Calling all community leaders - the Rotary Club of Cochrane wants you.
Steve Cook, the new president of the Rotary Club of Cochrane, has made it a priority to let all types of leaders within Cochrane know that they are welcome to join the local service club.
Growing the club is something Cook said would allow them to do more community projects both locally and internationally.
Cook took over the role of president July 1 from Tom Wilk.
Each year, the club elects a president and the previous president will hold the title of past president for one year.
Rotary International was founded in 1905, has over 1.2 million members worldwide and 34,000 official clubs all over the world.
The Cochrane club currently has 34 members, but both Cook and Wilk said they would like to see it grow to 50 or more.
“We want people to be a part of rotary and experience it,” said Cook. “We want this club to grow dramatically so that we have the horsepower to do the kind of projects that we want to do this year. That is really what I’m hoping to accomplish.”
Rotary has been involved in a variety of youth support and development causes locally, such as an international exchange program, talent festivals and high school bursaries. They have also taken on projects partnering with local organizations, such as Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park and the Nan Boothby Memorial Library.
A few of Cochrane Rotary’s international endeavours include a water project in India and sponsoring students in the Malawi school program.
Cook emphasized that Rotary is evolving in terms of who they want as members of their club. He said that members in the past have tended to be retired or current professionals, but now they are looking for what they call community leaders.
“People who have integrity and want to do good work in the world and just want to be involved in something that’s fun and gives back at the same time,” said Cook of who he views as a community leader. He added that it could range from a stay-at-home mom to a soccer coach to a University student.
“Rotary wants to grow and to do what they need to allow more variety of disciplines, people and lifestyles into the club. We don’t have any more rules as far as what you have to be to be part of the club,” he said.
Another change has been the time and location of the weekly meeting, which will now be every Tuesday at the Cochrane Legion from 12 – 1 p.m. Lunch will be provided.
The club was originally meeting once a week in the morning for breakfast, but they found that it wasn’t accommodating a lot of lifestyles.
They pointed out, that although it is a time commitment to meet once a week, you’ve got to eat lunch anyway – why not have it while engaging with the community.
They also mentioned that although they do have meetings that deal with official club business, they also have meetings with dynamic speakers and fun events such as barbecues and dueling pianos.
Wilk said that Rotary knows there are a lot of volunteer organizations and it may be difficult for people to determine which they want to commit their time to. During his tenure as president, he helped to work on the club’s brand identity and message.
“If you don’t have a strong message, then it is really hard to recruit people and engage them,” he explained.
He said the Rotary Club of Cochrane decided to develop its message around Rotary International’s six areas of focus, including peace and conflict resolution/prevention, maternal and child health, disease prevention and treatment, literacy and education, water and sanitation and economic and community development.
He said they combined these needs with more specific needs of the local community and put together a vision statement. It states that the Rotary Club of Cochrane, “will be the local service club of choice for community leaders of diverse backgrounds with high ethical standards and a sincere interest in making a difference in the lives of others.”
Cook and Wilk both agreed that the club has helped them both grow as people and opened members’ eyes to what others have experienced. They hope others will come and experience this too.
