Presentation of The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award to Narayan Murarka
by PDG Bruce Baumberger, July 2, 2020

It is my pleasure to announce that Narayan Murarka, has been selected by The Rotary Foundation Trustees to receive the Distinguished Service Award. Having worked with Narayan for many years, I was honored to have the opportunity to nominate him for this prestigious award.

As I tell you about Narayan’s accomplishments, you will understand why he is one of the forty-two recipients of the award this year. Upon joining Rotary in 2000, Narayan became an immediate participant in humanitarian projects, locally and globally. When Future Vision, our current Rotary grant model launched in 2011, he mastered its intricacies and initiated his first WASH-related global grant in Guatemala benefiting over 20,000 children in over 60 schools.
Then he went on to serve on the District Foundation Committee managing district-wide global grants and DDF allocation. He provided exceptional leadership at Grant Management Seminars providing extensive Foundation and global grant training to District 6440 Rotarians. As the pioneer of Future Vision in our district he helped many Rotarians regarding global grant strategies including processing, monitoring, needs assessments and sustainability, resulting in over thirty-five global grants in four years valued at $2.0 million.

Narayan is the author of many of our district’s current policies and supporting documentation about Global Grants. Narayan is known as a “Go-To Rotarian” with extensive knowledge, experience and expertise.

Narayan was instrumental in working with district and zone leaders in promoting the idea of partnerships among clubs and districts, and alliances with outside sources including local and national government agencies, school authorities and communities. Narayan is a master at partnering and leveraging club cash, DDF and World Fund matches for global grants.

His steadfast efforts for many years resulted in many grants benefitting Sumpango, Guatemala. The Mayor of Sumpango recognized Narayan with a letter expressing his appreciation on behalf of the citizens of Sumpango.

In addition to his work on Global Grants, Narayan’s Rotary involvement spans several other areas as you will see on this slide.

Members of the District 6440 Council of Governors provided congratulatory remarks that were printed and placed in a special binder that will be delivered to Narayan tomorrow. He will also be receiving a crystal by mail later this month.

I would like to propose the first toast to Narayan, a highly qualified recipient of The Rotary Foundation Distinguisher Service Award. Congratulations, Narayan!
 
The following presentation accompanied PDG Bruce's remarks.