Rotary Club Looks to Evolve and Successfully Rise Past Challenges

Over its 117-year history, Rotary has had to continually adapt to a changing world and freshen itself with new members and service projects to tackle on a local and global scale.

That was never more evident than during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when local Rotary clubs were unable to meet in person, yet it’s when some of its most important work was needed.

In each community where there are Rotarians, including in Westchester, the passions and the challenges for the local chapters of the international service organization differ and evolve over time. For example, during the pandemic, most clubs were forced to meet virtually, and some have continued to convene that way even as more people become comfortable gathering again in person.

That has contributed toward an uptick in interest and membership in some areas.

“We’re asking clubs to be as flexible as possible, so if you’re looking for a cohort that doesn’t have the ability to come to a Wednesday lunch, find the cohort and see what their passions are and see when they can meet, start a satellite club or a new club,” said Martin Schulman, the district governor for District 7230, which includes Westchester, Manhattan, Staten Island and Bermuda, and a Bronxville Rotary Club member.

District 7230 takes in 49 local clubs and hundreds of members across its territory, with more than 20 clubs in Westchester. But today, rather than the district dictating or heavily influencing the projects and causes that individual clubs take on, clubs engage in initiatives that follow their members’ passions, said Rotarian Barbara Hanna, an area governor for District 7230 and a member of the Rivertowns Rotary.

Hanna said in 2005, when she was the president of a local club, they were tasked with four major goals that had to be met. Today, clubs are asked to take on projects that are in at least one of seven broad categories: promoting peace; fighting disease; protecting the environment; clean water, sanitation and hygiene; saving mothers and children; supporting education; and growing local economies.

There are more than 46,000 Rotary International clubs worldwide with membership exceeding 1.4 million. What Rotarians have in common, regardless of where they meet or the language they speak, is that they want to work toward making positive change in the world.

“I think that’s exciting,” Hanna said. “One club to the next will be different because their passions are different. They may be in similar communities, but they’re going to follow their passion.”

Schulman said that over the past 35 years, one of Rotary’s top priorities has been to eradicate polio from the planet. That has largely been achieved, although there were pockets in Afghanistan and Pakistan and over the summer a positive case in Rockland County.
Individual clubs being part of an international organization allows members to think and act both locally and globally, said the district’s Membership Chair Hugh Maynard-Reid.

What is unique, Maynard-Reid said, is any Rotarian can walk into a meeting anywhere in the world and be welcomed.

Aside from the pandemic, work and lifestyle challenges regularly crop up holding down membership, particularly in Westchester, Schulman said. In Westchester and many suburbs, communities have coalesced primarily around schools rather than a particular industry, unlike much of North America, he said.

The challenge for Rotary leaders is to attract new members in the 18- to 35-year-old range. Schulman said he tries to tell other Westchester Rotarians that in Bronxville the community has very little need for any of the work that the organization does but it doesn’t prevent them from continuing to work.

“That’s the beauty of being an international organization, in that you can partner with clubs anywhere in the world on projects and have much greater impact,” Schulman said.

A key to perpetuating Rotary is making sure that there are motivated and talented replacements for a club’s officers when the current terms expire, said Syed Alirahi, the district governor nominee.

“When you have a president and you’re doing a good thing, you also make sure you’re training a good incoming president,” Alirahi said. “This is the key. If you don’t have the roadmap for who can take over and follow in your footsteps, then what happens? Within two, three years, clubs have gone back to what it was, maybe four or six members.”

Prospective Rotarians should be invited to a club by a current member, although some of those who have been interested reach out on their own.

Maynard-Reid said a new Interact Club in Pelham, for example, may be the future of Rotary. Members are collecting school supplies for students in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. He finds it especially gratifying to watch the club, which is comprised of high school students, take ownership of their projects. They enthusiastically practice the club’s core message – service about self – and many will eventually become part of the next generation of Rotarians.

“What’s fascinating is when we see the young people taking that as their mantra and running with it,” Maynard-Reid said.
In dollars and cents, the value of Rotary speaks for itself. Schulman said a Johns Hopkins study in 2016 estimated the value of the work done by Rotary at about $850 million a year.

But it’s really about helping others and making the world a better place.

“(For) people who have that common desire to serve, then if you have that passion, then this is the place for you,” Maynard-Reid said.
For more information about Rotary, visit www.rotary.org, or to learn more about the local clubs, visit www.rotary7230.org

Martin Wilbur

Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/