District Newsletter June 2017

Why Am  I a Rotarian? I became a Rotarian as a member of the Greenville Rotary Club in the heat of the summer in  2013.  What is the main reason a woman is brought to a Rotary meeting initially you might  ask? Oh, you say, Your Husband is the President of the Club! It’s true, that was when, why and who brought me to Rotary.  But the moment, or moments,  that I became a Rotarian i s at a different place and time.   I had been in the Greenville Rotary Club about a year and had experienced what being in a  vibrant active Club was like. I was tentative about really getting in there and doing much, after  all I was “ just the President’s wife” .  I attended everything he did and enjoyed the people  tremendously.  I just wasn’t feeling any special calling. I began to hear about a relationship between the Rotary Club in Cozumel Mexico and our  Club.  The relationship was because of a CAM School for special needs children with blindness,  deafness, autism and other sensory disorders.  Before I became a Rotarian, the clubs had built  raised gardens and taught the children to grow vegetables to sell, provided tools for a wood‐ working shop to sell what they made, and a commercial kitchen to teach them to bake ‐ all to  help these students become active in the tourist industry and earn a wage.   This was exciting  stuff for me to hear about!  I loved human interaction, this was what I was waiting for!  This  was what I thought Rotary was all about!  Maybe there was something to the Service Above  Self motto other than giving money to local charities.   We booked a cruise with about 20 other Rotarians headed to Cozumel that year and got off  the ship, walked across the street and met Ernesto, Alex, Alioth, Captain Alvarez, & Nemecio – now our lifetime Rotarian friends in Mexico.  They welcomed us with hugs, kisses and  hospitality like none I’ve seen.  We came to see the CAM School and what the students had  been up to since the last time our Club had been there.  A short, crazy drive to the school with  instant friends from Cozumel, we walked into the school and I Became  a Rotarian . Thank you . Annette Weiland, Secretary 2015‐2018 Rotary Club of Greenville

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