The best part of Rotary are the members and their Rotary stories.

On the same day last week, we celebrated SHS’s Interact Club and their commitment to expanding their world and fifty-two years of vision that birthed the Sandpoint Club, while honoring charter member Dar Cogswell.
The common thread in a Rotary story is that we are always better together. One of my favorite proverbs is an African one; if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far, go together. And far we have come and further we can go through the leadership and heart for service Rotarians’ embody.

Celebrating Dar as a Rotarian of Honor for Life, with his fellow charter member, and good friend Jack Parker, I learned fellowship and service were valuable motivators to starting our club in 1966. Good friends, including Ray Kincaid, Terry Merwin and many others, quickly joined. Camaraderie held the Club together and steadily grew its membership. So did a great understanding of Rotary and its vision. These two converged powerfully by attending District conferences and international conventions as a group. Dar fondly remembers a convoy of thirty members traveling to Las Vegas for a convention. We have that same opportunity, to expand our knowledge and revive our Rotary spirit again, this weekend, as we host 5080’s District Conference. Earlier that day our Interactors showed us the result of being consistently nurtured and encouraged.  Pierce Smith, whose devotion to youth development well exceeds the six years he’s given to SHS Interact, has been that nurturer and encourager. We could sense the fondness the members have for him and his influence on them.

The Interactors gave us a taste of the fun and welcoming environment they created for this year’s foreign exchange students.  Exchanges provide priceless opportunities to ‘interact’ and learn about different cultures while sharing common ideas and hopes for a better world.

They shared their many activities, which raised enough awareness and money to purchase a Shelter Box - a unique refuge of safety, comfort and gathering in a box, that brings hope to those in the midst of natural disaster. The Interactors have aspirations to travel to Nicaragua next year to work alongside other Rotarians to build a hospital. Let’s help them make this trip a reality.

With the Interact Club of Colville, they paired up for a Pend Oreille Bay Trail clean up, a shared meal and camaraderie. Working with fellow clubs reminds me once again that we are better together. Six years ago a shared vision of two club presidents birthed our first Interact Club. From its success, a second joint venture with Forrest Bird Charter School and soon to come; a Rotoract Club, will continue the legacy begun in this community by a few good men in 1966. Share your Rotary story, bring what we do together to life for others.