I had never known anyone in Rotary until I came here. When I was planning to retire and move to Estes Park, looking for houses with Scott Thompson we were talking about community service projects I had done in Bethesda, Maryland and community service that Scott had done in Estes Park, and Scott said I should join the noon Rotary club. He described to me what Rotary here does and I said that sounded great. The next time I was back in Estes looking at houses with Scott a few months later (when I did buy my house), Scott again mentioned that I should join Rotary and again I said, “Sounds great.” And once I moved to Estes, I did join the club, with Scott as my sponsor.
At that point, Karen Thompson was Big Duck for the Duck Race, and I told her I would help her with that. (Karen and Scott were so sweet when I moved into my house and my own furniture hadn’t arrived with the movers yet – they brought over lamps and chairs and set up an air mattress for me. So I wanted to help Karen in return.) Karen explained what the Duck Race was and how it worked, and I did work on it a lot with her on that. And I joined the Community Service committee as well. Jim Whiteneck was Chair of the Community Service Committee at that time.
After I had been in Rotary for maybe 4 months or so, Jim called me and said he had become President Elect, which was a Board position; and that Community Service Chair was also a Board position, and one person couldn’t hold two Board positions at the same time. So he asked if I would be willing to chair the Community Service Committee. I told him I was so new that I didn’t even know what the projects were that the CSC did every year, but if he would walk me through and tell me what needed to be done and when, I would be happy to be Chair. He promised he would, and he did that, and so I became head of the Community Service Committee.
Also, that May (2020) after Karen’s Duck Race, Bill Solms became Big Duck and I was asked to be Little Duck for the 2021 Duck Race. I said sure, since I was glad to help and I figured I would have a chance to learn more about how the Duck Race works. What nobody told me was that Little Duck automatically becomes Big Duck the following year – nobody mentioned that small detail at all. So in May 2021, after Bill’s Duck Race, I became Big Duck, having never seen a live Duck Race ever, since it turned out due to Covid that both Karen’s and Bill’s races were virtual. Anyway, I had a lot of help and we got through it with a great Duck Race, live and back in the river, in 2022.
What I have learned about Rotary, and our Club specifically, is it is a wonderful chance to make a difference and to help a lot of people and local charities and non-profits, with money and people behind you to do good things in the community and internationally. I love this club and everyone in it; you are wonderful people. We all share a love of service and doing good. And I have also learned that with this club, if you show an interest in doing something, you are probably going to find yourself in charge, not just “helping,” sooner than you think – so be careful!
And that’s my Rotary minute.
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