ImageThe speaker for the Rotary Club of Truro's 86th annual Charter night celebration will be Kenneth W. Grabeau of the Rotary Club of Nashua West, New Hampshire, USA.

Ken is the Director of Rotary International from the newly constituted Zone 24-32 for the Rotary years 2010 to 2012.

Ken was governor of District 7870 in 1997-98. Since that time, he has represented two Rotary International presidents at district conferences, served as the District 7870 delegate to two Councils on Legislation, served as a National Advisor for the Permanent Fund for four years, was a member of the International Multi-district PETS Committee, is a charter member of the Water
and Sanitation Rotary Action Group and sat on the 2004 Nominating Committee that selected the 2006-08 Rotary International Director. In January 2009, Ken and Ruth will serve as Discussion Leaders training incoming District Governors at the International Assembly in San Diego.

Ken is the only Discussion Leader to have participated in every one of the New England Multi-district PETS since its inception in 1994. He served as General Chair of that committee in 1998 during his year as District Governor. He has  been a member of the Zones 31-32 Rotary Foundation Training Team and coordinator of the Public Relations and Rotary Image Task Force, Foundation Alumni Resource Group and Brisbane Convention Promotion Committee for
Zones 28, 31, 32, 33 and 34.

Ken and Ruth have participated in National Immunization Days in Cameroon in 2002 and Ghana in 2005. They have traveled twice to Russia where they held organizational meetings for a new Rotary club in Petrozavodsk and founded the first drug treatment center west of the Urals in Tver. They have made multiple trips into Central America, initially providing relief from Hurricane Mitch and ultimately organizing a multi-district committee that continues today to provide equipment, supplies and human services to areas of greatest need. Ken is immediate Past President of Pure Water for the World, an independent 501(C)3 not-for-profit that he took from a single club project to a successful Rotary partner that has provided clean water to over 125,000 people in six countries in Central America and the Caribbean.

Ken is the recipient of Rotary's Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation's Citation for Meritorious Service. Both he and Ruth are Major Donors, multiple Paul Harris Fellows, charter members of the Bequest Society, Benefactors and charter members of the Paul Harris Society.

Image Ken is founder, President and CEO of Monarch Instrument, a 32 year old manufacturer of industrial instrumentation. Ken and Ruth have lived in Nashua, NH for their entire 42 years of marriage and are parents of Glenn and Meridith and grandparents of four beautiful granddaughters. Ken has served on and chaired the boards of United Way and Girls Inc., and has been a member of numerous other not-for-profit boards. His interests include photography, travel, model railroading and his restored 1952 MG, which sometimes even runs!

Tickets are available in advance at $25 per person.  Contact Keith Gillis at 843-3113 or keithgillis@eastlink.ca

Sponsors