Imagine (This Program Will Be On Screen)

IMAGINE: Imagine a Rotary World without women. It was not that long ago that Rotary was a male only organization until the Rotary Club of Duarte California took the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court in 1987. Sylvia Whitlock became the first woman to be the President of a Rotary Club after that ruling.

 

In July of 2022, Jennifer Jones became the first woman to become the President of Rotary International and she has inspired its members. Her theme for Rotary this year is IMAGINE. She has four main goals for the year, but the #1 Priority is member care and comfort. How can Rotary and each Club enhance the experience that members have? What ways can we make our Clubs feel more welcoming, to lift people up and to offer new opportunities? We need to continue to focus on diversity and celebrate our differences. Find out what our members want and then deliver on those needs. Imagining our future, our dreams, our goals are all fine but, without action they are meaningless. We need to set big goals and then achieve them.

 

 

Besides enhancing the members experience and engagement is to expand our reach, adapt and to have a greater impact on our communities. This will be done in a variety of ways, and one will be to focus on high impact projects around the world and team up with journalists to promote these projects and the work that Rotary does.

 

If you want responsible members, then give members responsibilities and imagine the possibilities from there.

Jennifer Jones is the founder and president of Media Street Productions, an award-winning 27-year-old media company in Windsor, Ontario. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland.

 

Jennifer's talents have strengthened Rotary's reach and impact as she has served in roles including vice president, director, Rotary Foundation trustee, and co-chair of the End Polio Now: Make History Today fundraising campaign.

 

Jennifer is a leader in cultivating experiential fundraising opportunities, such as a day of golfing with Rotary polio ambassador Jack Nicklaus in Jupiter, Florida, USA, that raised over $5.25 million for polio eradication. She also led the innovative #RotaryResponds virtual event in May 2020, which raised money for COVID-19 relief projects and showcased how Rotary members were responding to the pandemic around the world.