Fellowship, the
vital ingredient...
When Paul
Harris, our Founder, called together three friends for the first
Rotary meeting 105 years ago, he wanted to create in a big
bustling city something of the warm and welcoming atmosphere of
the small town where he grew up. Two of the most important
components of such an atmosphere are friendship and fellowship.
Since that very
first meeting, friendship and fellowship have been a key
motivating force within all Rotary clubs. The degree of
friendship and fellowship in a club though, depends largely on the
attitude of the members and the leadership group - are we
approachable; are we easy to talk to; are we interested in our
community; are we interested in each other?
The warmth and
welcoming manner we extend to each other and to our visitors goes
a long way to determining the strength and vitality of our Club.
However, fellowship and friendship, like most good things in life,
require care and attention, as well as a little bit of
forethought. Particularly in difficult and busy times, we need
to work harder at it. A phone call to someone who has been away
on a leave of absence; has been extremely busy with work; or may
even be facing personal difficulties, is not just a nice gesture,
but an important hallmark of our club.
We have had a
number of visitors to our Club who have commented positively about
the warmth and friendship that is evident. Can we do things
better though by going the extra yards? Can we at a Club meeting
make a point of sitting next to someone we haven’t spoken to for
awhile? Can we enquire about what others have been up to? The
answer is, of course, yes. Recognising special occasions such as
birthdays, anniversaries, the birth of a baby, or an achievement
also goes a long way to strengthening our connectedness.
Last week we
enjoyed a fantastic fellowship meeting at the Rotary Club of
Docklands, our newest sister club. We also enjoyed sharing time
with a number of other visitors from the club responsible for
chartering this club, the Rotary Club of Central Melbourne
Sunrise. Whilst we made a number of new friends at this meeting
and learnt of the many successful community projects the Rotary
Club of Docklands is undertaking, as importantly we were extended
a valuable gift ... the gift of friendship.
Sharing
fellowship and friendship at every meeting is a vital ingredient
in Rotary, so let’s all work towards a stronger club in coming
months by making sure we extend the hand of friendship and
fellowship at every meeting.
Have a great
week in Rotary.
President Philip
