Nebraska Rotary governors kick off Imagine Rotary Tour with stop in Kearney

KEARNEY, NE — Rotary is hitting the road in Nebraska.

The two district governors representing the state are traveling to nine hub communities over two weeks as part of the Imagine Rotary Tour. Barbara Bartle of Lincoln says the idea for the tour came from Rotary’s international president, who is going on an Imagine tour at the world level.

“It’s an opportunity for people that want to serve. So many people want to serve, they just don’t know where to get started," Bartle said.
"We’re here to show them some ways and to have them join the tour and hopefully they’ll be interested in joining Rotary.”

The tour started in Kearney on Monday. The regional governors visited the Central Nebraska Veterans Memorial and the garden next to the Archway, both of which received significant donations from the local Rotary clubs.

Deb McCaslin of Broken Bow says she hopes to grow Rotary membership by 10 percent in her region, which covers Grand Island and west. Beyond recruitment, she wants to learn about the local clubs as part of the tour.

“It will really also open up our ears and open up our eyes to look at other things that we can do maybe a bigger or better job on,” McCaslin said.

Bartle hopes to push membership in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa to greater than 2,000 people. She says the growth goals are all about better serving local communities.

“We can be more impactful in our communities, we can do more," Bartle said. "So the more members we have, the more we can do. But more importantly, the more it does for those individual members.”

Learn more about the Imagine Rotary Tour here.