By María Elvira Chavarría
District Membership Chair 2025-2028
Atenas, a small family town in Alajuela, began to transform into a cultural mix of Europeans, Americans, and Canadians. We decided to open an expand club, since we knew that most of them had somehow heard of Rotary. By placing physical and virtual ads in places where we could find them, we held the first meeting and two people showed up. PDG Antonio Singh accompanied me. We continued, and when Lynn and Eric Snyder, active Rotarians from New Jersey, arrived, everything changed: they invited people everywhere. Little by little, we gave the speech to new people, and in seven months, we were already twenty ready to found the club.
In Guanacaste, on the northern coast, Maritza Jiménez was a Rotarian in California and wanted to build her Rotary home. With two super women ready and using the same method as in Atenas, after five months of lots of Zoom, virtual meetings, small projects, and many invitations, they achieved more than twenty members.
Talking about something you love and are passionate about is very easy; it is received as a sincere speech. These are well-established clubs, with a strong community and identity. I am proud to have helped build these homes of friendship and service.
