If we are looking at the sustainability of our clubs we might think of reinventing, repurposing, and recycling our old clubs.

Article by PDG Debbie Loveday, Assistant Rotary Coordinator

The Greek philosopher Aristotle asked “What is the essence of Life and he answered, “to serve others and do good”

Community Service has been described as “the heartbeat of Rotary. Our service activities improve the quality of life within our communities, and the scope in which we do this is endless. We are only limited by our imagination. By volunteering we are showing leadership in citizenship.

We know that volunteering has many benefits including, giving purpose to our lives, raising our self-esteem, and making a positive impact in our communities. It gives us immense satisfaction to know we are doing good in the world. One of the great things about volunteering is that it connects us to others. Others may be people who need help and support, or the new friends and connections we make. By sharing an activity such as a Rotary Community Service project we not only meet new people but strengthen our ties to our community.

In our changing world we have seen that Rotary clubs have changed to meet the needs of our new members. Changes may take the form of new menu clubs, satellite clubs or for the brave, a complete reinvention of their traditional club.

Membership in Australia has sadly declined. One of the reasons is lack of engagement. Is it that we are so fixated on numbers that we fail to plan how that new member will be engaged in club activities?

The Rotary Foundation gives us a seventh area of focus, that of the environment. I believe the environment could be applied to our clubs. If we are looking at the sustainability of our clubs we might think of reinventing, repurposing, and recycling our old clubs.

This year we have been asked to start new “caused based clubs”. I have given some thought to this and have come up with a variation.

Recently a club survey found that there was overwhelming support to do something for the homeless. Unfortunately, members were fully committed to the projects they were already involved with. We tackled this by looking to organisations within our area to identify people with a vocation that dealt with homelessness. The next step was to contact leaders in these organisations and pitch our elevator speech of how they could add value to their employers by volunteering to support their passion through Rotary. We engaged three new members that were strong in the skillsets to address the community need, and Rotary provided the means to meet that need through its community service program. The result was a “Caused Based Focus Group” within our club. We increased membership, increased the diversity of our projects, and found a different way to support the wishes of our RIP Jennifer Jones wish to start new Caused Based Clubs.

I leave you with a John Lennon quote, “a dream you dream alone, is only a dream. A dream your dream together, is reality” Imagine that!