Local Rotarian a district governor

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SIDNEY — In its 112-year history in Sidney, the local Rotary Club has had two members who rose to the ranks of district governor in the international organization.

Mark Mabelitini, the current district governor, is one of them. It’s been 55 years since his predecessor, Bob Hepler, wielded the gavel in that office.

Mabelitini, of Sidney, said deciding to apply for district governorship means being ready to make a long-term commitment. The road to the position is not a short one. A Rotary member must first serve at least one year as a club president. Mabelitini was president of a club in Tipp City. He must then serve at least one year as an assistant district governor. Mabelitini was an assistant for four years.

At that point, the member can apply for the district governorship. A panel of past district governors interviews candidates and makes the annual selection. The winner then becomes the district governor-nominee for a year, and the district governor-elect for a year, before actually holding the district governorship for a year. As a past district governor, he sits on the election panel for five years.

That means that Rotarians who seek the office make at least a 10-year commitment to the organization.

Mabelitini took office July 1. He oversees a district of 52 clubs in a geographic region stretching from the Ohio/Kentucky border on the south to Shelby and Logan counties on the north, from the Indiana border on the west to Union, Claremont and Madison counties on the east.

“It’s a big job to be leader of 3,000 people in a quarter of the state. I have to visit all 52 clubs during my year in office,” Mabelitini said. Because he works as a substitute teacher in a number of local school districts, he hopes to get most of those visits in before classes start. As of Friday, he had attended 35 meetings in 27 days.

Rotarians meet for either breakfast or lunch, so this particular district leader laughs about how his biggest challenge is managing his waistline. What he likes about all these visits is learning how the service clubs help their communities.

“We are people of action,” he said. “Clubs address a wide variety of issues within their communities and also partner with clubs to solve problems around the world.”

The Sidney club sponsors a speech contest, a foreign exchange program and youth leadership camp attendance for high-schoolers, hosts a Christmas party for special needs children and a pancake breakfast for the public and offers scholarships to college-bound students.

“The Cincinnati club runs a camp for disabled children and adults. They partner with an organization, Stepping Stones, to run that. Other clubs do road clean-ups, park clean-ups, one-time civic projects,” Mabelitini said. If a club gets a grant from the Rotary Foundation for a particular project, he goes to see the project in action. An international initiative is to have local clubs plant one tree for each of their members.

“I ask each club: what can you do to plant a tree?” he said.

He gives a speech at each club meeting he attends.

“What I’ve been talking about is being involved in Rotary and saying, ‘Yes,’ to the opportunity it offered me,” he said. He has visited the organization’s high school leadership camp and spent time with teens from around the world who participate in Rotary’s youth exchange program.

“I’ve heard kids 16 to 17 years old deliver a speech you’re surprised to hear from them. Their stage presence is just impressive,” he noted.

He sees his role as district governor as one of reassurance and inspiration.

“My job is to encourage (members) and meet them. Some clubs are as small as 11 members and some are over 300, so their goals are going to be different,” he said. “A club of 11 members sponsors an exchange student going to Brazil. A club with 14 put benches and Frisbee golf in a park, has a lunch with police to show appreciation, reads books to kids once a month and gives them breakfast. I’ve stopped being amazed at the generosity because it’s constant. It makes me proud. You go home feeling really good about the stuff you’re doing,” Mabelitini said.

A Rotarian for 11 years, he and his wife, Aliana, who was president of the Sidney club last year, are so dedicated, they stopped to attend a Rotary Club meeting on the way home from their honeymoon. Membership, Mabelitini said, “is something we can do together and apart.” On the local level, he was secretary and vice president, as well as president, of the Tipp City club.

“It was a wave of experience. Hearing people talk about experiences they’ve had, you realize Rotary’s a very special thing,” he said.

The organization was founded by Paul Harris in 1905 in Chicago. Today, there are 1.2 million members in 34,000 clubs in 200 countries. On a global basis, its major initiative for the last 30 years has been support for the eradication of polio. The campaign has been more than successful. In 1988, there were 350,000 cases reported worldwide. In 2017, there have been eight. Other international projects focus on peace and conflict-prevention and -resolution, disease prevention and treatment, clean water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy and economic and community development.

The Sidney club has 91 members and welcomes newcomers. They meet Mondays at noon in the Moose lodge on Broadway Street. Dues are $118 per year and members are expected to support other club activities which cost an additional $100, approximately, annually. Members also pay for their own lunches each week.

For information about joining, visit a meeting.

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By Patricia Ann Speelman

[email protected]

Reach the writer at 937-538-4824.

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