Ask any longtime Rotarian what sets the organization apart, and odds are they'll mention the Four-Way Test before they mention anything else. Written by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor in 1932 to help rescue a struggling company, the test was later adopted by Rotary International and has become one of the most recognized ethical creeds in the world of service organizations. It asks four simple questions of the things we think, say, or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

A compass, not a checklist
What makes the Four-Way Test enduring isn't its complexity — it's the opposite. In a matter of seconds, anyone can run a decision through these four filters, whether they're negotiating a business deal, planning a club project, or simply deciding how to handle a disagreement with a neighbor. It doesn't require legal training or an ethics degree. It just requires honesty with oneself.

Why it matters for Rotary specifically
Rotary clubs bring together people of different professions, faiths, cultures, and political views, all working toward shared community goals. That diversity is a strength, but it also means members don't always agree on the "right" way to do things. The Four-Way Test provides common ground — a shared standard everyone can apply, regardless of background. It keeps club decisions focused on outcomes that are honest, equitable, and genuinely good for the community, rather than decisions driven by ego, convenience, or self-interest.

​It also reinforces Rotary's motto, "Service Above Self." Each of the four questions nudges members to think beyond their own advantage and consider the wider impact of their actions — on club relationships, on partner organizations, and on the people a project is meant to serve.

Practical impact
Beyond its philosophical value, the test has real, practical uses:

• Project vetting: Before launching a service project, clubs can ask whether it truly benefits the community or simply looks good on paper.
• Partnership decisions: When considering a sponsor or collaborator, the test helps clubs evaluate whether the relationship is fair and mutually beneficial.
• Conflict resolution: When members disagree, returning to the test can de-personalize the conversation and refocus it on shared values.
• Personal conduct: Many Rotarians report applying the test well outside club business — in their careers, families, and communities — because once internalized, it's hard to unlearn.

A living tradition
Nearly a century after Taylor wrote it, the Four-Way Test hasn't needed to change because human nature hasn't either. People still have to decide, day to day, whether to tell the truth, treat others fairly, build goodwill, and act in ways that benefit everyone involved. That the test still gets recited at the start of Rotary meetings around the world isn't nostalgia — it's a sign that clubs keep finding it useful.

In short, the Four-Way Test endures because it's simple enough to remember, universal enough to apply anywhere, and demanding enough to actually shape behavior. For an organization built on service and integrity, that combination is exactly why it remains central to what it means to be a Rotarian.

District 4140 Governor Dr. Fernando Ramos with members of the board in person and via Zoom at the installation of new officers July 21 

Following our regular meeting featuring District Governor Dr. Fernando Ramos, many Board and project team members met with Governor Ramos and learned the following important opportunities for us all.

We were delighted to hear District Governor Ramos recognize our outstanding work, noting that our club is one of the District’s strongest contributors to The Rotary Foundation. He congratulated our members for this remarkable achievement and noted that nearly 50% of the clubs in the District do not contribute to the Foundation, making our commitment an outstanding example of generosity and Rotary leadership.

At the same time, he challenged us to do even more by sharing our experience, our professional networks, and the knowledge we have gained through developing successful projects. He believes our club has the expertise to mentor other clubs throughout District 4140, helping them build stronger, more sustainable projects. By supporting other clubs, we will also strengthen our District and create additional opportunities to access District resources for future initiatives.

District Governor Ramos encouraged us to continue to become more involved in District activities, including District Breakfast Meetings, training events, and especially the District Conference, which will be held next year in León, Guanajuato. Recognizing that many of our members are English speakers, he committed to providing simultaneous interpretation or subtitles, provided there is sufficient participation from our club.

This Rotary year has been designated by District Governor Ramos as The Year of Friendship, reflecting one of Rotary's core values: relationships, integrity, diversity, service and leadership: We use our relationships, integrity, service, leadership, and professional expertise to solve social issues in our communities.

As part of this initiative, the District is introducing the Friendship Trophy, which will travel throughout all 100+ clubs in District 4140 in six states. The journey will begin on December 5 in Zamora, Michoacán, and each club will host the trophy for one week. During that time, clubs will be encouraged to organize fellowship events among their own members and/or together with neighboring Rotary clubs, strengthening friendships and collaboration across the District.

District Governor Ramos also extended a special invitation to attend the District event on October 3 in Tonalá, Jalisco, which will focus on The Rotary Foundation. A Project Fair will be held during the event, and he encouraged our club to showcase our projects, share our best practices, and inspire other clubs to develop impactful projects.
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Finally, District ​Governor Ramos shared his vision of building a more united, more transparent, and more collaborative District, where friendship, the exchange of ideas, and teamwork allow Rotary clubs to increase their impact throughout our communities.

