We hosted Rotary District 6250 Governor Bill Pritchard at our October 22nd meeting. If you missed the meeting and would like to view...here is the LINK. Bill talked about After Hours member David Knutson, who was the ultimate Rotarian. David believed that saying YES to service leads to a happy life. District Governor Bill Pritchard asked the president of each club in our district to select a “Yes Person” for recognition by Governor Pritchard, a person who always says “yes” when needed. Bill asked all the clubs in the district to identify the member that most exemplified David's Rotary spirit. One lucky "YES Rotarian" from the District Clubs will be chosen to attend the RI Convention in Tapei next June 2021.
La Crosse Downtown Executive committee chose Bruce Swanwick as our "YES" recipient.
Our "Yes Person" for downtown La Crosse Rotary Club is Bruce Swanwick. Bruce has been our rock in our club for the last 15 years. He was Rotarian of the Year in 2015-16. Served on our Board of Directors as Secretary from 2015-18 and he is a Paul Harris +2.
When we were having onsite meetings he was always there to help set-up for meetings and also to help clean up after meetings. He would fill in and sell raffle tickets and scrip when we would have no shows. He would help some of our elder members who were having transportation issues get to meetings, because he knew it was important to them. He is also an ambassador to our club. He frequently invites guests and recruits new members to our club. One of Bruce’s favorite places to visit is Howies, which is a bar located close to UW La Crosse campus and he will often visit with young people at Howie’s and invite them as guests to our Rotary meetings and they will come to our meetings. One student, Katie Shephardson became one of our Rotary Global Scholars thanks to Bruce!
During our club fruit basket fundraiser, Bruce is in charge of the children and organizing them to help move completed fruit baskets and organizing them. Andy Bakkum stated, "somehow he is able to get all these young people of different ages to work together which is almost magical when you see it. Then on top of that he usually gives them something to thank them for their service. I know one year he gave my children $5 each for helping out, but he told them that the greatest thing they could do with that money is put it in a salvation army bucket and give it to a person who needs it more than them. I believe both of my children did that, although one of them might have bought some gum first and donated the remainder."
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Bruce does. There is so much more, that I am sure we don’t know about, because Bruce isn’t someone who looks for recognition for his contributions. He has a huge heart and lives the Four-Way-Test and that is why Bruce is Downtown La Crosse Rotary "Yes Rotarian"!
We thank Bill Pritchard for honoring the "Yes Rotarians" within our District 6250.
We thank Bill Pritchard for honoring the "Yes Rotarians" within our District 6250.
