Last year, on a very hot Saturday in September, a group from the Rotary Club of Cochrane, headed down to the Cochrane Farmers’ Market. There, they carried out a survey, targeting people who live in Cochrane and surrounding area and 114 surveys were completed.
The first questions was: “When I say “Rotary” what image does that conjure up? (e.g. What sort of people become Rotarians / What Rotarians do)”. Reponses included: Community Service (27), No idea / No clue (20), Volunteering (6), International work (4) and Supporting youth (3). Other comments were: Some type of social club, Business people, WASP’s (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants), Like Knights of Columbus, Legionnaires, and a paddling club with boats.
Other questions included: “Did you know there is a Rotary Club in Cochrane?” (There are, in fact, two Rotary clubs in town) and “Are you aware of any projects that the Rotary club is involved in?” The results were surprising, to say the least. Very few people could answer “Yes” to either question.
Some people still believe that Rotary is for men only and, for many years, that was the image of a Rotarian. They were “Just a bunch of Romeos,” a group of “Retried Old Men, Eating Out”.
Thankfully, times have changed. The Rotary Club of Cochrane currently has forty-five members and nineteen of them are women. That includes the current President, Monica Walker. And the one thing that all of them have in common is that they believe in the principal motto of Rotary “Service Above Self”. They want to improve the lives of people in the local community, nationally and internationally.
Rotarians also provide opportunities for the youth in our community, through a range of projects and offer support by the allocation of scholarships and bursaries. Rotary offers people the chance to volunteer, support their community, meet new friends and use their skills and experience to better the lives of others.
The Club would like to offer you the opportunity to find out more. Therefore, they are inviting you to attend the “Rotary in Action” evening, at Cochrane Public Library on May 30th from 5:30pm until 7.00pm. You will be able to meet members of the Rotary Club of Cochrane and hear about some of their projects and programmes.
If you are interested in attending, please register at: www.rotarycochrane.ca/event/rotary-in-action/
Registration is free and is open until May 27th. Refreshments will be provided.
Everyone is welcome.
© 2024 Martin Parnell
