The Evening ReCII Walked Into Its Next Year

Sunset, service and a handover by the sea

By the time ReCII’s 2026 handover dinner began at Restaurant Can Vicent per Pedro i Mari in Cala Carbó, the evening had already been quietly underway for a couple of hours.

Some members had arrived on the beach from around five o’clock, finding space under sun umbrellas, chatting over drinks, or heading into the sea for a swim. The sky was clear, the sun still high, and Cala Carbó had that rare high-summer feeling of being beautiful without being crowded.

It was, from the beginning, wonderfully relaxed.

At seven o’clock, people made their way up to the restaurant for drinks, pan y alioli, and the last arrivals. There was the usual gentle question of whether there was a seating plan. There was not. People simply gathered, settled, moved, talked, laughed, and found their way into the evening.

Around 35 members and guests made the journey to Cala Carbó, a strong turnout for a young club in the height of an Ibiza summer, especially at a venue well away from the island’s busier centres. It said something about the club before any speech had been made.

One arrival said it especially well. Nicole Bruder, ReCII’s Membership Chair for 2026-27, had been in Germany. Having looked at the event, and who was going to be there, she decided she was not going to miss it. So she flew to Ibiza that morning.

For anyone who knows Nicole’s contribution to the club, it felt entirely in character. During the previous Rotary year, when a Board member had to step down, Nicole stepped straight in to support the running of ReCII’s online meetings and speaker programme. Her appearance on the beach, fresh from Germany, was one of those small moments that says a great deal. Jörg Fabri also stepped up, joining the Board mid-year, but more about him momentarily!

Dinner unfolded across several courses of traditional Ibizan cuisine, generous, beautifully prepared, and far better than anyone should describe too casually. The speeches and handover were woven into the meal rather than set apart from it, which suited the evening perfectly. One course would be cleared, people would settle again, and then the next part of the handover would unfold.

Before the presidential handover itself, Ronnie presented Rotary pins to Nora Naisbitt and Jörg Fabri. Both already had strong Rotary histories. Nora has been part of ReCII since the club’s first year, while also attending Rotary meetings elsewhere during her travels where possible. Jörg, a long-standing Rotarian, has since brought his experience into ReCII. The pin presentation was therefore less an introduction than a cheerful and celebratory club moment, witnessed by many members who remembered receiving their own pins in previous years.

Then came the handover. Ronnie did not focus on himself. Instead, he looked back over what the club had achieved during his presidency, and on the work members had done together across the year.

Then he began to move quickly towards passing the presidency to Donna Roggio. At that point, Denise Klischan, ReCII’s founding President, stopped the proceedings.

The whole club rose to its feet and gave Ronnie a standing ovation.

It was a gorgeous moment. Warm, spontaneous, and very deserved. Ronnie had tried to keep the focus on the club, as he so often does, but the club had other ideas. Before moving into its next year, ReCII wanted to thank him properly.

Ronnie then removed the presidential chain and placed it around Donna’s neck, formally marking the handover to ReCII’s President for the 2026-27 Rotary year.

Donna’s first words as President carried the same quality many members already know in her: warmth, energy, and a genuine appreciation of people. As an accomplished entrepreneur, she knows how to make things happen. As a Rotarian, she spoke about what people can do, both individually and together, when service is the common thread.

Her affection for Ibiza, her chosen home, was clear. So too was her commitment to supporting the island and its international community during the year ahead.

There was something lovely, too, in seeing all of ReCII’s Presidents together: Denise, the founding President; Ronnie, the club’s second President; Donna, the new President; and Ramona Balota, ReCII’s President-Elect. For a club chartered only in 2024, it was a compact little line of continuity.

Between plates, people stood up, swapped seats, crossed the room, caught up with old friends, and drew guests into the conversation. The evening never felt stiff. The only real formality was the reason everyone had gathered.

For those who had watched ReCII from its earliest days, there was a quiet sense that something had settled into place. New clubs can take time to warm up. People meet, test the waters, find who they naturally fall into conversation with, and gradually learn where they fit. On this evening, there was none of that early reservation left.

Instead, there were smiles, nods across tables, hugs, easy laughter, and the simple pleasure of people being genuinely pleased to see one another. Guests who may not have known quite what to expect from a Rotary handover seemed to relax into the evening too. By the end, it felt less like an event with guests attached and more like a wide circle of people sharing dinner, conversation, and one clear bond: service.

Later, as the sun began to drop and the beach grew quiet, Denise, Ronnie, and Donna walked down to the sand for one last photograph.

Side by side, they held the club’s short history in one frame: the founding President, the President who had just completed his year, and the President now stepping forward.

Then they walked back up from the beach and into the restaurant, where the evening carried on as it had begun: relaxed, warm, and full of life.

ReCII had not simply marked the start of a new Rotary year. It had walked into it together.