In my twenty years as a Rotarian there have been countless times in which a Rotarian begins the sentence, when I was at my mom’s/dad’s…. Rotary meeting…. Rotary conference…. Rotary whatever.  The stories of multi-generational Rotary families are everywhere we turn and that is because as a child or young adult these Rotarians were exposed to our organization and realized they wanted to be a part of it when they were an adult.  I commend all Rotarians who share this amazing organization with their loved ones and the results from them doing such is apparent.  We are an organization that changes lives and does good all over the world, how do we not do everything we can to share that with our loved ones?

 

To enable making it easier for Rotarians to include their children/grandchildren on their Rotary journeys I urge all reading this when it is appropriate (please know I completely appreciate that not all Rotary events are appropriate for children) and possible that we extend invitations to our meetings and events to children and young adults.  These demographics are sponges and while they might not understand everything, they will remember how they felt.  If we can provide fun and inviting experiences, we not only might have them as lifelong Rotarians, but we are also not making our members choose between going to a Rotary event or being with their family. 

 

While on this topic it would be appropriate to share that there will be programming for children and young adults from age 5 and up at both upcoming Zone Symposiums.  At both events we will be offering Camp Rotary in which the children/grandchildren of attendees will have theme focused programming available to them. 

 

Please look at my Facebook post from December 7, 2021: