New Te Awamutu Rotary Club president Kylie Brewer could well be the embodiment of what service clubs today are looking for.
Gill Johnston passes the chains of office to Kylie Brewer
She’s a capable, youthful professional, full of energy and ideas she hopes will attract likeminded individuals and help shake off views that might suggest service clubs are filled with retirees overly set in their ways.
Brewer was presented with the chains of her new office at Te Awamutu Rotary Club’s changeover a couple of weeks ago. It was there she declared her theme for the year to be ‘Embracing Change’.
She told The News: “We are at this turning point… if we don’t change, we are at risk of dying out. Many service clubs are in the same position. Our members are growing older, the way life works now is different.”
One of her first moves is to make the club’s schedule of meetings more flexible to attract younger, working people from a range of diverse backgrounds.
To do that, she wants to switch out the weekly meetings to fortnightly ones. She also wants to build on the existing schedule of projects and engage more with neighbouring Rotary clubs.
“Of course, we will still have speakers, still do our regular projects and still have events that are purely social, but I want to change the format slightly to accommodate people who work all day and may not have as much time to offer as those who are not working.”
Kylie Brewer
