Message from Incoming Rotary International President Ian Riseley

The comments below are important Rotary value propositions when trying to recruit new members to our Club.

 

The following is a brief excerpt from the interview with incoming RI President Ian Riseley in the March, 2017 edition of the Rotarian magazine. Ian Riseley will be here in Oct., 2017 for the Charter Dinner celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Rotary in PEI.

 

Question: If a young person asked you why he or she should join Rotary what, in order, would you say?

 

Answer:" There are four elements. The first one is friendship. Rotary offers the opportunity to meet people in a semi-social environment and also achieve good things. The second one is personal development. I became the third President of my Club at a very young age. I didn't enjoy speaking in public, but being involved in a Rotary Club means that you're encouraged...in a friendly environment to get experience speaking, running meetings, motivating people,... The third is business development. We've shied away from this over a period of time, and I don't think we should.... Rotary is good for business. Why should we shy away from this? The fourth one, and by far the most important, is the chance to make a difference in the world.  "

 

 

 

Rotary was initially founded in 1905 by Paul Harris, an accountant, who had just moved to Chicago, and was looking to make contacts with local like minded business people. Rotary was founded on friendship and business development. It was not until 1907 that Rotary make the leap into Community projects. The first public Rotary service project was the construction of public toilets in Chicago. This step transformed Rotary into the world’s first Service Club.

 

Vibrant Clubs require ongoing recruitment form the local business community in order for Rotary to survive and grow. Rotary's main goal of making a difference in the world and it's members pursuing this goal, will make the Club members well known in the local Community. This encourages the community to support those Club members.