Kingston-North Kitsap Rotary honored Gale Kirsopp as Rotarian of the Year in the Kingston Fourth of July Parade.
What kind of involvement does it take to become Rotarian of the Year? In Gale’s case, it is using her gifts and talents to help better the community.
“Kingston is an amazing community,” Gale said. “I believe my travels remind me how lucky I am to call Kingston home.”
Gale has been involved with the Kingston Chamber of Commerce, the Events Committee, and has served on several citizen advisory committees.
She was a Rotarian on Bainbridge Island for 10 years. Then four years ago, Gale transferred to the Kingston Rotary Club because she enjoys being involved in the community where she lives.
Gale has chaired the Kingston Rotary’s Community Service group which processes grant applications and focuses on worthy projects to benefit the area. A current focus is a much-needed electronic reader board to announce the area’s many activities. Gale shares the treasurer’s job with Helen Ralph, who handles the daily responsibilities when Gale travels on business
Professionally, Gale is part of the 4700Group, a virtual company that works exclusively with attorneys. Their services include supporting legal industry practice management applications, Intuit software applications and providing ongoing client accounting services.
When I asked Gale how often she travels, she responded, “One of the hat’s I wear at 4700Group is as an international speaker and trainer for Intuit and as a speaker at legal conferences. Depending on the time of the year, I may travel every two weeks, but at other times it will be every six weeks.”
Gale is a great example of the new Rotarians who were motivated to join Rotary clubs when the attendance requirements were modified.
“My maternal grandfather was a lifelong Rotarian. He was extremely proud of the fact he had 40 years of perfect attendance, back in the days when attendance was required every week,” Gale said. “Fortunately for me, Rotary has relaxed attendance requirements to provide flexibility for today’s professionals.”
If you thought that attending a weekly Rotary meeting would not fit into your schedule, you need to know that Rotary has many ways for you to participate as a member. Working at the Rotary Beer Garden on Saturday nights during the summer, taking part in a Rotary-sponsored community cleanup, or attending an evening Rotary social event all count toward your Rotary attendance.
Flexible options such as associate, corporate, or family memberships are now available. This means that your spouse can attend the meeting if you can’t make it, or colleagues of the same company join as corporate members who alternate attendance at meetings.
If you would like to know more about Rotary, attend a weekly meeting at noon Wednesday in the new Village Green Community Center. We gather at 11:45 for the best-catered lunch in town. The meeting ends at 1 p.m. and we usually have a great speaker.
— Contact nanjmartin@mac.com for directions or more information.
