What’s your life like in Boothbay Region when you’re 18 to 35? Rotary does more than help during crises like COVID-19; it also works to help bring young people into leadership positions through service, providing experience for a better future in any career. The Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor created a new membership level for those under the age of 35 to make membership accessible. Generous club members have also chosen to underwrite the cost of membership for the first 5 in this category, making the door through to Rotary free for the first year.

Through Rotary, I have discovered what is possible when a group of like-minded individuals get together to make a difference. It matters not at all that we come in many shapes and sizes, backgrounds, or age-ranges; after a short few years in our local Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor, it’s apparent to me that that what we have in common is more important than any differences: we believe in Service Above Self.

More than just a Rotary motto, “Service Above Self” is what compels our club. While we’re known for our annual Benefit Auction (on hiatus, due to the pandemic), our club works year-round to help our local community and communities around the world. We have given out bikes to seasonal and international workers, organized the Soup Bowl Supper and Derby Party fundraisers, run mock job interviews for high school seniors to practice for future careers, and created care packages for veterans, among many other things.

In Rotary, I have also learned how, in the presence of people with years of being powerful change-makers, I could become capable, confident and powerful myself. I have project management skills that you can only get through organizing and managing a 200+ person event with three different organizational crews and over 40 donors and vendors–an opportunity I would not have gotten if not for Rotary. I have learned to become a better, more confident public speaker, to use my voice to affect change both in Rotary and in my career. I got to use that voice to garner support among my Rotary peers for our new club membership level for other young professionals like me, the first of its kind in our Rotary District.

This membership level, which we call the Rule of 35, makes club membership an affordable option by cutting dues by more than 50 percent for those under the age of 35. It’s a commitment by our club to keep growing and learning, and to keep inviting young people to see what skills they can develop and add to their own resumes. It’s an invitation to make a difference.

At age 25, joining Rotary changed the trajectory of my life; now at 30, I am sitting Vice President of our club, and have discovered the many ways that I can make a difference. More than that, I have a discovered a family of people with rich histories, big love, and great commitment to their community. Many of them are leaders on our small peninsula and in fascinating careers. I learn from and laugh with them at our meetings, taking a break from my busy life to connect with people that I would have never had the chance to get to know otherwise. It’s the reset button I need for any long, tiring or bad day. Some of my best friends are twice my age, and my life is twice as rich for having them in it.

If you are, or you know, someone under the age of 35 who has the will and the drive to affect change, our club is here and we hope you join us. We are your peers. We come from many backgrounds, have many opinions and viewpoints, but what we have in common is more powerful: we’re here to make a difference.

Please reach out to us online on Facebook, or email us at bbhrotary.Ruleof35@gmail.com to learn more about the Rule of 35 and how becoming Rotary can spark change in your life.