Member Stories and Rotary Myths
Two pages on the district website where real members, in their own words, show what Rotary is really like.
What they are
- Member Stories: how people came to Rotary and why they stay, in their own words. Every story is from a member of a club in our district.
- Rotary Myths: one common belief about Rotary each week ("Rotary is just old blokes", "You have to be invited to join") answered by a real member or club. It goes with the "Rotary Isn't What You Think" social media series, which runs every Wednesday from 2 December 2026.
- Real members on Why People Join: four of the member stories, shown above the twenty reasons.
All three are in the website menu under About > Why Rotary.
How a story gets onto Member Stories
Stories come from two places:
- Rotarian Spotlights. Every published Rotarian Spotlight is added to Member Stories. The member sent their story in to be published, so there is nothing more to ask.
- The story form. Anyone can send a story through Share your story. A story is only published if the person ticked yes to sharing it, and the Public Image Chair reads and approves every one first.
Each story shows a photo, the member's name and club, one line on how they came to Rotary, and their own words, word for word. Stories sent in anonymously show the words only: no name, photo, club or link.
To send a story for your club, email it to publicimage@rotary9660.org.au or ask the member to use the form.
Taking a story down
If a member asks to come off the page, email publicimage@rotary9660.org.au. The website editor unticks Live on their story (Snippets > Member stories in the website admin). That removes it from Member Stories and from Why People Join at the same time.
How the myths page grows
Each week's myth is entered ahead of time with the date and time its social post goes out. The myths page shows only the myths whose time has passed, so a new one appears by itself at 6:30 pm each Wednesday, with no one needing to publish anything. Website editors can see and edit the entries under Snippets > Myths.
Help us find the next story
The best stories are from members people would not expect: someone who joined young, someone who found a club online, a club doing something nobody pictures when they hear "Rotary". Real photos of people doing things work best, never line-ups. Send them to socialmedia@rotary9660.org.au.