’Service above Self’ is the only motto Rotary has ever had,” District Gov. Shane Burr told members of the Calhoun Rotary Club, urging them to live out that motto in their community.

“Remember that motto and join in service to your community,” Burr said during a visit to the Calhoun club last week.

“Could you imagine the good that could be done in the community if every single one of you got involved in the good work of Rotary? That is my dream,” Burr said.

Local Rotarians, through Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation, are involved in medical projects that repair broken arms and legs, restore sight, provide nutritious food and clean water and school supplies around the world, he said.

Rotary International also has a mission to eliminate polio worldwide.

“The second part of my mission is that every Rotarian give to the (Rotary) Foundation,” he said. “It’s our foundation. We ought to be giving to it.”

He also called on Calhoun Rotarians to be involved in the local community. “There are people in every community who need our help,” he said.

Burr recounted what he called his own “Rotary moment” when a Canton couple, Don and Lila Stevens, came to his Rotary Club in 1992 and described a plan to create Cherokee Thanksgiving, in which volunteers would prepare and deliver meals to the needy and to police officers and firefighters on Thanksgiving Day.

Burr said he and his father were delivering meals in Pea Ridge, the “poorest section of town,” when they came to a “tiny house in desperate need of repair.” Their knock was at last answered by a small, elderly woman. Inside, the house was filled with trash, and there was another elderly woman.

The woman at the door was very grateful, Burr said, and when he asked if there were anything they could do, she replied, “No, you’ve done more than enough.”

“I have not missed a Cherokee Thanksgiving in 17 years,” Burr said.

Burr, of Canton, is the governor of Rotary District 6910, which has 70 member clubs.