Rotary Could Be Your Kind of Club

Just a few years ago, you could be forgiven for having thought Rotary clubs were for men only. That’s certainly what Christine Fraser-Wilson believed, 5 years back, when she was invited along to a meeting by a work colleague who thought she might be interested in joining.

“I also thought,” she says with a wry smile, “that Rotary was something of an ‘old boys’ network.”

Christine couldn’t have been more mistaken, and having accepted the initial invitation, she’s now a member of Rotary herself, and attends her club’s weekly breakfast meetings. These are held at a regular venue each week, and once a month at a different cafe, something which helps support local business.

“That first year was actually a little challenging,” she admits. “But only because I was reluctant to ask questions. There was something of an assumption, among members, that I knew how things worked, when in fact I didn’t.”

The other challenge for Christine was her job (she’s a hospital social worker) wasn’t in the centre of the city where many other members of her club worked

“Rotary enables members to utilise networking opportunities that build personal and professional connections,” she says, “but because I wasn’t running into other members on a daily basis, it took me quite some time before I took advantage of that. Finally, I plucked up enough courage to ask a fellow Rotarian, who was a lawyer, a question about enduring power of attorney, and it was really helpful.”

But the rewards of belonging to Rotary, and the opportunity to serve, far outweighed any initial misgivings Christine may have had.

“I’ve been involved in so many interesting projects,” she says of her club, which has two foci to its ‘serving’. “We concentrate on ‘children and youth’, and ‘water quality’. So far, we’ve raised money for an orphanage in Romania, and for a children’s ‘home-for-life’ project in Uganda, called ‘Fountain of Peace’. At a more local level we’ve supported Koha Kai (which assists people with disabilities into work), and YMCA youth, who help the club improve a local bush environment through planting and weed control.”

Perhaps one of the most memorable fund-raisers for Christine, was an accompanied visit to Fountain of Peace which she undertook with several others from the club.

“I went for my own curiosity,” she says of the journey to Uganda, “because I’m personally interested in how donations are used. But it was also an opportunity to tell others, back in New Zealand, about just what their fund raising was achieving.”

While Christine didn’t initially realise quite how much work would be involved in being a Rotary member, she’s quick to point out that it works out, on average, to be only a couple of hours a week (it’s just those hours may occasionally occupy a whole Saturday, for instance). Along with the work comes an opportunity to mix with people she might not usually get to meet, and among them, to make close friends.

Christine has also found the connections she’s forged personally useful.

“There are people in the club who have skills that I don’t. Not long ago, some members of the club helped me clear a section and paint my fence. It was win-win because, in turn, I donated money to the charity arm of our Rotary club ”

Along with regular weekly meetings, there is also the opportunity to attend district conferences, something which Christine enjoys for the talented line up of speakers who are inevitably engaged. Conferences are also an opportunity to share ideas for fundraising, and to meet others from further afield.

To anyone considering joining Rotary, Christine has no hesitation in recommending the club.

“Rotary is about doing good in the community, establishing contacts with a diverse range of individuals, and finding friendship.”

If Rotary sounds like your cup of tea, there’s no need to wait for an invitation. Simply approach your local club to ask to attend a meeting.