If you’ve been wondering whether now is the right moment to say “yes” to Rotary, let these candid reflections from fellow Rotarian Paul Mason be your inspiration.
During two days of on-camera conversations with nine Cobourg Rotarians, many of them dynamic young professionals, Paul discovered the friendships, mentorship, and world-changing service that flourish behind our motto “Service Above Self.” From organizing a 700-volunteer COVID-19 clinic in just 72 hours to raising funds that help eradicate polio worldwide, our members prove that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary impact together. Read Paul’s story below, and if his words resonate, we invite you to join us and start writing your own story of action with Cobourg Rotary.
Paul's story:
"I had a revelatory and sometimes moving set of experiences this last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cobourg Rotary had invited me to conduct nine on-camera interviews with some of its members. Most, though not all, of those interviews were with young professional women. Now, I’m a fairly articulate fellow but, inspired by their passion for the work they do, these people were positively eloquent.
Rotary is among the largest community service clubs in the world. It has a membership of roughly 1.5 million in 46,000 clubs in almost every nation. SERVICE ABOVE SELF is the association’s motto.
The range of the Cobourg club’s activities is truly impressive. It ranges from the very small – purchasing a wheelchair for someone who can’t afford it – to the very large: creating a public park, planting hundreds of trees a year, and paying to sink wells in Africa and build toilet facilities for schools in South America. Perhaps its biggest ongoing project has been to eradicate polio: Rotary International has donated $850 million to this cause over the decades, and the Cobourg club alone raised $50,000 in donations from members in a single lunch hour a couple of months ago.
Perhaps the local club’s biggest local project was staged in 2020. The Covid vaccines had been developed, but delivery was a challenge. Over the space of 72 hours a group of Rotarians organized what eventually became a volunteer corps of 700 people (by no means all Rotary members) to set up and staff a vaccine clinic in Cobourg’s Community Centre. That clinic eventually saw the delivery of 90,000 vaccine doses. This initiative brought the premier (and the CBC) to Cobourg to observe the action, and Mr. Ford observed that the program should become a model for communities across the nation.
So what’s in it for Rotary members? I asked. If you have to fund every initiative out of your own pockets – and through fundraising projects like Ribfest and the Waterfront Festival – what do YOU get in return? The answers were simple but profound: deep friendships, and the knowledge that they had done something good and meaningful. One highly successful older gentleman also observed that the mentorship he had received from other Rotarians had been the equivalent of an MBA. “You learn so much,” he said.
The Cobourg club has 120 members but is growing. Most of my friends live in other communities, and in other countries, however. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow and to give of yourself, do feel encouraged to contact your local club."
A special shout out to Mark Rockburn (Producer) and Cogeco/Your TV for the creation of the videos - keep a look out, they will be added soon!
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