By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

krystal@nasguard.com

Looking to extend the reach of the Rotary organization, some local Rotarians have received permission from the District 6990 to establish a new Club.

Donald Ward, former president of the Rotary Club of Lucaya and a former Rotary assistant governor, along with Rotarian Philip Armbrister and former Rotary Club of Lucaya President Minerva Kemp, are spearheading the new venture. The club will be called the Rotary Sunset Club and will hold meetings on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. at the Ruby Swiss Restaurant.

When contacted, Steve Dillet, assistant governor for the Rotary Clubs of Grand Bahama, confirmed that Ward does have permission to establish the new club.

Even though the club has not been formed as yet, Dillet explained that Ward would need the minimum of 20 members to proceed.

"He has already gotten the go ahead from the district governor so he has all the permission that he needs," Dillet said.

Ward explained that the three existing clubs on the island all meet during the day – the Sunrise Club at 7 a.m., and Lucaya and Freeport clubs at 12:30 p..m. – and said in research he conducted to test the viability of a new club, he found that those times were prohibitive for some persons who would otherwise have been interested in joining the organization.

He noted that for the last few years, the Rotary Clubs in Grand Bahama have been having a very significant turnover.

"People were coming in and for numerous reasons they had to quit. What I have found out after conducting the survey was that while some persons might have left for economic reasons, we had equal amounts who left for time constraints - they just couldn't attend meetings during the day any longer," he said.

"And so in addition to some other persons who from the outset could not attend daytime meetings, when we put the numbers together, we discovered that we had more than enough persons to qualify to form an evening club."

Five months ago, the application was made for the new club to be formed, despite initial objection by the three existing Clubs, he shared.

"We presented our survey and the governor, Lee Phares, was kind enough to review it and she gave us the approval to start the preliminary workings to establish a new club," Ward said.

A total of 21 persons is required in order to start a new club and he said, through the survey, he has 40 persons already committed. The organizers are now looking at a three month period in which to have the Club officially chartered.

"We have what it takes to charter a club but there are some procedural things that we must go through and we are observing all of them."

"We wanted to make certain that we establish something that is sustainable and that persons are really interested in carrying out the mandate of a Rotary Club. We want to train some people, and make sure we have a solid foundation."

Ward said he has seen other clubs start and fail for various reasons during his 25-plus years worth of experience with the Rotary organization.

"I know what can happen if something is just haphazardly done... We will look at what took place over the years in Rotary and will try not to make the same mistakes again, so I'm crossing all the Ts and dotting all the Is, and eventually we will have a solid, diverse group of professionals in this community to serve. I have no doubt about that whatsoever."

Pointing out that in Grand Bahama there were only about 90 Rotarians in good standing between the three clubs, Ward said he believes that there must be many more persons who would be willing to serve with the organization.

"I pursued this with much excitement. We are creating an alternative and I feel very strongly that we will increase the number of professionals who really want to serve," he said.

To keep clubs strong, Ward said every Rotarian must share the responsibility of bringing new people into the organization.

"The value of Rotary speaks for itself, and the best way to spark the interest of potential members is by letting them experience fellowship and service first-hand."

There are some 33,000 clubs around the world, he furthered, with members from a global network of business and professional leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve their communities and the world.

"We are proud to be a part of this expansion" he said.