A Rotarian Journey - First 2 Weeks

6 Weeks ago, my time with a great company came to and end, as my project was at a jumping off point, and I found myself with quite a bit of free time on my hands.

Now, please do not misunderstand; I am actively working to find another role, helping a few companies with some business development, my wife owns a small business that requires my attention on a regular basis and I am Mr. Mom on more that a few occasions. So please do not think that I am not keeping busy.

The reason I mention all of this is that I have some extra time on my hands that I might not have again AND after a great conversation with one of my fellow Rotarians, I realized that my circle of influence was in great need of improving. The suggestion was made to go visit some of the other local clubs, so I decided to go visit a few for pretty selfish reasons, not to find a opportunity, but to personally meet other Rotarians in the area and to build my circle of influence.

For those of you who have no idea what Rotary is or stands for, I will begin with the beginning of Rotary, which started as a group of 4 business leaders who got together to network and to develop friendships as an opportunity for service.

The members chose the name Rotary because initially they rotated subsequent weekly club meetings to each other's offices, although within a year, the Chicago club became so large it became necessary to adopt the now-common practice of a regular meeting place.

The reason for all the preamble, is that something I started for a selfish reason has morphed pretty quickly into a Journey - how long it will take to compete, I have no idea, but I believe it will be a pretty fun ride. Along those lines, I have decided to log my journey and write about the highlights of the time spent with other Rotarians and to relay a few observations as I see them.

Day 1 - Planning on going to a breakfast club in Katy TX, Mr. Mom needed at home, not a great way to start. - Mr. Mom will play a role in my Journey, more on that soon!

Day 2 - I decided to visit a nearby local club, The Rotary Club of Rosenberg, which is a short drive from where I live. It is a Wednesday lunch club in a western suburb of Houston. As I walked in the very first person I saw was my club's incoming president Susan Tomchesson, so it was an easy start.

What happened next is the most important thing to happen, this changed my few clubs to a long journey to visit all 61 clubs in Rotary District 5890.

As I was speaking to Susan, a woman wearing a Morning Glory Ranch shirt, came up and and introduced herself, "Hello I am Jeanne Noxon, and I am on a mission to visit all the clubs in the district". At this point, I am planning to visit maybe 10 clubs, but in a moment of profound confusion, I state "that sounds like a great idea, me too"....right about now I am thinking to myself, what did I just say, boy was that dumb, I have a chance to rescind this statement right..however, Jeanne immediately responds, with "great, maybe we should do it together". Now I am committed! After some further conversation, Jeanne is going to take some pictures and I am going to journal my time. There is going to be some overlap as we are trying to plan our visits together.

Here are the things I intend to document, basic club information (small, medium, large), the speaker information and subject, club projects and charities if I can get that information and anything they do that is different than the other clubs I visit.

So back to Club 1 - Rosenberg - They meet Wednesdays at noon at the Ol' Railroad Cafe in Rosenberg. This club is what I would call a midsize club that has about 30 members and around 15 were in attendance. The speaker was a young man, Jacob Taylor, who had attended the Boys State, sponsored by the American Legion. This flat out gave me hope for the next generation of leaders in the world. A young man, 17 years of age, so passionate about his experience at Boys State was a pleasure to see. - We have a 15 year old staying with us and he spends most of his time sleeping or playing video games, like most teenagers, so this is a very nice sight for me.

As with most Rotary Clubs there was a call to order, the pledge of allegiance, guest introduction and they had a 50/50 raffle. The club's big event is an Annual Gumbo Festival and some of the charities I was informed about were $9000.00 donated in scholarships to BF Terry and Needville High School students, Texana Center, Shield Bearer (which is pretty popular with local Rotary), and as a sponsor for Boys State through the American Legion.

Visit them on Facebook The Rotary Club of Rosenberg

Day 3 - Rotary Club of Katy, again pretty close to me. This club is a Thursday lunch club that meets at the Falcon Point Landing Country Club. This is one of the largest clubs in the area, they have 69 members and about 40 were in attendance. Welcome, check. 4-way test at the beginning, guest introductions, check. The presentation was by the newly appointed president Jeff Thompson and it was a planning for the first 100 days.

This club, like very many, makes a huge social impact on their community. However, the Rotary Club of Katy has a long tenure and some great events that allow for them to make a huge financial impact on the community as well. All clubs make an impact on the communities they exist in, some just make a bigger splash. As Jeff was reviewing the budgets and future expected contributions, my mind started turning as to what we can do to our club that can have the same impact.

Their big events are The Wild West Brew Fest and the Katy Triathlon. They sponsor a variety of Charities including Child Advocates of Fort Bend, Katy ISD Future Farmers of America, the VA just to name a few. They gave over $126,000 to the community in the 2016-2017 Rotary year, very impressive.

Visit them on Facebook The Rotary Club of Katy

Day 4 - Rotary Club of Richmond, Mr. Mom again gonna try again next week.

Day 5 - Rotary Club of Bear Creek - Copperfield, at little bit further out but certainly not a lengthy drive. This is a great little club, also a Thursday lunch club, it meets at the Spring Creek BBQ, they had all the norms, welcome, prayer, 4-way test, pledge of allegiance and the had Happy News (my club does this). Happy News is an opportunity for each club member to donate $1 to charity and to disclose something interesting, happy, funny or sometimes even sad with balance of the club.

Jeanne is here as well. This is a small club, and I visited on 4th of July week, so the attendance was low. The meeting had a great fireside chat feel, there was not a scheduled speaker, but a prospective member discussed the catalyst for starting a 501C3 non profit organization and it was quite entertaining. They raised some money doing Flags for the 4th and I was derelict in gathering the other sources of fundraising. Now, they were happy to tell me the charities they give to in the area: Kindles for the 6-8 graders in the local ISD, they support some clean water projects in Africa, Guerrero Eye Clinic in Mexico, Shield Bearer and Special Pals which is a no-kill animal shelter.

Day 6 - Rotary Club of Brazos River - this is my home club and we had a Club Assembly. We are a Friday breakfast club that meets at Weston Lakes Country Club. We are a medium size Rotary Club with 35 members, our weekly turnout was about average 18-20. We do the welcome, prayer, pledge, Texas pledge and happy dollars to open our meeting and end with the 4-way test. I will write more when there is a great speaker in the future.

Visit us on Facebook The Rotary Club of Brazos River

Only 3 visits over the last 2 weeks, but add in the Fulshear Freedom Fest Rotary Booth on the 4th, Family Hope Food Fair - run by one of my club members, Pastor Dale Olson - and acting as BBQ judge and a Rotary representative, along with Tony Francis, at the Caring4Katy event on Saturday, it has been a long and productive 2 weeks in Rotary.

If you made it to the end of this, thank you. In the future I will try and be a little more brief. Now off to the Rotary Club of River Oaks, 1 of 3 this week.