Telling the story of being a Rotarian
On the semi-annual National Immunization Day in Rajasthan, India, Clint Schroeder administers the oral polio vaccine to a child in the north western village of Nuh. May 2015.
Photo courtesy of Clint Schroeder
Clint Schroeder shared his Rotary story with a full crowd, July 9. Having traveled to 19 countries with the Rotary Club, Schroeder talked about the club's humanitarian work.
COEUR d’ALENE — There is a big difference between building a resume filled with Rotary achievements and being a Rotarian, Clint Schroeder, publisher of The Coeur d’Alene Press, said during his inspiring speech at Friday’s Rotary Club meeting.
It is about joining like-minded philanthropists around the world that makes the real work of Rotary so important.
“I’m trying to get people to stop talking about only the fundraising that we do, the offices that we’ve held,” Schroeder said. “Start talking more about what resonates with all of us — the real passion of the service that we deliver across the world every day.”
Starting out with Rotary Club at 24 years old, in Loveland, Colo., Schroeder was the youngest person at the table.
“At the time, I was young and I felt that I just didn't fit,” Schroeder said. “I almost washed out a couple of times.” But Schroeder did make it, for over two decades and is still going strong.
Presenting the speech on his 21st year of membership in Rotary, Schroeder recalled joining because he thought it would benefit him with business and networking. His mother, by the way, was one of the first female Rotarians joining the organization in 1988.
But Rotary International has taken Schroeder to 19 different countries, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam and India among them. Typical fundraising and meetings are just the tip of the iceberg.
Rotary works internationally on a grand scale. Telling the story of a trip to India, Schroeder recalled visiting an extremely isolated village, with no infrastructure and no access to medical care.
“Rotary volunteers from around the globe show up two times a year,” Schroeder said. “And immunize 50 million children in India alone.”
“It was so amazing,” he said. “Women bringing their young children, sometimes walking miles to the vaccination site, filled by the hope Rotarians provide.”
Big names like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization usually receive the most public attention when the conversation turns to polio eradication.
“But,” Schroeder said. “It's been Rotary all along leading the charge to eliminate polio!”
Not being from the era that commonly lost loved ones to polio, Schroeder expressed that it was this trip, meeting the people of India that made the issue personal for him.
“The $6 billion that has run through the Rotary International Foundation to date,” Schroeder said. “Has changed the world.”
The Rotary pin Schroeder wears on his lapel often sparks conversations.
To Schroeder, the pin represents passion for helping the world at large. It’s all about the people.
“This isn't about having major donor status, or holding five offices in this club, and it's not about being district governor,” Schroeder said. “This stands for the day that it all connects, and you go from being a Rotary member to becoming a Rotarian. There’s a huge difference.”
Rotary Club members start out as friends and become like family.
“We are the same inside. We ethically align,” Schroeder said. “We become better people when we surround ourselves with likeminded individuals. That partnership enables us to build more impactful projects.”
Rotary is humanity in motion.
Schroeder is currently chairman and a faculty member of Rotary International’s Governor-Elect Training Program in zone 26/27 and faculty member for the Pacific Northwest President-Elect Training Program.
“We need to tell the story of Rotary,” Schroeder said. “Rotary changes lives.”
