My true story is about one person’s journey down a road. In October of 2008, at the Minneapolis airport, I ran into a person from La Crosse. We knew each other only professionally. After chatting a bit, he asked me about the pin that I was wearing on the lapel of my suit. That question created a fork in the road for this person. I believe his subsequent journey has changed his life as well as the life of many others.
I explained to him about Rotary – what do we do, when and where we meet, who can join and how Rotary makes various efforts to change the world. Of course, as our club’s Youth Exchange officer, I talked to him a bit about how Rotary promotes world understanding by sending area students abroad and hosting foreign students here. I invited him to a meeting, and he became interested in joining. I sponsored him and he became a member. As he journeyed down the Rotary Road, he was an active member, eventually serving on the board and then serving as club president in 2018-19. He was not the only person affected by his journey down the Rotary Road – his wife saw how much he enjoyed Rotary, so she became a member 10 years ago. She served as a Youth Exchange Counselor for several years, ensuring that our Inbound students had a smooth exchange. She also has served as club President. The two of them have also hosted a number of Inbound students. This hosting then fueled an interest from their children in Rotary Youth Exchange. One son became a Rotary Outbound student to Japan, another son to Germany and a third son to France.
All these events happened because Todd Restel asked that question 16 years ago about my Rotary pin. I congratulate my friend Todd and am proud of him as he continues his journey past the fork in the road as our District Governor.
So, the takeaway for all of us is to proudly wear OUR pin, a Rotary shirt or hat. You never know who may ask you, “What is Rotary?” and where that could lead.