When a Rotarian from Texas stumbled upon this region’s annual General Assembly Meeting on Wednesday, he got the same red-carpet welcome as Guy Theodore, an accomplished medical doctor, governor of Rotary International District 7020, and the afternoon’s celebrity guest.
“I love being a Rotarian!” Texas native Jim Snell shouted before the crowd gathered at Marriott Frenchman’s Reef. Snell and his wife of 58 years, Patsy, posed for photos with Rotarians from District 7020, which is comprised of nearly 80 clubs across the Caribbean.
In his keynote speech, Theodore – who is part of Haiti’s Rotary Club de Pignon – remarked on how this week’s visits with V.I. Rotarians were familial, friendly, and fun.
“They made me feel like I was at home,” Theodore said.
Theodore commended the territory’s Rotarians for making community improvements in health care, literacy, and education.
As the luncheon went on, local author Ida White took to the podium sporting a cowboy hat. White asked attendants to dig deep into their pockets and donate to the coffers of the Rotary Club of St. Thomas 2, which organized the General Assembly Meeting.
White’s fellow club member Cathy O’Gara said that as part of their club’s commitment to community service, its members serve lunch every Saturday at the Bethlehem House homeless shelter.
Sitting next to O’Gara was Mary Gleason, a member of the Rotary Club of St. Thomas. Gleason said her group’s capstone community service project is the provision of infant-care simulator dolls – also known as baby-think-it-overs – to students attending public high and middle schools.
“It’s extremely successful,” Gleason said of the pregnancy-prevention project, which seeks to show youth how tough child-rearing can be.
After the luncheon ended, some of the Rotarians retreated to one of the hotel’s bars for continued fellowship.
As O’Gara and Gleason prepared to leave the Reef, they said they hope the next regional get-together happens soon.
“They should have General Assembly more than once a year,” Gleason said.
“It brings us together,” O’Gara added. “Each club has a different sense of fun, but we all have fun.”
