Road Trip Revs Up Interest in Rotary

Members of the news media had gathered, along with the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and a group of Rotary members, on the bank of the murky Detroit River. It was early August and the members were about to amaze the reporters on hand.

Jason Browne and Adam Barth, members of Rollin’ With Rotary, a four-person team of Rotary members who visited a dozen cities this summer, dipped a bucket into the polluted water. The reporters watched as they poured the brownish water into a filter, part of a $1,000 survival kit that Rotary and its project partner ShelterBox distribute to disaster victims worldwide. The water came out clear. Browne, Barth, and their teammates drank glassfuls and grinned broadly.

Then they invited Mayor Drew Dilkens to take a drink. “He survived,” says Rotary International Director Jennifer Jones, laughing. “And the media went nuts!” Jones, who is from Windsor, traveled with the team.