It’s my pleasure to welcome you to the Rotary Club of Albuquerque and my honor to serve as your 2025-2026 President. I’m excited to bring this year’s theme, Unite for Good, to life. I’m a person who tries to look for the good in every situation and to find ways to practice gratitude every day; I lead an organization dedicated to improving educational and economic outcomes for children and families. Coming together to increase the amount of goodness in the world resonates deeply with me.
My mom was three years old when she contracted polio after attending the Arkalalah Fall Festival and Parade in Arkansas City, Kansas. At least that’s where my grandmother came to believe her little girl got sick, after picking up a piece of candy from the ground and putting it in her mouth. It’s just one of the many crystal-clear stories my mom carries in her mind from that time in her life—1949, a handful of years before the Salk vaccine became available. Hearing these stories and growing up with a mother who deals every day with the effects of post-polio syndrome has given me a deep appreciation for the Rotary clubs’ PolioPlus work, which has helped vaccinate over 2.5 billion children worldwide. It’s just one way Rotary increases the amount of goodness in the world.
Another is through our service and our charity. In fact, I first became involved in the Rotary Club of Albuquerque when Explora was chosen as the beneficiary of the club’s centennial fundraising project. We united to build a new exhibition at Explora, which has since provided family learning opportunities for hundreds of thousands of families who have constructed tall towers or raced balls down ramps in the Rotary Pavilion. From volunteering at the Duck Pluck when I first moved to Albuquerque to working the most recent Seed Festival at the ABQ BioPark, I know I am among other people who also care about adding goodness to the world.
This year we have some serious business to accomplish, like drafting a new strategic plan, digitizing old photos and files, and modernizing some systems, but we also will Unite for Good as we bring our various committees to life, write grants for service projects, hold fundraisers for local nonprofits, and give fellow members encouragement during hard times. I look forward to working with you this year; thank you for your commitment to Rotary.
Kristin Leigh,
RCA President, 2025-2026
Ready?
Just give us 1 lunch hour & we know you'll be convinced
RSVP for next Monday - email Office@RotaryABQ.org
The Rotary Club of Albuquerque
meets at the Sheraton Uptown Hotel
On August 1, 2022, the Rotary Club of Albuquerque started holding its weekly Monday lunch program at the Sheraton Uptown Hotel!
On our first anniversary at this amazing venue, RCA hung its own "RCA meets here" plaque.
Service Above Self
We meet In Person
Mondays at 12:00 PM
Sheraton UPTOWN Hotel
Louisiana at Menual Blvd NE
2600 Louisiana Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
United States of America
2600 Louisiana Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
United States of America
Phone:
(505) 242-2651
Email:
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