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11/30/2022 03:38 PMService Above Self may be the Rotary Club's motto, but for two-time Madison Rotary Club President Dave Moore, it's something he lives every day.
Dave, a retired Air Force pilot, spent more than three decades flying numerous airframes and completing his service to his country, but his service didn't end when he retired. After 31 years in the air, Dave quickly found another way to serve as a member of the Rotary Club.
"I retired from the Air Force in 2004, kicking and screaming,” says Dave with a laugh. “I was only 56 years old, which is too young to retire from the workforce, so they hired me as a contractor. I worked as an aviation safety advisor — specifically, the Air National Guard. I got to fly the biggest planes they have, and it was an incredible experience. I would do it all over again.”
Dave served his first term as president of the Madison Rotary Club from 2009-'10. In July, he was inducted again for another term this July. The Rotary Club, an international organization founded in 1905, is focused on addressing community needs both locally and globally. The Madison Rotary Club was formed in 1926. To date, it has raised millions of dollars and helped save an untold number of lives by improving communities and adhering to its mission of Service Above Self.
According to Dave, those few words are extremely important to him as a Madison resident and as a Rotarian.
“Right around the time I retired in 2004, they inducted me into the Madison Rotary Club,” Dave says. “My wife Dale had been in the Club and had introduced me, and I soon found that it is such a great way to give back to the community. I was attracted to the organization because they don’t just raise funds, they act. We are not religious or political, so we are areligious and apolitical. We leave our politics and religion at the door, we embody Service above Self. That’s what matters. We raise money, but we don’t consider that our own money. We raise it because we are going to judiciously give it away.”
Dave says that what resonates with him about the work of Rotary International is the concept of service and action. The Rotary’s mission is something that truly encapsulates for Dave what it means to be part of a community and to serve, he says.
“Everything here goes through a sort of filter. They call it the four-way test,” says Dave. “In the Rotary, we ask these four questions before we even consider the worthiness of a proposed project: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships to all concerned? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Otherwise, if it doesn’t pass the test, it doesn’t pass the test.”
The organization's international efforts work closely with non-government organizations (NGOs) like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They have assisted in efforts to eradicate polio and other waterborne diseases by diligently funding and working on projects that create clean water.
“The number one goal of Rotary International throughout the world is to eradicate polio. For that, we get tremendous support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And the good news is that we have the medication for it, and it works,” Dave says. “Any country that has poor sanitation is vulnerable to it because the wild poliovirus depends on poor sanitation to survive and sadly there’s no shortage of poor sanitation around the world.”
The recent reemergence of polio in the United States after decades of efforts to curb the disease worldwide and confined it to two countries, has been frustrating for Rotary members, says Dave. However, it also frames how persistent efforts to prevent this disease need to be to reach the goal of permanent eradication.
“We are not over until it’s over. It’s disheartening, really disheartening, to see the cases here. What it shows is that we can’t relax until we get every single person vaccinated. Everybody has to get vaccinated,” says Dave. “It is such a horrible disease. It really is. It is a paralytic disease, and it just doesn’t have to happen. We can beat it.”
Dave traveled to India in 2005 and helped the city of Chandigarh improve sanitation for eight schools in the district. Whether local or international, these missions are what drives him and most Rotarians, says Dave.
“My wife and I were invited over on a Friendship Exchange there,” Dave says. “It was a truly unique experience to work with the leaders there. They wanted advice on sanitation and how to provide clean water for area schools. I lobbied with our Rotary district to help raise the funds, and it actually came to fruition, and they can harvest rainwater so that the students can simply have clean water. A lot of our international projects have to do with water, clean water. Because that is in short supply.”
The international projects are incredible feats of cooperation and understanding, but the local projects are special to every Rotarian, says Dave. Madison’s projects include the Dictionary Program that provides dictionaries to every Madison third grader, scholarships for Madison students, support for the Madison Food Bank, funding the handicap ramp at the American Legion, support for the Madison Lyric Stage, and the Club partnered on the Liberty Bank Rotary Club Thanksgiving Food Drive, which raised more than $100,000 this year.
“One of the projects we have going on now is one called Warm the Children. We work closely with all the local Clubs — the Guilford Rotary, the Clinton Rotary — and we are working very hard to ensure that no child on the shoreline is cold this winter. We provide any clothing item: shoes, socks, coats, that help keep kids warm. Even in an idyllic shoreline town like Madison or Guilford or Clinton. You take a look around here and seems like an upscale area, but there are so many people, good people, along the shoreline that need our muscle any place we can provide it. Being able to give that gift back is what we do at the Rotary.”
Dave says the Club is always seeking new members of any age, background, or skill. Part of that includes rejuvenating the Interact Club at Hand High School, which slowly dissolved during the pandemic.
“Many members consider joining to be a life-changing experience,” Dave says. “We would really like to get the Interact club going again. But anyone interested should come to a meeting and see what we’re all about. We have some incredible speakers and are always looking for new members to help us fulfill our mission.”
Anyone interested in being part of the Rotary International experience can join the Club every Thursday at 8 a.m. at the Senior Center (check their events link on the town site to ensure the schedule.)
For more information about the Madison Rotary Club, visit madisonrotaryct.com