WHAT IF???

Actually, we are very fond of some of the Arlington club members - including the afore mentioned "thieves".  Thinking about the Arlington Rotary caused us a burst of appreciation for that organization.

Many of you know that our club sprang to life as a project of what was then called the North Snohomish County Rotary - now Arlington Rotary.  One of their members (and one of the "thieves"), Ron Love took our fledgling club under his wing and guided us to full bloom.

You recall one of the all-time most beloved movies: "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946).  Jimmy Stewart plays a man who feels he has failed in life, wishes he had not been born and plans to end it all.  His guardian angel rebuts the negative feelings by helping Stewart realize through a series of dream-like sequences what would have happened had he not been born.  The person he saved as a boy would not have lived.  His children would not have been born.  Other good works would not have happened.  This is a lovely and sentimental tale that speaks powerfully to us now as well as when the movie appeared shortly after WW II.

In the spirit of the movie we ask the question: "WHAT IF" the North Snohomish Rotary never did form a new Rotary organization in Stanwood?  How many hundred children would have never received new coats in the past four years?  How many dozen local students would have not received academic scholarships from Rotary funds?  How many hundred Haitians would have died by now due to nasty and contaminated water because the Stanwood/Camano Rotary would not have existed to furnish funding for several wells to provide clean water?  How many tons of food would not have been delivered to the local Food Bank because Rotary did not exist?  How many thousands of dollars less would the Rotary International Foundation have received because there were not the wonderful and generous Rotarians in the Stanwood/Camano Island region?  These questions and many more can be asked all leading us to conclude that the foresight and efforts of the North Snohomish Rotary have brought great dividends.

On a personal note, how lonely would Dave be because he would never have met JoAnn as charter members of the Stanwood/Camano Rotary?  It is too painful to take this question any farther.                                                                                                        

There is no question that the founding of our Rotary club has borne much fruit so that we can look back 15 years later to count the accomplishments and the wonderful dedication of so many local persons who have benefitted from and contributed to Rotary.  Now, another and related question must be posed: "WHAT IF" the Stanwood/Camano Island Rotary never formed another club in the region?  In 15 years can it be mused what didn't happen because we did not show the same foresight demonstrated by the North Snohomish Rotary?  Isn't it time that as we grow and flourish as a club that we consider planting the seeds of Rotary in a nearby community such as Camano Island; Bryant; Silvana or Conway?

At the President's Membership Conference, we were challenged to increase our club membership with strong and dedicated leaders.  We are doing that.  In fact, it is probable that since July 1, 2007 we will have increased our membership by five (5) by the end of September.  The second challenge at the Conference was for us to consider giving birth to a new Rotary club under our watch care and leadership until it is ready to stand on its own.  We should seriously consider that challenge.  Then, in later years, we can look back with pride and fulfillment to the fact that we not only increased the membership in our club, but we brought one or more new clubs into being thus spreading the values and impact of Rotary to even more persons in need.

Please give this challenge some thought as a way to honor our Rotary International President, Wilf Wilkinson and our District Governor, John Bosch.

We wish all of you the very best as you dream big dreams along with us.

JoAnn and Dave