The visit to Prince George this week by Rotary International president-elect Ian Riseley comes at a pivotal moment in the history of the world's oldest service club but also in the life of all service organizations. Riseley toured Prince George Wednesday and is speaking to the local media this morning before attending a lunch with Prince George's three Rotary clubs (editor's note: I am currently the president of the Nechako Rotary Club).
A longtime Rotarian from Australia, Riseley's job starting July 1 will be to preside over a group with 1.2 million members in about 34,000 clubs worldwide. Yet Rotary, like all service clubs, is suffering in North America from dwindling membership. The support in Prince George and elsewhere for Rotary's community service and public projects remains high but interest in joining Rotary has been waning for years. Everybody loves Operation Red Nose, Taste of India, the Big Blue Ball, the soccer fields, the skateboard parks, the waterspray park and Rotary Hospice House but it's much harder to attract individuals to Rotary and then keep them there.
We're all so busy, our lives are so complicated, our jobs and our families are so demanding. Plus there are a multitude of other volunteer opportunities for deserving organizations that are just as meaningful without the open-ended commitment that comes with being a Rotarian or being a member of Kiwanis (like Citizen publisher Colleen Sparrow), the Elks, the Kinsmen, the Loyal Order of the Moose or other service groups.
Combine those factors with the image problem facing service clubs in general and Rotary in particular. Their members are older (and that's being polite), their club protocols demand adherence to dated customs and there is little more than a token effort to engage anyone under 40. Put another way, mom and dad jokes are in great supply, as are proud grandparent stories, when these folks get together. While engagement from the remaining members is high, the long-term sustainability of the clubs is a question mark.
Yet many service groups are trying to get with it.
Kiwanis holds the annual AleFest as its major annual fundraiser. It sold out on Saturday in just 10 minutes. This is the kind of event to attract a much broader (and younger) membership to Kiwanis. For the members, hosting AleFest is not only fun and rewarding, it's a great way to engage the community and attract new members.
In Rotary, all three local clubs are virtually 50-50 male to female, helping erase the damage done by not allowing women into Rotary until the ridiculously late year of 1989.
While aging members remain an issue, there is change in the air. At 48, I am the oldest club president this year. Marnie Hamagami, this year's president of the Yellowhead Rotary Club, is in her thirties, while Ross Birchall, the Rotary Club of Prince George president, is in his twenties.
Change takes time, something many service groups are running out of, as The Citizen's Ted Clarke wrote in a story on the topic three years ago. That's why Riseley is travelling far and wide to motivate Rotarians to remind them of their valuable work, both to their communities and to international development. All three local clubs currently support global initiatives, from schools in India to water wells in Africa. As a whole, Rotary took the lead 30 years ago in eradicating polio.
Before the four new cases in Nigeria this year, Africa had been polio-free for two years, with only Afghanistan and Pakistan reporting new cases. Eliminating a devastating virus from the world is only possible with a decades-long commitment with millions of members, billions of dollars and fierce commitment.
It is this degree of commitment that separates ordinary volunteers from service club members. Volunteers want to lend a hand, service clubs want to improve their communities and change lives.
Volunteering is great but service club members surround themselves with like-minded people who make it part of their daily lives to strive to make things better.
If that sounds like something worth being a part of, there is a service club in Prince George that could use your help.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
