Page 6 - 2024年8月號

Stephanie Urchick
(rear right) listens
as a member of her
club in McMurray,
Pennsylvania,
speaks at their
weekly meeting.
From challenge to opportunity

I f we are to truly change the world with The growth is due to the club’s sense of inclusivity — the

Magic of Rotary, it’s up to all of us to foster a
fi rst step toward belonging.
If you ask members what they expect from the
sense of belonging in our clubs. But every club
should take its own path to get there, and the
Action Plan can help you fi nd your way. What club experience, you might fi nd that your club doesn’t
meet expectations. Think of this as an opportunity to
does that look like? reshape your club in exciting ways, as alternative club
Take for instance the Rotary Club of Beveren- models are making a positive impact.
Waas in Belgium. It was chartered in 1974 but has For example, a Rotary Fellowship called Beers
evolved with the times, developing both a strategic Rotarians Enjoy Worldwide, or BREW, has worked
plan and a membership plan. To fi nd new members, closely with the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
the club analyzes the city’s professions to help focus Rotary Action Group for the past eight years to assist
its search, and all new members are quickly assigned with clean water projects. In that time, BREW has
tasks and roles. funneled 25 percent of its dues to those initiatives.
The club also mixes up meeting times, alternat- BREW is one of many examples of members pur-
ing between evening and afternoon sessions, making suing belonging to improve the world.
them accessible for all members. I can’t stress enough the importance of belonging.
Sometimes, circumstances force clubs to make Clubs become simply irresistible when all members
changes. But as people of action, we know that behind feel that they are exactly where they need to be. To
PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTINE ARMBRUSTER after the COVID-19 pandemic, but members took this the community you serve, I urge you to pursue that Learn about
me, belonging is the spark that ignites The Magic of
every obstacle is an opportunity.
The Rotary Club of Holyoke in Massachusetts was
Rotary.
forced from its meeting place because of rising costs
As you receive feedback from club members and
setback and turned it into a strength. The club started
spark. The Action Plan can help you fi nd the path to
meeting in a library community room that was avail-
success, and if you light your way with the spirit of
able for no charge and catering lunch from a nearby
belonging, that path will lead to a bright future for
your club, your community, and the world.
deli. Lunch costs $10 per person but it’s optional, so no
one has to spend money to attend a meeting. What a
great way to work toward being “fair to all concerned.”
Rotary’s Action
President, Rotary International
org/actionplan.
gained 13 members . I suspect part of its membership
4 Since making this change, the Holyoke club has STEPHANIE A. URCHICK Plan at rotary.
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