Rotary eClub One of District 5450

Rotary eClub One of D 5450 A short history by members Dave Amen and President Tom Green

In year 2000, a group of Rotarians in Boulder, Colorado conceived the vision of an all- electronic Rotary Club. After substantial effort and planning the first web-based club, eClub One, was chartered in District 5450 in January, 2002. Having proved the concept’s worthiness, the RI Council on Legislation voted to make e-clubs a permanent part of Rotary in 2010.

One celebrated its 10th anniversary at the Chop House in Boulder on April 25, 2012.

Here are some of the distinctive features of this particular Rotary Club:  eClub One may be best known for providing the ability for all Rotarians to perform a “Make-Up” – the equivalent of attending a meeting at another club – via the web! Rotarians read one of the dozens of articles or view a video about a fascinating topic, available on www.rotaryeclubone.org. Less well-known is the fact that eClub One is also a real Rotary club with members on five continents: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America!     The main criteria for membership include living or doing business in ANY Rotary District in the world, an ability to communicate in English, and circumstances making it impractical to attend regular meetings at a traditional Rotary club.

Club members take part in a weekly online Forum, with discussions on vital topics submitted by different members each week. Rotary eClub One also holds an Annual Dinner, which generally coincides with the RI Convention where members can meet face to face.

Our intent was never to replicate a ‘terra’ [land-based] club, but rather to create a club that functions as well as a terra club, then to try to broaden the impact. Club members must complete 12 hours of service every three months and can apply once a year for a $500 club grant to use toward projects in their home communities. The club also sponsors many international service and disaster relief projects. These projects are brought forth by our own members as well as other Rotarians.

We are an active and involved club – not just a group of people periodically looking at a home page on our website.

One member’s story:  Dave Amen has been an active Rotarian in the Denver Southeast club since 1998. At his urging, Dave’s daughter, Heather, attended the week-long Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) conference in 2003. She fell in love with RYLA, and was selected to serve as a Junior Counselor for two subsequent years, then as Head Junior Counselor together with Jason Griffith in 2006. Well, Heather and long-time RYLA officer, chair, and registrar, Kevin Farrell, brought Dave into RYLA to become the registrar. Dave is now responsible for assisting hundreds of Rotarians who select 480 candidates to sponsor out of the 900 applicants.

Enhancing the registration process and making it fully web-based became a very time-consuming task for Dave, such that he was unable to do this, handle his regular job, and have time for weekly meetings at the Denver Southeast club (which he still enjoys attending whenever possible). Dave’s good friend and past RYLA Head Junior Counselor, Jason Griffith, was already a member of eClub One while attending law school. He told Dave about eClub One, which was the ideal solution for Dave. He still enjoys running registration for RYLA, but is now actively involved in eClub One activities with his new friends all around the planet! Every eClub One member has a wonderful story, such as John Farr, who was involved in founding several clubs but now lives in the beautiful but distant Encampment, WY area, Henry Harrison, who divides his time between Montana and Maryland, Chris Joscelyne, known as the “Voice of Australia”, and Jeremy Penner, a Canadian physician providing medical aid to patients in Kenya.

Rotary eClub One is confident about the future and we’re convinced that one way to attract and retain younger members in their mid-20s to late 30s is through access to virtual Rotary experiences. We’re at the forefront of that venue. Members can access articles and discussion topics every minute of every day. We invite you to click on www.rotaryeclubone. org and learn more about the exciting ways we are serving across the globe!