By Rotary International

Rotary members in North Carolina host delegates from Russia in the Open World program.

By Greg Batz, a member of the Rotary Club of White Bear Lake

Twelve years ago, I was invited by a fellow Rotarian from a neighboring Rotary club to chauffer a delegation of Russian judges to the federal court house in Minneapolis for a tour and meetings on a Friday morning. Little did I know how that simple offer to help that day would change my life.

These five judges had been nominated and selected to participate in the Open World Leadership Program and were just finishing their 10 day visit to the United States. The experience I had that day was the beginning of an opportunity to travel to Russia four times and experience a country that most Americans only read about in the news or see on TV.

Members of the Rotary Club of White Bear Lake host visiting Open World delegates.

My wife and I have dozens of wonderful Russian friends from Moscow and St. Petersburg, to Ufa, Stavropol, and Krasnoyarsk. We have experienced Siberian banya’s (saunas), spelunking, broken bread, shot vodka, and eaten caviar with these friends. We’ve been invited guests to a wedding, hiked in the …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Binish Desai and the brick his company makes from industrial waste.

By Binish Desai, a member of the Rotary Club of Bulsar, India, and a former Rotary Youth Exchange student

India is my Nation
Valsad is my Station
Helping is my Aim
Binish is my Name

I’ll never forget the introduction I used as an exchange student.

This year, I have had the outstanding opportunity of not only meeting other youth exchange students from around the world, but of being recognized by my Rotary community as an outstanding alumnus. My youth exchange took place in 2009-10 almost six years ago, and yet my Rotary experience feels like it’s just beginning.

Binish Desai takes part in the Polar Bear Plunge.

During my exchange to Waukegan, Illinois, I searched for opportunities to be a part of the community and help out. For this I took up a challenge called the Polar Bear Plunge, which involved jumping into a frozen Lake Michigan in the heart of winter! I collected the highest amount any individual had ever collected for the event to support Special Olympics. In recognition of my community service, the town of Waukegan gave me their ambassador pin, and my host school district awarded me with a Superintendent’s Leadership Award. I …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Rotary Youth Exchange students from 1991 reunite 25 years later.

By Emma Naas, a former Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Sweden

In the summer of 1991, 377 Rotary Youth Exchange students boarded eight buses and journeyed around the American continent for five weeks. Those weeks were for all of us unforgettable, and a fantastic end to our exchange year. The time we spent on those buses was so special, it created an unforgettable bond between us and a wonderful memory. We never thought we would ever meet again. But we were wrong.

Five years ago, we started a closed Facebook group with about 30 members. We helped each other track down and find as many members of that tour as possible. Today we are 278 strong.

On 21 July through 24 July, about 100 members of the 1991 tour met again for the first time in 25 years. The reunion was held in Spain with former exchange students flying in from 24 different countries as far away as Australia, the Philippines, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, USA, and Japan, to join many from the European countries.

During those four days we realized that the trust we based our friendship on 25 years ago is still there. We …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Members of the Rotary Club of James River, Richmond, Virginia, USA.

By Richard Cunningham, Rotary Club of James River, Richmond, Virginia, USA

My club is a relatively young club (10 years) and does not carry some of the baggage older clubs do, although we certainly have had our problems. The club had dwindled down to just four members at one point before I transferred into it in 2012.

Near the end of 2012, a small team embarked on a structured and planned process of cultural change. Under the umbrella of “Service-Centered Leadership,” we have been able to achieve some amazing results. The club has grown to 24 members and is on its way to stabilizing at 40 active members, at which time we will look to seed another club.

What is the secret of our success? We take a strategic, not tactical approach. Our core membership message mirrors RI President John Germ’s recipe for growth: engage members in community activities. We have dynamic projects in both basic education and literacy, and maternal and child health. Every one of our last five new members has a connection with either the medical field or education, or both. One new member was a transfer, who switched because …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Dave Revsine

By Dave Revsine, former Rotary Scholar and studio host for the Big Ten Network, adapted from a presentation to the Rotary Club of Deerfield, Illinois, USA

A year in Ireland as a Rotary Scholar changed my life. It is something I still think about every day. It altered my life trajectory, and allowed me to see the world in a different way.

I was entering my senior year at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and trying to figure out what to do with my life, when a good friend of my dad’s, a professor at Rice University, set up a lunch to talk about my career aspirations. As a history major, I had good grades, was starting an LSAT review course, and figured I’d probably end up going to law school. But I wasn’t excited about it.

Through a series of questions, he learned I had a desire to study abroad, though I had never wanted to miss a year on campus. He let me know I could still qualify for what was then called a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship.

It sounded like an incredible opportunity, so I called my high school principal who was active with the Northbrook Rotary Club, got an …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog