Greetings my fellow Rotarians. Today, I am writing my message in a hotel room a few blocks from 1560 Sherman Avenue Evanston, Illinois. One would think that being so close to the world headquarters of Rotary International, that I would have no problem coming up with an interesting topic with which I can bestow knowledge (or philosophy) upon you. Well, you are correct, I actually have many ideas to use and the harder part is trying to decide which one it will be! After much deliberation I have decided to talk about a particular aspect of the success of Rotary International and many of its projects.

 

The incoming 2017-2018 Rotary International President, Ian Riseley said this today, “Rotary’s resources is not just money. It’s also everyone’s time. You’re busy people and we want you to understand that we value your time.” I did not have the privilege of hearing Riseley speak, but Carrie, who is currently at training at the headquarters building for three days for incoming Rotary Public Image Coordinators, did and she passed the quote onto me.

 

Consider Riseley’s words for a minute. People, and their volunteer efforts, are an incredibly important part of what makes Rotary so amazingly successful! Without the time that Rotary members take away from their personal lives and commit to the betterment of the world, Rotary would be nothing more than a weekly meeting for the purposes of fellowship and philanthropy through the gathering of monetary donations and there are plenty of other organizations who do this already. Personally, I think that monetary donations alone are lacking and in order to be complete, those donations need to be accompanied by a certain amount of “sweat equity.” Additionally, Rotary offers those who cannot afford to make monetary donations the opportunity to participate in bettering the world through this sweat equity, whether it be by soliciting donations from others or the donation of their personal time to a project.  

 

To expound on this idea just a little, think about Riseley’s quote again as well as these additional components. There are roughly 35,000 Rotary clubs worldwide. These clubs are comprised of approximately 1.2 million members. Rotary International is the overseer of a vast amount of money that is available for humanitarian endeavors. These factors, in their totality, make Rotary an extremely powerful mechanism for the improvement of the quality of life for millions worldwide!

 

Please realize, that the success of Rotary, ALL OF IT, every concept, every failure and every success started somewhere and that somewhere was in a Rotary member’s head. It may have been a self-generated idea or an idea or need passed from a non-Rotarian to a Rotarian and that Rotary member was the member of a local club. My point here is that all of Rotary is built from the club level. I have asked for project ideas multiple times from our club members and have yet to receive a response. This is okay because I have faith that one, or many, will come along and when it does or they do, I want you to understand that we have the ability to achieve anything and that we have at our disposal the money of R.I and the assistance, whether it be mental or physical, of all 1.2 million members.

 

These concepts are what makes Rotary so spectacular and what makes you, the living, breathing, Rotarian so vitally important! I understand this and more importantly, Rotary International understands this.

 

As always, thank you for being a Rotarian!

Shaun