I truly believe our club has the experience, passion, and leadership to answer this call. Let us continue to be recognized not only for our generous support of The Rotary Foundation, but also for our willingness to share our knowledge, mentor fellow Rotarians, and strengthen Rotary across District 4140.

Thank you all for your continued commitment to Service Above Self.
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Warm regards,
José de Anda
President 2026–2027
Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende–Midday

By Tom Murlowski

“Those who learn to know death, rather than to fear and fight it, become our teachers about life,” said Hospice Pioneer Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.

​There is an undeniable reality that binds us all together: we are all going to pass from this world one day. This reality makes many people uncomfortable because we don't have a pat answer for what mortality means. Religions, cultures, and philosophies present varying perspectives. Shakespeare in Hamlet called death the “undiscovered country.”

Dealing with death becomes even more traumatic and confusing with the complexities of aging, disease and pain. How best to ease the passing of loved ones, and make the experience as loving, gentle and painless as possible?

Modern hospice care, focusing on palliative care, comfort, and dignity for the terminally ill, was founded in 1967 by Dame Cicely Saunders with the opening of St. Christopher's Hospice in London. While rooted in medieval traditions of hospitality, the movement modernized in the 1960s and ‘70s to blend specialized pain management with emotional and spiritual support for patients and families.

Hospice Care Mitigare in the Lee Carter Center in San Miguel de Allende is the first of its kind in Mexico. It has an atmosphere of color and joy. Even the medical areas are festooned with bright colors and lively art. Inaugurated March 29, 2025, the Center features three fully equipped hospital style rooms for ‘round-the-clock care, a medical office and examination room, a chapel, a full kitchen, and administrative offices. The patient rooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over a beautiful, enclosed park setting.

Most people prefer to have hospice services at home, hence only three patient rooms. The Center also offers at-home care where patients may spend their final days with their loved ones. In both cases, palliative care is led by Medical Director and Founding Board Member Dr. María de Lourdes Tejeida Bautista.

Founding Board Member and Former President Lee Carter has been a pioneer in introducing the culture of hospice and palliative care to the state of Guanajuato. He has worked tirelessly for almost 20 years to make this Center a reality. Carter is also a long-time member and past president of the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday, which played a crucial role in making this project a reality. The Rotary Foundation also has provided some of the primary and ongoing funding. 

The Center is a work in progress, with plans for future expansion including expanded patient facilities and educational resources. 

No one is ever turned away from the Center, for care is provided on a patient’s ability to pay based on a scale developed by the State of Guanajuato. 

The operating philosophy of the Center can be found in its motto: We add life to days, when days can no longer be added to life. 

The Center is located at Prolongacion de Cuesta de San José 93. El Paraiso Arcos de San Miguel (near El Charco). For more information, contact the Center at [email protected] or via 415-152-5202. It is open weekdays from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. 

Caminos de Agua Founder and Executive Director Dylan Terrell has been selected as the Rotary Citizen of the Year for 2025. Caminos de Agua is a San Miguel-based nonprofit addressing one of Mexico’s most urgent challenges: water scarcity and contamination.
 
After years of working across Latin America, Terrell committed himself to San Miguel de Allende where he built Caminos de Agua through partnerships with universities, Engineers without Borders, local villages, and grassroots organizations. The organization has pioneered award-winning, low-cost technologies such as a ceramic water filter, and a groundwater treatment system which removes dangerous levels of arsenic and fluoride from drinking water.
 
Through a participatory, community-led model, Caminos de Agua empowers residents to design, build, and maintain water solutions, ensuring long-term sustainability. Over 15 years, this work has reached more than 200 rural communities, positively impacting more than 60,000 people with 1,800 rainwater harvesting systems, multiple community-scale water treatment plants, and complementary educational efforts.
 
Beyond technology and education, the organization advances open-source data and policy advocacy, influencing municipal and national strategies for water management. Terrell’s vision blends innovation, collaboration, and justice, making him a transformative leader whose impact extends from San Miguel to communities across Mexico and beyond.
 
“Dylan Terrell is a true hero to more than 200 local villages and communities in San Miguel,” said Rotarian John Palmer. “His empathy, creativity, and leadership checks all the characteristics of the best of the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday and Rotary International,” he continued.
 
“He exemplifies the very best of civic leadership through his visionary, compassionate, and technically rigorous response to one of the most urgent challenges facing our region and the world: access to safe, affordable water. Dylan has transformed complex water scarcity and contamination problems into sustainable, community-led solutions that improve health, economic stability, and social cohesion,” continued Palmer.
 
“Dylan’s work is distinguished by the thoughtful application of technical skills and modern technology grounded in real-world conditions to achieve truly beneficial results.  His ability to translate cutting-edge research into practical, scalable tools demonstrates exceptional technical & collaborative leadership,” continued Palmer.
 
