This week we had the pleasure of hosting our District Governor, Marilyn Stevens, whose home club is Kapiti.
After presenting Paul Harris Fellow awards to David Pine and Nick Walmsley, she gave us a short talk focused on the question ‘why did you join Rotary?”.
Marilyn started by referring to the PR disaster caused by an Auckland club (the toilet seat scandal), and assured us that the fallout was being managed.
Her own entry into Rotary was somewhat accidental, but since then she has come to appreciate the splendid contribution Rotary makes to lives all over the world. Many of these examples come to light at Rotary conferences.
High on the agenda at present is assisting the people of Ukraine, where there are 67 active Rotary clubs. In addition to funding, there has been a hair-raising delivery of medical aid vehicles from Finland to the Ukrainian front line.
Marilyn went on to pose another question: how do we pitch Rotary to prospective members? A combination of local community projects (e.g. the Porirua skatepark and Te Ara Piko), and making people aware of Rotary’s international efforts, are important factors.