The Battlefords Rotary Club welcomed its district governor Tuesday night to talk about ways to move Rotary forward in the community.
Kevin Hilgers, who represents District 5370 in Rotary, spoke at an evening dinner in North Battleford at the Tropical Inn.
Hilgers, who lives in Grande Prairie, Alta., is familiar with Saskatchewan from his days working in local radio in the province. His district covers a wide area covering northern British Columbia and Alberta and northwest Saskatchewan.
There are 61 individual Rotary Clubs located in the district with 2,350 members, making it one of the largest in the world.
Hilgers pointed with pride to the work done by Rotary members in the Battlefords club.
"My key message is congratulations and keep up the good work," he told the Regional Optimist.
"Rotarians in the Battlefords are doing phenomenal work for the community: the CUPlex, the skateboard park, scholarships for the school and college where would we be without Rotary?"
He also touched on some of the international projects done by Rotary International, including their Polio Plus campaign to eradicate polio from the world, as well as the district's own project where it sponsors literacy efforts in Belize.
But the second part of his message, he said, was about growing the organization and growing with the community's and the world's needs.
"How do we grow, what's our message, marketing, recruitment, it's all part of running a healthy business and a healthy Rotary Club, too."
Continuing to attract new Rotary members was a major theme of his address.
Hilgers challenged local Rotary members to think outside the box and to adapt the club to the changing times.
He suggested ways for Rotary to cater to busy professionals with more flexible ideas for meetings. Some clubs hold meetings in the late afternoon or evening specifically to accommodate the busy schedules of members. Others skip having meals entirely and opt to do hands-on projects, he said.
He encouraged Rotary clubs to seek out more women and minorities as members and make those members feel welcome, and especially to get more young people involved.
Hilgers pointed to Interact clubs - Rotary clubs for high schools - as a good way to bring young people into the Rotary organization.
"I've seen communities light up, I've seen schools light up and Rotary clubs light up when you form an Interact club within one of the high schools. It develops leaders of the schools, it opens your mind to the young people in the schools and it really fills a nice niche in the schools."
He also said the local Rotary club should be involved in the Rotary youth exchange program and encouraged the club to get involved with that every year, calling it an opportunity for young people to become future world leaders.