“Equally important is Dylan’s effectiveness as a manager and cross-cultural collaborator. Beginning with minimal resources, he built Caminos de Agua through strategic hiring, strong governance, and long-term partnerships, creating a multidisciplinary team that integrates engineering, community development, education, and data analysis. His leadership style prioritizes transparency and monitoring, ensuring accountability and continuous improvement while empowering governments, citizens, and institutions to make informed decisions,” continued Palmer.
 
“Dylan’s work is deeply rooted in sensitivity and respect for our remote communities. Caminos de Agua operates only by invitation and uses participatory processes that place local residents in leadership roles from system design to maintenance. This approach builds trust, strengthens local capacity, and ensures long-term success,” continued Palmer.
 
“With a wide-ranging understanding of global and local water issues -- from climate change to overuse of water and public health -- Dylan has helped San Miguel and surrounding communities become models of innovation, equity, and collaboration. His work and the work of Caminos de Aqua is not only changing lives today, it is helping tip an entire system toward a more just and sustainable future,” said Palmer.
 
The Rotary Citizen of the Year Ceremony will take place Tuesday, March 24, at 9:30 a.m. at Teatro Santa Ana at the Biblioteca Publica via the Zenteno entrance on Relox near Insurgentes. Reservations will be taken soon.
 
For more information, contact Terrell at [email protected].

by Robin Loving

“This work has never really been about water,” said 2025 Citizen of the Year Award Honoree Dylan Terrell, founder and executive director of Caminos de Agua. “It’s about community. I arrived in San Miguel (with) no intention of working in water. But … it became very clear, very quickly, that water was the issue,” he continued.
 
Terrell went on to say that solutions do not come from outsiders but from communities understanding their challenges, organizing, and taking ownership of solutions. As well, he credited his family for giving him the ability to believe that what matters most is making a meaningful impact. He closed with, “Come together around a shared problem and refuse to just accept that things have to stay the way they are.”
 
This was the 19th Citizen of the Year ceremony sponsored by the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday. Mark Hager and Vice President of Club Services Robin Loving coordinated the event with the assistance of Emcee Joe Ruffino, President Andrea Spessard, Alex and Kerry Fautsch, Gael Sherman, Co-Sergeants of Arms Carla Espinoza and Elizabeth Adlung, David Miller, Tech Wizard Diego Vargas, Beverly Hill, Co-Vice Presidents of Membership Joyce Grenis and Kathy Zapata, Secretary Phillip Jares, David Bossman, President-elect Jose de Anda, Donn Zellet, Pat Laird, Enrique Orvananos, and various other volunteers.
 
For more information, contact President Andrea Spessard at [email protected] and/or Robin Loving at [email protected].

​On January 11, 2026, the Rotaract Club of San Miguel de Allende will hold the sixth edition of the Threads of Hope Campaign.  This campaign asks for donations of hair that will be used to provide wigs for cancer patients in San Miguel de Allende.

Cancer treatment is a grueling battle, not just against the disease itself, but also against the visible signs it leaves behind. Hair loss, often one of the side effects, can profoundly impact a person’s self-esteem and confidence. In the face of such adversity, the simple act of donating hair can make a world of difference.

Inspired by the idea of giving back and making a tangible difference, they willingly part with their strands, knowing that each strand holds the potential to bring joy and comfort to someone in need.

“I’ve always believed in the power of small acts of kindness,” says a volunteer who donated her hair for the first time. “Knowing that my hair could bring a smile to someone’s face during such a difficult time was all the motivation I needed.” 

The process of donating hair is simple but significant. with hearts full of compassion, they gather to have their strands lovingly snipped away by professional hairstylists, who carefully prepare the hair for its transformation into wigs.

For many, the experience is deeply personal, as they dedicate their donation to loved ones affected by cancer or in honor of those who have lost their battle. Each strand of hair becomes a symbol of solidarity and empathy, a tangible reminder that they are not alone in their fight. The impact of these donations extends far beyond the physical realm. For cancer patients undergoing treatment, receiving a wig crafted from donated hair is more than just a cosmetic enhancement—it’s a lifeline of hope. It’s a reminder that they are supported, cherished, and valued, even in their darkest moments.

Moreover, initiatives like these foster a culture of empathy and altruism within the community. It reminds us of the power we hold to uplift and empower others, even through seemingly small gestures. In the act of giving, they discover a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment that transcends academic pursuits and social endeavors. 
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As the saying goes, “Strands of love can create miracles.” And indeed, the generosity of the people who donate their hair toward wig-making is a testament to the transformative power of the San Miguel de Allende community.

For more information, please complete the form below.