And so those are just three of the acts we're gonna have Country Music's New Moon junction or to moon junction, and keep one called New Moon for some reason. And, and many others, and it's just it's a fabulous show. It's a great afternoon the Biltmore is a wonderful, wonderful venue right in downtown Oshawa.

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Joe Solway: 27:53

We have something horrible happening in the world. For me, it kits it's a little bit close to home. But it's a human tragedy. It's the the the war again in Israel in the Middle East. And there always seems to be something horrible happening in the world. The first year it was when I when I get this there was an attack on a on a synagogue in Pittsburgh. And I had a classmate who died in that. Wow. And I, it struck me then as it strikes me now that I can't stop that I can't stop the war. I can't stop evil, I can't stop that stuff from happening. But what I can do is and I go back to the I love the rotary t shirt that says believe there is good in the world. Because if I can do just a little bit, just a wee tiny little bit to make my little corner of the world or to help other corners of the world. You know, while I'm here while I'm on this earth, if I can do my little bit to make the world a better place. You know, that really is something I can do and that we shouldn't be doing. You know, we're not going to stop. I mean, it's great greater minds than mine, you know, are going to have to do things, solving wars and solving evil. And hopefully things like the Rotary, you know, the Rotary Peace Institute and the rotor and Rotary Peace fellowships can help pave the way for a greater understanding of how to how to avoid things like wars. I'm not sure if we can ever do that, but at least we can try. And so that's in part what motivates me, you know, like if I can help feed people and help food security and help prosperity in the world and I don't know if I'm making much Since

Peter Tonge: 30:00

you may make the absolute sense, and I, and I, and I agree with you, completely, in my world, as you know, I spend a lot of time as a, as a disability advocate. And in many days, it feels like we're going backwards. And I have to say to myself exactly what you just talked about, all I can do is do my work and do my little bit and try to try to make things better, I can't make, I can't make it all better. It's an impossible task. But if I can do my little debt, that's worthy, what you're doing is very worthy. So please remind us that the date and time of the concert to support Feed the Need,

Joe Solway: 30:43

yeah, that's, that's always a good thing. To get the time and place, right. Excuse me, it's called the concert to Feed the Need in Durham. In support of Feed the Need into room that was a pretty easy title concert to feed the need in your room is December 10, which is Sunday, it's 2pm. Doors open at 130 Tickets are $30, you'd think they would be like, you know, 75 or 80. Because it's a big fundraiser, no other $30 which is, which is affordable sponsorships can be had, just by contacting me, that's great. Joe Solloway, Bowmanville, Rotary Club, just google me and you'll find me or tickets are available through if we have a Facebook page concert to feed the need in Durham, you can get them there. Or you can get them just by Googling the Biltmore or theater and follow the bouncing ball to events. And you'll find us alright.

Peter Tonge: 31:39

For people that can't make it to the concert, how else can they support Feed The Need?

Joe Solway: 31:45

Just Google Feed The Need you'll find them, they have a donate page and drop them some money. And they would be very grateful for that. You know, one of the things about about hunger is that it crosses barriers that you wouldn't think it does. You know, when you we think of people who you know, who need to use food banks. The other day I was driving by or I was I strapped in to feed the need. And they have their own food bank. And people were lining up in front of the in front of the warehouse. Because they have a small food bank there. And you wouldn't know I mean, these were just people, you know, they didn't look destitute, they didn't look like they were in, you know, terrible, terrible state of poverty, but the cost of food, and the cost of housing is just out of reach for so many people. And so absolutely. And so this is, you know, this, we're doing this way when the need has never been greater.

Peter Tonge: 32:47

That is absolutely true. It's just, I mean, I see it within my own family. And we're very fortunate that we can we can buy the food that we want, but I understand why so many people can't, because I've seen what my grocery bill has done, you know, and then we're a family of two.

