Board Director Ilya Novokshanov with guest presenter Stephen Panus

On the occasion of our Rotary luncheon at Consulate NYC Restaurant 11 members and guests enjoyed Rotary Fellowship and the presentation of Stephen Panus. Stephen spoke about the loss of his son under tragic conditions and how he, his wife and younger son are coping with grieve. He wrote a book "Walk On" which at first was meant to be a letter to his dead son.

In today's world, grief and adversity are everywhere, causing many to suffer and lose hope. From the depths of darkness and greatest loss emerges an intimate, candid, and raw story of a father's search for meaning following tragedy. Walk On is a resilience-centered guidebook for overcoming struggle while teaching that the path to a purposeful life filled with kindness, compassion, and service resides within all of us.

Drawing upon his wisdom and leadership experience, Stephen Panus provides real-world applications of indispensable values and traits for becoming the best version of ourselves. We all suffer in some manner, but no matter what happens or how it happens, we all must Walk On.

The meeting was presided by our great board member Ilya Novoshanov who also moderated the Q & A session. We had a visitor from Carmen Coll from Riom Chatel-Guyon, France and of course Fank Bannister from Dublin who is however more of a NY Rotarian at this point.