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Being on the District Membership Committee has been a real growth experience for me this year. Each month, membership chairs from clubs across the district join the Membership Huddle to discuss strategies for attracting and retaining new members. This week’s District Membership Huddle was much smaller than usual—just a dozen of us gathered online. But sometimes fewer voices make more room for deeper stories. Instead of talking tactics and spreadsheets, we talked about something far more meaningful:
How Rotary has shaped our lives.
We had longtime members and brand-new ones. Ages from 41 to 86. People whose Rotary stories stretched across nearly half a lifetime, and others whose journeys had just begun. Yet each story revealed a moment—sometimes quiet, sometimes life-altering—when Rotary shifted from being an organization they belonged to… into a part of who they are.
Three stories in particular stayed with me:
Remembering mom
One member shared that when her mother passed away early in her Rotary journey, she donated her mother’s wheelchair to Project C.U.R.E. Months later, at a District Conference, she visited the Project C.U.R.E. booth at the House of Friendship and casually mentioned it. To her astonishment, they were able to look up where that EXACT chair was, which was in Rwanda, being used by a teen girl who had lost a leg. She said she started “boo-hooing right there.” In that moment, grief became connection, and service became personal.
That was the day she said she stopped being in Rotary… and started being a Rotarian.
47 Years – 120 miles
Another story came from a gentleman who has been a Boulder Rotarian for 47 years. He’s held nearly every role imaginable—treasurer, president, adviser—and is deeply woven into the fabric of that massive club. Even after moving to Castle Rock to be closer to family, he still makes the 120-mile round trip to Boulder several times a week. Why? Because the people in that club have been part of his life longer than his grown children. What was once ‘just a club’ became part of his family.
The Alzheimer’s Rotarian Who Lights Up a Room
The chair of the Flying Bee Satellite Club of Highlands Ranch—average member age 84—shared a story about a member with advancing Alzheimer’s who still attends meetings faithfully. His favorite project is Reading Buddies, where first graders read to him. Members of his club gently shepherd him to and from his classroom. Each week, he returns glowing, lifted by the joy of being part of something meaningful. Service still teaches him. Rotary still reaches him.
So As We Approach Year’s End…
These stories reminded me that Rotary is not defined by bylaws, budgets, or attendance reports.
Rotary is defined by moments—moments that change us, soften us, stretch us, surprise us.
And so I offer you the question we asked ourselves at the Huddle:
Are you in Rotary… or are you a Rotarian?
There is no right answer.
There is only reflection.
Maybe your moment has already happened.
Maybe it’s still ahead.
Maybe it will come in the form of a child reading aloud, a connection made across continents, or a small act of service that suddenly feels much bigger.
As we close out the year, I hope you take a quiet moment to notice how Rotary has touched your life—
- in the friendships that feel like family,
- in the purpose that grounds you,
- and in those unexpected moments when you realize you are part of something larger than yourself.
Here’s to the moments that make us who we are.
Here’s to becoming Rotarians—again and again, every day we choose to serve.
With warm Rotary hugs,