Rotary is a major part of our lives. We seem to have been ripped off by so many people but are proud to say that in the nine years that we have been involved in Rotary, no Rotarian has ever given us bad advice or ripped us off. Rotarians live by an ethics and values code which is summarised in the 4-Way Test.

We are a family of Rotarians and our daughter is the youngest Rotarian in our district. Paige told us one night that she was joining our club and that was that. She had been exposed through us to other club members and decided that she too wanted to do something for her community while she was still at school. She applied to be on our local youth council and was accepted on her second attempt.

Paige is now on Boards for many organisations throughout the country and travels more than Gabrielle and I. She nearly failed her final year at school because of the time spent off school doing these activities. Paige is currently studying to be a lawyer and is also doing a marketing degree at the same time. None of this would not have happened without our family’s exposure to Rotary and its’ values and ethics.

Our club has a traditional weekly meeting with a pre-dinner drink, meal and guest speaker format. I’ve also been involved in setting up a new club in our town which is completely different, as it’s a fortnightly discussion with a glass of wine and home baking. Both clubs are a lot of fun and are underwritten by values, ethics and being of service to your community. Rotarians are people of action and clubs are involved in their communities.

There are over 35,000 clubs around the world and I’m sure that your local club would love to tell you more about theirs.  You can also check them out on www.rotary.org.