District 5110 Governor, Rick Olson, spoke today. Rick joined Rotary in 1986. He is from the Eugene area and served as President of the Eugene downtown club.

Passion

Passion is key to what Rotary is and should be. At every board meeting, Rick asks if they are focused on the passion of their members.

Every great Rotary project starts as the passion of one person. At most board meetings, however, members say their club is focused more on the passion of the club, not the individuals. So Rick’s mission is to ignite the passions of members. He wants each new person who walks through a club’s door to know this is the place where passions grow into legacies.

Ask yourself…what is your legacy? What is the legacy you want to leave?

Your family of Rotarians can give the opportunity to connect your individual passion with the resources and support system to make that happen. All of the most well-known life-changing, world-changing projects starts with one person. Like one villager who wanted to eradicate polio in his village. Passions lead to conversations and conversations lead to projects and projects lead to grants and grants lead to change.

Passion is what will help Rotary grow, will help each chapter to create a beautiful Legacy. If members join and become invested through their passion, it’s a win-win. They will help the chapter grow and the chapter will help their passion come to life.

Time

Rick Olson has heard, especially from working adults with families, that the time commitment requirements for Rotary have caused them not to pursue their passion and stay with Rotary. Rick’s message is that we’ve got to be flexible and allow people to give what they can, when they can, and allow them to manage the competing responsibilities and activities of life. This isn’t the world it was when Rick joined and Rotary needs to change to become viable for more people. The good news is that Rotary knows it needs to change and clubs can help set the pace by helping to push for that change. Clubs are the needle that moves Rotary.