Why I Joined Rotary by Alan Andron

Why did I join Rotary?

The "blame" (note the scare quotes) must be spread evenly among a number of people. First and foremost, Carolyn Clark and Chris Hansen played a very direct role in my joining Rotary. They were the ones who did the required "arm twisting" to get me to commit to the club, and our running gag has been that someday the arm that was twisted will heal...

However, there is far more to it than that - I don't say yes that easily to things that I don't believe in. For that, I need to spread the "blame" further to my grandfather Proc. My grandfather moved to Canada in 1949 at the young age of 48 years old, with four of his five children in tow (the oldest remained in Europe as she was married) and not much more than the clothes on his back. He re-started his life from scratch, and while he never became wealthy, he was happy with what he had and with the opportunities that Canada had provided him. As a result, he was a fierce believer in giving back in some way, whether through financial support or through volunteering. Growing up I heard firsthand the stories of the devastation of Europe in World War II and the challenges of re-starting life in a foreign land when you couldn't even speak the language. I came to appreciate what the community did for my family at an early age from my grandparents' stories and experiences. I basically grew up knowing that someday I had a responsibility to find a way to give back to the community, to contribute, no matter what my personal situation might be.

As you can see, the seed was planted early, the question that needed to be answered was the 'How?' to give back. Growing up, I had always heard of the Rotary Club and what it did - it seemed that if you wanted to get a project done in Lethbridge, you went to the Rotary Club for the money and or the labour to do it. Rotary had a reputation for getting the job done. I started by volunteering with other organizations in the area and kept running into people who were Rotarians.

Fast-forward to 2002 - the Rotary Clubs were planning the first Dragon Boat Festival, and I asked Carolyn if they needed volunteers or if it was restricted to Rotary. I got volun-drafted into the project and ended up as a finish line timer and judge (having never seen a dragon boat race in my life!). I came back the second and third years to do that task, as well as help train some of the people who still work the finish line to this day. In the process I was exposed more to Rotary, and had some of the myths about Rotary dispelled (for example that it was only business people).

When I was finally asked to join in 2004, it was easy to say "yes" even though I joke about having my arm twisted. The real twisting resulted in me chairing the 4th Dragon Boat Festival, but that is a story for another day.

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"Why I Joined Rotary" is a monthly column. If you would like to share your story drop me a line at campbell.reed@shaw.ca or 403-328-2209. Judi Reed