"Fellowship is wonderful; it illuminates life’s pathway, spreads good cheer, and is worth high price.” -Rotary Founder Paul Harris

June is Rotary Fellowship month, and it is a fitting finale because "fellowship" is such an important part of Rotary. The word "fellowship" is right there at the top of the current core values of Rotary. It's the reason why we have Rotary "clubs", so we can do our good in the world along side fellow Rotarians and not just by ourselves.

June is designated as Rotary Fellowship Month. Rotary Fellowships are international, independently organized groups of Rotarians, Rotary partners, and Rotaractors who share a common recreational interest or vocation. This month is recognition of the opportunity to have fun, make new friends around the world and enhance the experience of Rotary that belonging to a Rotary Fellowship enables.

Rotary Fellowships began informally in 1928 when a group of Rotarians with an interest in Esperanto joined together. In 1947, Rotarians organized a group of boating enthusiasts, which became the Yachting Fellowship. This joining together to share common interests and activities gained attention and operated over the years under various names as World Fellowship Activities; International Vocational Contact Groups; Rotary Recreational and Vocational Fellowships; and finally Rotary Fellowships.

Fellowship activities vary widely. Some groups come together around hobbies or special interests. Others are based on common vocations. Some Fellowships are purely social while others use their fellowship for service projects. Each Fellowship must maintain a membership base representing at least 3 Countries. Each Fellowship elects at least 3 Officers to oversee the group’s operations. Fellowships are expected to facilitate communication amongst their members and to maintain regular communication with Rotary International.

There are currently over 103 Rotary Fellowships. To find more information go to:

www.rotary.org/fellowships

 For many Rotarians, the highlights of their Rotary experiences usually revolve around doing projects with others. It is probably the reason why so many Rotary Fellowships have developed where Rotarians from around the world can join together doing activities they enjoy.  We often hear Rotarians say that they joined Rotary to "make a difference", but they stay in Rotary "because of the fellowship".

And yet, many Rotarians, don't like to use the word, "fellowship", possibly because it is a word that seems to be more at home in the past than in the modern world. It also seems to be more of a masculine word when we are trying to encourage more women to become part of our movement. It is no doubt a complex word that has many shades of meaning, and as an example, I discovered this list of synonyms listed in a thesaurus a couple of weeks ago: communion, rapport and rapprochement, accord, agreement, concord, harmony, oneness, solidarity, togetherness, unity, affinity, empathy, sympathy, understanding, amity, companionship, friendliness, reciprocity and symbiosis. It might be an old fashioned word, but it sure contains a lot of qualities we would all want to promote in our groups.

No matter how we define the word, we certainly need more of it in our clubs. It seems to me that "fellowship" is what happens when we have a group of Rotarians actively living by the the Four Way Test in their clubs and communities. It is what happens when we see the most important part of our "Club Service" as being the effort we make to be supportive, agreeable, understanding, accepting and friendly in all our dealings with other members. Fellowship is what happens when we "add value" to our fellow members by focussing on their positives, and using supportive, positive language when talking about and to them. So let's have more of it. 

Fellowship is of course, also what happens when we enjoy fun activities together - and we definitely need more of that! So I say, what better way to finish a Rotary year than to focus on fellowship. And since this will be my final epistle as DG, I want to say a couple of "thank you's" firstly, relating to this newsletter. A huge "thank you" must go to our Newsletter editor, my wife and Rotarian, Karen Kankkunen, for the huge amount of work that has gone into the publication of this communication each month.

Thanks too, to all those who have contributed stories over the year. Keep it up as I am sure 2022-23 Newsletter Editor, Irene Jacovos will appreciate the content coming in. It will still go to: editor@rotary9560.org 

I must also take this opportunity to wish DGE John all the very best as he takes over this DG role in just four weeks.

 Finally, a big thank you to each and every member of our great District 9560 for your fantastic efforts in Serving to Change Lives in so many ways that I have witnessed and participated in, under the banner of Rotary, during the 2021-2022 Rotary year. As Karen and I have had the privilege of being welcomed into all your clubs, we have been "blown away" by the amazing number and quality of projects happening in every one of our communities. Without those efforts, this world would be a far poorer place. As 9560 Rotarians, we can be proud of the value we have added to people in our our local communities, in communities overseas and to the planet. We have certainly fulfilled RI President Shekhar's challenge to "Serve  to Change Lives".