Guest View: Why I joined Rotary

Editor’s note: The Charles City Rotary Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary in the community this month with a special event on Oct. 22. A few club members are offering their perspectives on club membership leading up to that date.

By Staci Ackerson, Charles City

Back in 2013, Gene Parson asked me to come to a Rotary meeting with him. He thought it would be a good way for me to network with other local business people.

I was one year into the ownership of the Shankland Insurance, and I felt it was a good fit for me. But, besides the professional connections and business relationships to be had,  I just wanted to get involved and make a difference in my community.

“Community” held a different meaning for me. I was raised in the suburbs of Chicago. I went to a high school where there were 3,116 students attending. I graduated with a class of 769 students!

Needless to say, the memories and involvement with community and peers were entirely different for me than is the norm for someone from Charles City, or any small town in Iowa.

I had heard of service clubs. My predecessor, Steve Shankland, was a Rotarian at one time as well as a member of the Floyd Lions. My good friend Gary VanderWerf belonged to Kiwanis. I heard about the Jaycees and had our sandbox filled a couple of times. But, I didn’t really know how to get “invited” or join one.

I’ve lived in Charles City (and now Bassett) since 1996 when I moved here from Elmhurst, Illinois. So, now fast forward and I’m ready to give “service above self” and belong to a group of people with common goals and a heart for humanity as I have. And, ultimately, I’ve found Rotary has blessed me far beyond whatever volunteering or “giving of self” I can do.

Rotary has guiding principles that serve not only the individual, but the world. These principles have been developed over the years to provide Rotarians with a strong, common purpose and direction. They serve as a foundation for our relationships with each other and the action we take in the world.

The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

• The development of acquaintance as an opportunity of service;
• High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
• The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business and community life;
• The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world of fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

This month the Charles City Rotary Club is celebrating its centennial! 100 years of service to Charles City by people like Dr. J. B. Miner Sr. (1920), Tom Beardmore (1930), Harold Winterink (1930’s), Leo Schula (1940’s), Paul Garthwaite (1950’s), Jack Frye, James Smith, Ralph Smith, Andy Cerio, Jody Meyer, Barb, Sam and Scott Soifer, Cathy Rottinghaus just to name a few.

The list is long and filled with wonderful people sharing the same goal and passion for Rotary.

I am honored to be counted among them as the club’s 101st president. This little local Rotary Club of 48 current active members is part of a global community of over a million people. Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.