Jim Hunt, district governor for Rotary District 5960, paid a visit to the Rotary Club of Cambridge and Isanti on Thursday, Nov. 17.
Rotary District 5960, which encompasses Isanti County, covers the area surrounding the Twin Cities metro and parts of western Wisconsin.
Hunt, who belongs to the White Bear Lake Rotary Club, gave a presentation to the Rotarians that focused on the importance of communicating Rotary’s values, in addition to living by them through service work. He suggested that Rotary Clubs could stand to do more to let people outside Rotary know what Rotary Clubs are, what they do and what they stand for.
“As good Rotarians we see a problem, fix a problem and don’t tell anyone about it,” Hunt said.
Rotary International is a worldwide service organization composed of members who meet and do charitable and humanitarian work in their communities. Their motto is “Service above self.”
Hunt has been a member of Rotary for 26 years. He highlighted the openness of Rotary toward outsiders, and said clubs generally welcome people with open arms, which is something he’s seen firsthand during his term as a district governor, which has required him to visit several of the clubs in the area he governs.
“It’s true if you go to the club next door, somewhere in the nation or even somewhere else in the world,” Hunt said.
Despite this openness, Hunt noted that although membership in Rotary clubs is trending upward around the world in recent years, those gains are centralized outside the United States. In the U.S., Rotary membership is down.
Hunt said the way to focus on increasing membership is for Rotary members to try to communicate the essence of Rotary to their communities.
“I think there’s a fair number of Rotarians at heart in our communities,” Hunt said.