Denver report
I attended the Mile High Rotary Club of Denver which meets on a Wednesday morning in the University Club, a short walk from downtown Denver.
It’s got about 60 members, and a similar gender balance to our own with a mixture of middle aged professionals and retirees. They were the friendliest and most welcoming bunch of people I have ever met at a Rotary Club anywhere in the world.
They were so pleased that I had made the effort to come to their club. I was one of four guests that morning; the others were all local and two of them were checking it out as prospective members.
The meeting proceeded with the usual chit chat over coffee and juice, and the President welcomed us. The introduction was by a guy reporting on a recent community service activity. They had taken about 20 amputee veterans white water rafting and canoeing, and they loved it. Club members are about to do the same excursion as a fundraiser.
We are all still standing at this point and the guests were all invited to introduce themselves. Then came the pledge of allegiance (which is standard in American clubs) and we helped ourselves to a buffet breakfast – shredded potato, scrambled eggs and bacon with fruit and yoghurt. Not a whole lot different from our breakfast except that we serve it hotter and we include toast.
There were club announcements and then the guest speaker, a guy who ran a commercial real estate company who spoke about the co-sharing spaces that his company had on offer in the new commercial areas of town.
Quite interesting as I had visited some of the areas he was talking about, but if I may offer a small criticism it was a lengthy (perhaps overly lengthy) commercial for his company.
No matter. I gleaned some info that I may be able to use for a story I have in mind about the city. I stayed behind and chatted to a few members. It is amazing how many of the group had visited NZ or had friends or relatives there.
One woman told me her sister had retired to Te Puke; another said her brother and his wife (both doctors) had gone to live in Palmerston North. I said I was sorry. She had visited them and knew exactly what I meant!
The show started at 7am (as we do) and finished at 8.30 (again as we do), but I noticed a few slipping away before that (as we do).
John Bishop