RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven

District Governor Rick Snider talkes to Yadkinville Rotary Club members at the club’s Aug. 7 meeting.

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The Yadkinville Rotary Club hosted Rotary District 7690 District Governor Rick Snider at its Aug. 7 meeting.

Snider was there to share this year’s goals of the Rotary organization with Yadkinville members.

“This is one of the more active smaller clubs in our district,” Snider said. “The Yadkinville Rotary Club is very, very active, not only in the community but also in what they give to the Rotary Foundation and our international projects.”

Snider is a Lexington, N.C. native. He discovered Rotary while he and his wife were working with Mercy Ships in 1997. The couple lived on the Caribbean Mercy for five years. In Honduras, Snider discovered a small Rotary Club that was leading a community effort to develop a relocation community for evacuees from Hurricane Mitch.

Snider, along with Mercy Ships, partnered with the Rotary Club to help develop a water and sanitation system for the new community. After that Snider was hooked to Rotary and joined the Lexington Rotary Club when he returned home.

Since joining, Snider has served two terms as club president, foundation chair, projects chair and club secretary in Lexington. Snider is also a member of the Paul Harris Society as a benefactor and major donor.

Snider quoted Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka to summarize the purpose of Rotary.

“In Rotary, our business is not profit,” Tanaka said. “Our business is peace. Our reward is not money, but the happiness and satisfaction of seeing a better, more peaceful world.”

Snider’s main goal for Rotary is that all Rotarians and members be driven by their passion for Rotary. Snider said that he wants to see more Rotary members become Rotarians and branch out into the organization.

“I was a member of a Rotary Club for years before I became a Rotarian,” Snider said. “Our passion for Rotary becomes the bridge that takes us from being a member of our Rotary club to becoming a Rotarian.”

Snider said Rotary’s number one goal for this year is to continue working to eradicate polio. Snider said that the baseline goal for clubs is $20 per member. The club will also hold a polio fundraiser on Oct. 15.

Snider said that he would also like to see all Rotary clubs attract new members and retain current members.

“We can improve our membership by developing our personal Rotary story to share why we joined Rotary and why we are a Rotarian,” Snider said.

Snider said that the Rotary clubs must continue their support of the Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust. This program asks club members to collect change at meetings and events to help fund Alzheimer’s research.

“If every member just deposited 25 cents per meeting you could raise $25,000 in a year,” Snider said.

Snider said that he hopes that his time spent with Yadkinville Rotary members will inspire them to reach out to non-Rotary members and encourage them to learn more about Rotary.

“Rotary is a big tent and there’s a lot of different ways to come into Rotary,” Snider said. “I suppose my passion is for the work that Rotary does more than the fellowship and the networking, which are both also terribly important.”

Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.