Rotary Overview and Why We Joined Rotary

Posted by Vi Hughes on Nov 02, 2016

Tuesday was ‘bring a prospective member day’ so our program presentations featured an overview of what Rotary is and four current Rotarians talking about why they joined Rotary.

Eric Germain started by saying that he is a second-generation Rotarian, and that his father was a founding member and charter president of the Strathcona Rotary Club in 1974. He said that Rotary is a community of friends committed to creating change in the world. There are about twenty clubs in the local Edmonton area, and the first club in Edmonton was founded in 1916. He also spoke of how the common thing that binds us together is our community and international service. He then went on to describe several of the initiatives that Rotary, as a whole, supports, and also some of the projects that our local club supports. He gave a short description of how our meetings are organised, the types of speakers we bring in and the yearly social events that we hold. He ended his talk with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson on Success in Life, and how it applies to Rotary.

We then heard from four current Rotarians who spoke about how they came to join Rotary and what it has meant to them.

Rick Harcourt spoke of how he was new to Edmonton, didn’t know anyone here and joined to meet people and make business contacts. He also mentioned that he later met his wife in Rotary. He said that rotary has given him a chance to meet people from around the world, and made many new friends. He spoke of how the service opportunities give ordinary people a chance to be part of something much bigger than they could simply on their own.

Rose Marie Basaraba spoke of how she had taken early retirement from her job and was looking for a purpose in her life when she found Rotary. She came to a meeting with a friend and found a very friendly group of people with a common purpose. She now considers the member of this group to be a part of her extended family.

Ron Brown joined to network and surround himself with people who have similar goals in life- they want to help others. He grew up in poverty himself and told himself that if he ever got out of that situation, he would do his best to give back to others. Rotary gives you an opportunity to meet people anywhere around the world and immediately be considered a friend with common goals. It also offers an excellent leadership training program for its members. The best part of all was he met his current wife through Rotary, so Rotary has changed his life in many ways.

The last speaker was Nicole Germain, a third-generation Rotarian. She spoke of how she grew up in attending many different Rotary service and social functions. She said that the wisdom of some people she met in Rotary has changed her focus in life and she now happily works in a community service related occupation. She enjoys the fact that Rotary gives us a chance to be an active part of our community, and to make friends and have fun along the way.


Eric Germain Ron Brown	Nicole Germain Rose Marie Basaraba

Rick Harcourt