[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 705

[Garry & Anne Krischock]

1. 1363: Keeping it all in the family 

Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:32 pm (PST) 
The Rotary Bunch
Keeping it all in the family 

By Alice C. Chen

Judith Lorigan, a past assistant district governor, has been 
recruiting new Rotary club members for years without even knowing 
it. "I've spent a lot of life as a Rotarian," says Lorigan, of the 
Rotary Club of Bethel Park, Pa., USA. She adds that her family is 
always asking her, "What's going on?" The answer usually leads to 
some of her three children or seven grandchildren getting involved in 
service. That includes Lorigan's 14-year-old granddaughter Carly 
Zalenski, who has organized drives to send supplies and toys to 
Vietnam and helped raise $50,000 to build a school.

"It's incredible that Carly's been able to do this, to stay with it," 
says Lorigan, a 65-year-old retired bank manager who has been a 
Rotarian since 1988. "When she started this, I thought, This is going 
to be difficult."

Lorigan's family, along with others who can list Rotary affiliations 
through the years, serves as a reminder during New Generations Month 
that when seeking out potential club members, we shouldn't forget 
those who are right under our noses: our own children, grandchildren, 
nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

It only makes sense. After watching - and perhaps helping - their 
Rotarian family members dish out spaghetti in soup kitchens, give 
dictionaries to third graders, and raise money to drill wells in 
Africa, these potential recruits have come to personally understand 
the importance of volunteering and its ability to put smiles on the 
faces of both givers and receivers.

So just how can you get younger family members involved? It's quite 
simple, really.

"Invite them to the things you do," Lorigan says. Introduce them to 
Interact, Rotary's service program for people ages 14-18, and 
Rotaract, for those ages 18-30.

"My family always supported any function my Rotary club had," she 
adds. "They'd always come, be a part of it, donate, and buy raffle 
tickets."

It also helps to bring back photos. After distributing the items 
Carly helped provide to children in Vietnam, "I came back with 
pictures of the supplies and toys given to the kids," Lorigan 
recalls. "It was an incredible experience. They were thrilled. They 
had reconditioned Barbies. These little girls in Vietnam were smiling 
from ear to ear. Some had never had a toy."

Because of her influence, Lorigan's son-in-law Fred Zalenski decided 
to join the Rotary Club of Canton, Ohio, about two hours away from 
Lorigan's home.

The Rotary service bug spread to his daughter, Carly, who was in 
third grade when she initiated a project at her school to collect 
items for children to send overseas. She amassed 10 suitcases of 
materials, which her grandmother and other Rotarians took to Vietnam 
in 2002 for a school they'd helped build.

But Carly, who became a Paul Harris Fellow in April, didn't stop 
there. In 2006, she launched an effort to raise $50,000 to cover half 
the cost of constructing another school in Vietnam. (The other half 
was to come from the Vietnam Children's Fund, whose cochair is Ohio-
born Terry Anderson, a journalist who was held hostage in Beirut, 
Lebanon, from 1985 to 1991.) Carly began speaking to Rotary clubs 
about the project, and by June had rounded up enough money to meet 
her goal. To help raise funds, Anderson, who has met with Carly, 
spoke at a March benefit dinner in Canton.

"It's exciting," says Carly, who wants to become a Rotarian some 
day. "It's been such a surreal experience. Everything's been 
happening so fast."

Carly is starting high school this fall and plans to join an Interact 
club. She hopes to eventually become a Rotary Youth Exchange student, 
Rotaractor, and Group Study Exchange participant.

Vital signs
Fostering such fresh, energetic recruits is crucial to keeping clubs 
alive, according to Niki Zohrab, the young vice president of the 
Rotary Club of Chicago Lakeview, Ill., USA. Without new members, she 
points out, "Rotary is an organization that will die."

Like many other Rotarians, Zohrab was introduced to Rotary through 
her father, Gain. However, she's unusual because of her age: 33. 
(Rotary clubs tend not to have many members under age 40; a 2006 
survey reveals that 89 percent of Rotarians are 40 or older.)

A transplanted native of New Zealand, Zohrab was an adolescent when 
her father joined the Rotary Club of St. Johns in Auckland. He served 
for more than 10 years, eventually becoming its 1998-99 president. 
She occasionally accompanied him to meetings and helped assemble food 
baskets for needy families during Christmas. At age 16, she spoke to 
the club about a tall ship voyage she took.

After moving to Chicago, Zohrab wanted to meet people, make business 
connections, and help the community. Because of her exposure to 
Rotary, she decided to join a club in 2005.

"It's important to have younger members so we're staying with the 
changing trends," she says. "If someone's retired, they're not so 
much in touch with people of my own age group. We've got to keep it 
fresh with new, young blood all the time."

New worldview
"Young people bring a different perspective and energy," says 
Stephanie Ursini, president of the provisional Rotary Club of Denver 
Northwest, Sky High, Colo., USA.

She points out that once they join Rotary, young members recruit 
others to keep the organization vibrant.

President of a public relations and marketing firm, Ursini, 48, 
chairs the public relations and RI Convention promotion committees 
for District 5450. She received a 2005-06 Citation of Public Image 
Achievement from then RI President Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar.

Perhaps even more impressive is her record of perfect meeting 
attendance since joining Rotary in August 1998. And many times, she 
doesn't arrive alone. Ursini's 18-year-old daughter, Vanessa, 
typically attends about 10 meetings a year with her mother.

Vanessa admits that at the beginning, she went "because they had 
breakfast." Then she started listening at the meetings and heard how 
Rotarians want to help eradicate polio, she says. "I helped deliver 
food baskets and attended fundraisers and charity events. It made me 
feel good. I made lots of friends."

At the age of 14, Vanessa went to Italy for six weeks as a Youth 
Exchange student. The next year, she traveled to Peru, where she and 
her Rotarian host family handed out Christmas presents to 
disadvantaged children. Two months later, her mom visited and 
delivered about $3,500 worth of supplies for a free medical clinic.

"I love learning about new cultures and people," says Vanessa, adding 
that she "became so thankful for what I have because I could see how 
people with nothing could still put a smile on every day."

Ursini says that besides offering "a world of opportunity" not 
available through education alone, Rotary has helped her daughter 
avoid taking things for granted: "She doesn't let the water run in 
the sink to brush her teeth. She doesn't take hourlong showers. When 
she spends money, she considers what else it could've bought. It's 
amazing, her perspective. It definitely changed her life."

And the experience has instilled a desire to join Rotary. "I will 
keep the legacy going," says Vanessa, who plans to become a 
Rotaractor in college and apply for a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial 
Scholarship to study abroad.

Lasting legacy
Vanessa is continuing a legacy by following in her mother's 
footsteps. Every summer throughout grade school and high school, 
Ursini used to accompany her grandfather Carl Powell to meetings of 
the Rotary Club of Delta, Colo. She doesn't remember many details 
except that the club members were men who wore suits, seemed to eat a 
lot of chicken, and held picnics in the park. One thing that stands 
out in Ursini's mind, though, is the friendship that sprouted within 
the close-knit group. When her grandfather, a Rotarian for more than 
50 years, was in the hospital, club members sent cards to him and 
food to her grandmother. If there was a funeral or a life-changing 
event, the Rotarians were always providing support.

"Everyone seemed like family," she says. "We were always helping each 
other."

Ursini says keeping that fellowship alive is a primary reason why she 
became a Rotarian the year her grandfather died. "They just take care 
of each other. That's what made me a Rotarian."

---------------
This article originally appeared in the September 2007 issue of The 
Rotarian

Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary
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