Albany MOSAIC Rotary Makes Its EPIC Day of Service Twice as Meaningful
What happens when Rotary clubs around the world roll up their sleeves at the same time? The result is something EPIC.
Rotary’s EPIC Day of Service is a growing international movement that brings Rotary members, community organizations, friends, families, and neighbors together for hands-on projects that make a visible difference where they live. The initiative began in 2022 as a grassroots response by Rotary leaders in Connecticut and Massachusetts to a call for Rotary clubs to hold a Day of Service. Since then, it has expanded across multiple countries, engaging thousands of Rotarians and community volunteers.
The idea is simple but powerful: communities know what their communities need. Rather than prescribing one type of project, EPIC encourages Rotary clubs to identify local needs and take action. One club may plant trees, another may collect food, clean a park, support a nonprofit, build something, or improve a neighborhood gathering place. The projects are different, but the purpose is shared — people working together to create tangible, lasting change.
The official 2026 EPIC Day of Service was held May 16, with clubs encouraged to plan projects as close to that date as practical. This year, Albany MOSAIC Rotary didn't stop at one project, but participated TWICE during the month of May.
First Stop: Helping Big Brothers Big Sisters Settle Into a New Home 
MOSAIC's first EPIC service project took members to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region (BBBS), which recently established its offices at 19 Dove Street in Albany.
Moving into a new space comes with plenty of boxes, supplies and organizing, so MOSAIC members stepped in to help. Volunteers spent their time unpacking, sorting and organizing the new offices, helping BBBSCR get its space ready to continue doing what it does best — connecting young people with the mentoring relationships and support that can help them thrive.
It wasn't glamorous work, and that is exactly the point. Service does not always require a major fundraiser, a huge crowd or an elaborate event. Sometimes service is simply asking another community organization, “What do you need right now?” — and then showing up ready to help.
EPIC, Round Two: Growing Community on Orange Street
For its second May service project, Albany MOSAIC Rotary headed outdoors to make new friends and play in the dirt on a new collaboration with The City Club of Albany, Inc. 
The two groups came together to support The Cultural Center's orchard on Orange Street in Albany, a neighborhood resource created to bring nature, nutrition and locally grown food directly into the community. The Cultural Center's Three Sisters Orchard has been described as a public fruit orchard where neighborhood residents can experience nature while learning about nutrition and sustainable food sourcing. This time, service meant getting our hands dirty.
Members of Albany MOSAIC Rotary and The City Club worked side-by-side on site cleanup overgrowth and maintenance and then built, installed and planted raised garden beds. Those beds will do much more than beautify the property. They will help produce fresh vegetables and expand access to fresh food right in the neighborhood. The project is an effort to build raised beds and plant vegetables in response to the continuing impact of food insecurity on local families.
It was also something else worth celebrating: the first service collaboration between Albany MOSAIC Rotary and The City Club of Albany, and it won't be the last for sure. Before the workday was even over, conversations had already begun about joining forces again for next year's Orchard Work Day.
That's What Makes Service EPIC
EPIC Day of Service demonstrates something Rotary has understood for generations: meaningful community change rarely happens because one organization does everything. It happens when people bring their different skills, relationships, resources and perspectives together around a shared purpose.
For Albany MOSAIC Rotary, May 2026 offered two very different examples. One project helped a nonprofit organization settle into a new home so it can better serve young people. The other put tools in our hands, dirt under our fingernails and fresh vegetables into a neighborhood.
Two projects. Two community partners. Two different kinds of service. One common goal: strengthening Albany through action. That's the beauty of Rotary's EPIC Day of Service. It isn't about every club doing the same thing. It's about everyone finding a way to do something. And this May, Albany MOSAIC Rotary was proud to do it twice.