It is always such a pleasure to charter a new Rotary club and bring more Rotarians into this amazing global organisation that is the gift that just keeps giving!
So far this year we have four new clubs. There are often great stories behind how these clubs came into being and I would like to share one with you.
Listen to this article
There is no right age to join Rotary but occasionally an individual is lucky enough to have an experience very early in life.
Dr Mukunda Chidrawar was at medical school in Mumbai, India, and could not afford the expensive books he needed to study. Fortunately for him, he was awarded a loan of all the books he needed by the nearby Rotary Club of Thane in Maharashtra.
Those Rotarians were great mentors and encouraged him to join their Rotaract club and in Mukunda’s own words: “Those years were the best years of my life… 32 of us, very active doing projects and making lifelong friendships.”
Yes we Serve to Change Lives and, so often, our lives are changed too!”
Four years ago Dr Chidrawar reunited them all on a WhatsApp group and they were able to comfort each other in recent challenging times sharing happy memories even though they lived in six different countries and several time zones.
In January this year Dr Chidrawar, District Governor Nominee and Centenary President of his local Rotary club in England, learned about satellite clubs and a dream was born to bring all his Rotaract friends back together by forming the “Cross Borders Rotary E-Club of Walsall.”
There is no right age to join Rotary but occasionally an individual is lucky enough to have an experience very early in life.”
On October 5th, that dream came true and, on the Centennial Celebration of their sponsor club, I had the pleasure of attending their virtual meeting and presenting their charter.
A 100-year-old club “giving birth” to a new club of former Rotaractors from all over the world. WOW!
Yes we Serve to Change Lives and, so often, our lives are changed too!