Joe Solway: 33:06

And one of our sponsors. I was talking to him the other day, we were talking about sponsorship, and he said, you know, oil boy, I he said to me, I just had a new grandpa, and I went to get baby food vape. And he said, I couldn't believe how much what the cost of it is. He said, I'd really liked my sponsorship to go towards earmark to purchase baby food that can be distributed and because man, it's expensive. I don't know how they do it. So you know, families are really being hit.

Peter Tonge: 33:40

Absolutely. No joy. I only have one standard question in the podcast. And yeah, and this is a version of it. Um, you were kind of voluntold to join rotary and you could be giving your time and your money and your energy. Why Rotary?

Joe Solway: 33:58

Oh, wow. You know, I think a lot about this because I the more the more I get involved in Rotary, the more the more I want to do you know, 1.4 million people, and each one is, is contributing and doing something good in the world. And so it's, for me, it's, it's an opportunity to both do something as an individual to make my difference in the world. And I'm part of a part of an organization that has 1.4 million people worldwide, and part of a club that has 50 people in it, that can do a lot more than you know than I can as one person. And, and also it's great to be part of the rotary family. It really is without Rotary. I wouldn't have met you, Peter. You know, I wouldn't have met some of the great people like you know, I want to give a shout out to Mary Lou Harrison. We both know and who's a mutual friend, and who has given Give me the opportunity to be part of the public image team for for our zone, which is fabulous. And she actually was she was there our DG when I was doing the concert, and believe me, there were some times where I didn't think it was going to happen. And I would turn to her. And I would say, Mary Lou, I can't do that, since she said, Yes, you can. And, you know, she was so inspirational, and she's become a close friend. So it's people like that it's relationships that you form, it's going to, to rotary events, even small ones with your club, which is wonderful. They're like a family, we support each other, or larger ones, like the zone conference that we were just at burning to lead, in which I met so many incredible people, and you met them too. And unfortunately, I was there for you meeting, you know, a couple of people that I had just met, who were fabulous. Anyway, it's, it's, it's a great organization. And, and I will, I'm, you know, I'm there.

Peter Tonge: 36:03

Yeah. You will meet you, brother, I feel very, very much the same way. I'm talking about you being there. Thank you so much for capturing that great photo when I met. Surely, Pat Gales, because that has gone all over my social media. And I think the number of friends that I have on Facebook and Rotary has doubled in the last two weeks.

Joe Solway: 36:29

She was she's an extraordinary woman. And that was an extraordinary moment. I mean, I forgot who I was talking to, it was I was talking to one of you and the other one came up, and I said, You gotta meet this person. And, and putting you two of you together, which is magic. I mean, seeing the energy from both of you, you know, each are incredible. You know, and boom, it was like, something went off. I was pleased to be there.

Peter Tonge: 36:57

I will share that photo and story on the tacky, Rotary, social media, too, because it hasn't been on that stream yet. But I will certainly put it there. The last thing I'll do to close out is to let our listeners know that Joe, you've been kind enough, you're going to take over the podcast in January while I'm doing my district governor duties. I really appreciate that so much because I love this podcast, and I want to see it merge forward. And I know it didn't really good heads. So I appreciate that very much. So John, thank you for this. It was a great conversation. I always have fun talking to you. And I will I'm sure we will talk or text or WhatsApp or something.

Joe Solway: 37:44

Thank Thank you, Peter. And you know, like, I just did this interview I just did. You know, it's one of these things where I'm sure you prepared a whole bunch of questions. And I just started a talk. And so you figured okay, I don't have to ask any questions, but there we go. All right. Well, it's wonderful to talk to you,

Peter Tonge: 38:04

Joe. I will tell you my producer secret is a professional producer. This will drive you crazy. I don't prepare any questions because I want to have a conversation so it's perfect for me so much, my friends.

Joe Solway: 38:21

That's great. Okay, my friend, we'll see you soon.

Mandy Kwasnica: 38:49

Thank you so much for joining us on another great episode of talking Rotary. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your comments and story ideas and you can share with us easily by sending us an email at feedback at talking rotary.org Let's keep talking Rotary.