Guest speaker Alice Kissinger, current District Governor, Rotary International District 7370, talked about this year's national theme while visiting the Tamaqua Rotary Club during a recent Rotary meeting held at the Tamaqua Salvation Army.

Earlier in the year, Rotary International President Kalyan Banerjee asked Rotarians to "Reach Within to Embrace Humanity" as he unveiled this year's Rotary International theme during the opening plenary session of the 2011 International Assembly. Banerjee urged participants to harness their inner resolve and strength to achieve success in Rotary."In order to achieve anything in this world, a person has to use all the resources he can draw on. And the only place to start is with ourselves and within ourselves," Banerjee said. "Once Rotarians find their inner strength, he continued, they can accomplish great things in their communities and around the world."Kissinger emphasized during her speech that family is the starting point in serving others, pointing out other ideas revolving around this year's theme. She also addressed the Rotarians on how Rotary has changed her life.Mrs. Kissinger has been a Rotary member since 1970 and is also a member of the prestigious Paul Harris Society.A comment from Banerjee's speech stated, "The communities we live in are not built of individual people but of families - families living in homes together, sharing their lives and their resources and their common destinies. Good families lead to good neighborhoods, and good neighborhoods build good communities."Kissinger also talked about youth programs, such as Youth Exchange, Rotoract, Interact and Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, adding in a newsletter, "Today's young people have so much to offer, given the opportunity to serve. Cooperating and working together gives them a sense of purpose and us an opportunity to see what's important to them." She continued, "Listening and seeing your projects drives home the reality that good ideas come from caring people who are interested in seeing the world just a bit better than it was last week. Some ventures take many days of preparation while other plans come together in a matter of hours. Rotarians are people determined in getting missions accomplished and then moving forward."