08/21/2026
We were honored to hear from Kim Spirou, District Governor, a longtime Rotarian, community leader, and founder of Spirou and Associates. With 35 years of Rotary service, Kim has served in numerous district and club leadership roles, led more than a dozen humanitarian missions to Ghana, helped build health clinics and drill more than 100 water wells, and raised $1.4 million to improve lives and create lasting impact. She is also a recipient of Rotary’s Service Above Self Award.
Kim’s message centered on a simple idea: Difference makers aren’t superheroes. They are ordinary people who choose not to walk away.
She asked us to think about the person who invited us to our first Rotary meeting. That one invitation, and our decision to say yes, can change the course of a life.
Kim shared how she learned this lesson as a child, when her family sponsored a Vietnamese refugee family of nine. They helped them find housing and jobs, supported their education, and welcomed them into their family. She also shared the story of her sister Lorrie, a kindergarten teacher who gave her students crocheted starfish each year as a reminder that they had the power to make a difference.
Perhaps the most powerful story came from Kim's work in Ghana. In 2016, she encountered a severely ill infant whose mother had died in childbirth. His grandmother was caring for him, but contaminated water had left the baby with a serious infection. When Kim was told that they couldn't save everyone, she refused to walk away. She took the grandmother and baby to a hospital, where he received the treatment he needed. The baby, Kwame, survived.
Kim reminded us that the question was never whether we could save everyone. The question was whether we could save this one.
Her message was a powerful reminder that we don't have to be rich, famous, or powerful to make a difference. We simply have to care enough to help the person standing right in front of us. Like the starfish, it matters to that one.
To learn more about the Starfish Story look up the author Loren Eiseley.
