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Dennis Parsons: dedicated to the Rotary greater good
By Dan Schellenberg
Our third Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary Club member profile features Dennis Parsons.
Dennis has been a member of Rotary for 15 years. He has volunteered for many events and continues to do so. Dennis, a retired RCMP officer, has lived in a number of locations in B.C. over the years, as his job in the RCMP meant transferring to various places in the province. He is dedicated to “service about self” and carrying out this motto is essential in Dennis’ participation in Rotary.
Here are Dennis’ answers to the three questions we are featuring in highlighting members of the Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary’s Club.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO ROTARY?
My job as an RCMP officer meant being stationed in different areas of the province of B.C. Living and working in various towns gave me an opportunity to attend a number of Rotary meetings, as a guest speaker talking about law enforcement.
While I was stationed in Vernon, I attended Rotary for a short time until I was moved to Prince Rupert. In Prince Rupert, I became involved as a friend of Rotary with the Prince Rupert Rotary club. As a friend of Rotary, I assisted them with fundraising events and their TV auction. I even sang in the Prince Rupert Rotary Community Choir.
As Prince Rupert was only a temporary location for me, I transferred to Cranbrook before I even had the opportunity to join the Prince Rupert club. It was in Cranbrook that I met Colin Campbell, who asked if I would be interested in attending a Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary morning meeting. I was interested and did attend, after which I decided to get involved with the club. That first meeting was 15 years ago.
WHAT ARE YOUR INTERESTS IN ROTARY?
Rotary has a motto that states: “Service Above Self.” The fact that Rotary works in the local community as well as the international community appeals to me.
Within Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary, I was the Director of International Service for a couple of terms and was able to work with other Rotary clubs in establishing a Micro Credit loan program in the Philippines, designed to help impoverished women bring their families out of poverty. Also, I was the Cranbrook Sunrise Rotary liaison for the Honduras Market Children program, which helped children afford to go to school so they could get themselves out of poverty by getting an education.
I had the pleasure of being the Sunrise club president in 2006 – 2007. Rotary International has a program in place to train and motivate the incoming presidents to prepare them for their year in office. This program is called PETS – President Elect Training Seminars and it benefits a Rotarian even after their term in office.
I have been involved in a number of volunteer ventures, some of which include: the Friends of The Library Book sale, as our Rotary Club assists the Cranbrook Public Library in holding its annual book sale; the Rotary Values & Ethics program for grade 10 students; as well as participating in the Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo as the Traffic & Safety chairperson.
Each week our club publishes a bulletin called The Sunriser, so that we can keep Rotarians who miss meetings and the friends of Sunrise Rotary informed about what our club has been doing, dates of upcoming events and what our guest speakers talk about. My main activity with our club now is publishing the weekly Sunriser Bulletin, with the assistance of other club members who submit articles.
WHAT KEEPS YOU IN ROTARY?
The Sunrise Rotary Club of Cranbrook is a very vibrant, active club that gets things done, and it has accomplished a great deal for being a small Rotary club. I have made some great friends through Rotary and I feel a sense of value and accomplishment being part of the Rotary greater good.