A "Best Kept Secret" of Rotary - Rotary Fellowships

 During a conversation on membership retention and membership increase at a recent Rotary gathering, it became apparent that Rotary Fellowships are one of the best-kept secrets of our organization.

In fact if you have not recently perused the Booths at an International Convention or have not been lucky enough to run into like-minded Rotarians at a trade show, the numerous RI Fellowships can seem like secret societies. They are not! More importantly, they are open to you as a Rotarian!

Rotary Fellowships encompass many interests ranging from Amateur Radio (http://www.ifroar.org/) to Golf (http://www.igfr-international.com/) to Yachting (http://www.iyfr.net/), and all can be found at https://www.rotary.org/en/document/885.

The Rotary fellowship about which I am most passionate is the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians, currently led by District 5730 PDG Michael Graves.  Our particular fellowship is heavily partnered with Angel Flight, and one of our South West Region members, Alan Diaz, heads Angel Flight West.  Our Section Meetings, Fly-ins, and Annual General Meeting are like mini-international conventions or Rotary on steroids, routinely drawing Rotarians from across the continent and across the world. Our Americas Website is  www.ifframericas.org and our IFFR World Website is  www.iffr.org.

If you are interested, visit our websites, or if close, attend a Fly-In. The next few are below.

Feb 27-Mar 1  AK       IFFR Fly-In to Reno.  In conjunction with SSA Convention.

April 2-6           SE       IFFR Florida Fly-In to KGIF, FD04, Museum, Sun n Fun, KSGJ.

April 3              SE       IFFR dinner party at Peter & Ellen Wenk's hangar FD04

April 4              SE       IFFR at Sun n Fun, Lakeland Florida

April 25-27       SW      IFFR Sacramento (KSAC), State Capitol, Railroad Museum.

April 26            SC       IFFR San Marcos, TX (KHYI) for AOPA Regional Fly-In

Most importantly, enjoy Rotary, and spread the goodness of Rotary.  I hope to see you there!

Jack Welge

South Central Americas Chair, IFFR