A Rotary moment lasts a lifetime

​Each of the 34,000 Rotary clubs in the world share certain characteristics while having rituals that make them unique. Most club meetings feature a meal, a speaker and a period of social interaction within the hour and a half weekly meeting.  Many clubs have happy dollars which give members an opportunity to update their fellow club members on family milestones or personal successes. My previous club in Illinois, in addition to happy dollars, had a Rotary moment, in which a member was assigned to speak for a few minutes about Rotary projects around the world or in their local community. In my case, my Rotary moment has lasted a lifetime. 

It began in 1986 with Jeff Maen asking me in the hall of our office complex if I wanted to help him start a new Rotary club. “What is Rotary," I asked, to which he said, "I guess we will find out together.“ That moment led to ten years with Cherry Creek Rotary, mostly as a Board member and finally as Club President and Assistant Governor, then to the life changing event of selling everything and moving to Chicago to work at Rotary world headquarters.
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During the next twenty years, I shared with my club first-hand Rotary moments of our organizations activities that I witnessed as I traveled the world doing the good work of Rotary.  When that incredible opportunity was over, nothing seemed more natural than to come home to Colorado and the club that made it all possible.  And that is my Rotary Moment!

Robert Mintz

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