Even though we had an informal meeting on December 29th at The Buzz Inn, we were able to receive a presentation from the leaders of the Rotaract Club of Snohomish County. The Club is sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Everett, Everett-Port Gardner, South Everett-Mukilteo, Marysville, Monroe and Lynnwood (of District 5030). They had their first meeting on June 8 and Governor Coyle signed the charter paperwork in September.
Morgan Crosby, President-Elect and Rachel Preston, President of the Club were the presenters. They also brought along Elizaveta Belkina who is a member of the White Nights Rotaract Club of St. Petersburg in District 2220.
Rotaract Clubs bring together people ages 18-30 to exchange ideas with leaders in the community, develop leadership and professional skills, and have fun through service. In communities worldwide, Rotary and Rotaract members work side by side to take action through service.
Rotaract of Snohomish County has about two dozen members, two thirds of whom are women, 75% are enrolled in undergraduate education programs. The Club has completed seven projects so far with almost 170 hours of service. The projects included packaging care bags for police officers, compiling back to school materials, packaging food and developing a KIVA loan.
Liza Belkina is visiting the Puget Sound region during the holidays. She is currently studying at American University in Washington, D.C. She was an undergrad student at the St. Petersburg State University. She grew up in a very small rural community quite a ways outside of St Petersburg. So, the big city was an entirely new experience. She shared that Rotary has impacted her by "being involved means being more open-minded to international experiences, improve professional skills, improve patience with community service and help earn a scholarship to study in America."
In October 2017, Rachel had the opportunity to participate in the Future of Rotary Zone 24/32 Conference in Hartford, CT. From that Rachel made connections with Rotaractors around the world. She will also be a resource to young people who are looking to start up Rotaract Clubs throughout the United States.
The future of the Club looks very promising. They want to participate in Mixers with Rotary Clubs throughout Snohomish County. They plan to multiply into three additional Rotaract Clubs in the County within three years. Initially, these Clubs will be in Monroe, Marysville and Everett. This will require about 15 strong members in each area to make it happen. They will have a Charter Celebration in mid-March. We can help this Club by promoting it in our Interact Club as well as throughout the community. You can follow the Club through their Facebook website.
We will have a followup presentation in a few months so more can hear about the Rotaract Club of Snohomish County.