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| Rotary International District #6060 |
| Rotary Meeting Make - up #26 |
Rotary Fellowships: Join the club
by Susie O. Ma
The Rotarian -- June 2010
Members of the curling fellowship's team from Barrie, Ont., Canada, sweep a stone. W hile leading a training for incoming district governors in 2001,
Conrad Heede, past governor of District 5790 (Texas, USA), mentioned that he was planning to join the Rotarians’ Wine Appreciation Fellowship. He
convinced 10 of the incoming governors to join with him. “What I didn’t know at the time was that we doubled the membership,” Heede laughs. At the time,
there were 11 members in two countries. Today, there are more than 800 members in over 40 countries.
Heede, now president of the fellowship and (perhaps not coincidentally) a member of the Rotary Club of Grapevine, says membership increased after the
fellowship began hosting a booth at the RI Convention’s House of Friendship every year. “When [Rotarians] read our sign, they get a grin on their face
and come over,” he says.
Fellowship members talk wine, taste wine, and share wine, but they also have supported a number of service efforts with no discernible connection to the
grape, including an avoidable blindness project in India, an irrigation project in Botswana, and a water project in New Mexico, USA. The fellowship also
has contributed more than $35,000 toward polio eradication as part of Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge.
The Rotarians’ Wine Appreciation Fellowship is one of more than 50 Rotary Fellowships that bring together Rotarians with shared interests. (Rotaractors
and Rotarians’ spouses can also become members.) Rotary Fellowships Month is celebrated in June.
The cochairs of the Fellowship of Rotarian Magicians – Jim Lang, a member of the Rotary Club of Trumbull, Conn., and Stanley Sorrentino, of the Rotary
Club of Providence, R.I. – became friends through the fellowship and recently decided to revive it after a period of inactivity. The group has about a
dozen members, who share magic tricks and perform at conventions and club meetings. They’ve even developed a few tricks with a Rotary twist:
Sorrentino performs one using four cards to depict the four founding members of Rotary. “It’s a fun way for people to learn Rotary history,” he says.
Rotarians with an interest in curling, meanwhile, have been getting together to compete since 1956, long before the International Curling Fellowship of
Rotarians was established in 1972. The competitions continue to attract new members. The highlight of the fellowship’s calendar is its biannual World
Curling Championships; the most recent was held in March and April in Perth, Scotland, with 10 four-person teams. Fellowship members also participate
in a three-week curling tour every two years, with Canada and Scotland alternating as hosts. In between international events, members living near each
other gather for one-day competitions, called bonspiels, during the curling season (October to April).
Harold Shantz, a member of the Rotary Club of Simcoe, Ont., Canada, and secretary of the fellowship, says that most of the group’s several hundred
members hail from Canada, England, Scotland, and the United States. But the future looks bright, he says, noting that “curling is becoming quite popular
in other countries, such as Australia, China, Japan, and New Zealand.”
by Susie O. Ma
The Rotarian -- June 2010
Members of the curling fellowship's team from Barrie, Ont., Canada, sweep a stone. W hile leading a training for incoming district governors in 2001,
Conrad Heede, past governor of District 5790 (Texas, USA), mentioned that he was planning to join the Rotarians’ Wine Appreciation Fellowship. He
convinced 10 of the incoming governors to join with him. “What I didn’t know at the time was that we doubled the membership,” Heede laughs. At the time,
there were 11 members in two countries. Today, there are more than 800 members in over 40 countries.
Heede, now president of the fellowship and (perhaps not coincidentally) a member of the Rotary Club of Grapevine, says membership increased after the
fellowship began hosting a booth at the RI Convention’s House of Friendship every year. “When [Rotarians] read our sign, they get a grin on their face
and come over,” he says.
Fellowship members talk wine, taste wine, and share wine, but they also have supported a number of service efforts with no discernible connection to the
grape, including an avoidable blindness project in India, an irrigation project in Botswana, and a water project in New Mexico, USA. The fellowship also
has contributed more than $35,000 toward polio eradication as part of Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge.
The Rotarians’ Wine Appreciation Fellowship is one of more than 50 Rotary Fellowships that bring together Rotarians with shared interests. (Rotaractors
and Rotarians’ spouses can also become members.) Rotary Fellowships Month is celebrated in June.
The cochairs of the Fellowship of Rotarian Magicians – Jim Lang, a member of the Rotary Club of Trumbull, Conn., and Stanley Sorrentino, of the Rotary
Club of Providence, R.I. – became friends through the fellowship and recently decided to revive it after a period of inactivity. The group has about a
dozen members, who share magic tricks and perform at conventions and club meetings. They’ve even developed a few tricks with a Rotary twist:
Sorrentino performs one using four cards to depict the four founding members of Rotary. “It’s a fun way for people to learn Rotary history,” he says.
Rotarians with an interest in curling, meanwhile, have been getting together to compete since 1956, long before the International Curling Fellowship of
Rotarians was established in 1972. The competitions continue to attract new members. The highlight of the fellowship’s calendar is its biannual World
Curling Championships; the most recent was held in March and April in Perth, Scotland, with 10 four-person teams. Fellowship members also participate
in a three-week curling tour every two years, with Canada and Scotland alternating as hosts. In between international events, members living near each
other gather for one-day competitions, called bonspiels, during the curling season (October to April).
Harold Shantz, a member of the Rotary Club of Simcoe, Ont., Canada, and secretary of the fellowship, says that most of the group’s several hundred
members hail from Canada, England, Scotland, and the United States. But the future looks bright, he says, noting that “curling is becoming quite popular
in other countries, such as Australia, China, Japan, and New Zealand.”
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