Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury Rotary clubs in Shropshire and America could team up for joint project

The possibility of a joint project is being investigated by two Rotary clubs with a name in common – one of them in Shropshire and the other in America.

Published
Shrewsbury Rotarians of Massachusetts attending a district awards ceremony

The Rotary Club of Shrewsbury Severn has just experienced its first link-up with the members of Shrewsbury Rotary Massachusetts in a Zoom meeting.

And the US Rotary club has written to Shrewsbury Severn Rotary’s president John Law expressing how ‘so happy’ they are that the two clubs were connected.

“I would like to explore opportunities for our two clubs to work together,” said Shrewsbury Rotary Massachusetts membership chair Judy Merriman.

“I would like to connect with you after Easter to gauge ideas and interest of a joint project if you believe that is enough time.

“For me, Rotary makes the world a much smaller place. I find that the Rotarians I meet share the same values.

"Perhaps between the two of us we can come up with some possibilities to suggest to our members – I loved your presentation and the pictures.”

She went on to give president John Law an insight into the American Rotary club.

“Art Dobson, who was on the call today, is our oldest member," she said.

"He serves on every committee we have as well as being our sergeant at arms.

"He is 88 going on to be 89 on July 3.

“Our youngest member is Jason Palitsch who is on our local school board and is in his early thirties.

“Our club is about evenly divided between men and women. About half of us are either fully retired or semi-retired.”

The club’s membership chair also wished to touch on membership.

“This has been a difficult year for the world,” said Judy.

“We try to stay grounded but safe with our Zoom meetings.

“Although it is definitely not as good as meeting in person, these weekly meetings have been important to all of us in our club.

“My fear is that we will lose members because of the long separation. We are working hard at keeping people connected and involved.”

She added: “I hope the pandemic will soon subside and that everyone continues to observe safe practices.”

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