January Member Spotlight is Allison Batlin! Meet Allison: Twenty years ago, while seeking funding for a non-profit in the South Pacific, I came and spoke to South Austin Rotary Club. It was a different club then, meeting at Green Pastures, with a 60plus membership. Women were still new to Rotary.
There existed what we called the badboys table, those who looked the other way when it came to women in Rotary...Being who I am and going into things blindly, not looking twice but forging ahead, I sat there once, twice, then many times over as I found a club that would be made up of my best friends.
Since then, this amazing group has supported each other in the happiest times as well as times of terrible loss. Always there to support, offering a hand to members in need. Yes, I found the funding I was seeking for the Loloma Foundation. I found so much more though. In that first year we did a rotary international grant giving all students graduating from the Fiji School of Medicine much needed equipment as they offered medical care across the South Pacific. Fiji School of Medicine also received much needed equipment to train future doctors and nurses across the South Pacific. South Austin RotaryClub did not stop here though. As our membership decreased, we gained the reputation of being the little club that could, n fact still can!
The awards Shirley received this past year is proof of that. We have fostered grants around the world, two in South Africa that Erica and I were lucky enough to be apart of. We were vital components of the bi-district conference for many years. The Bi-District was a meeting held every other year where our district and districts from Mexico met to form partnerships in grants between the two countries. The partnership fair was an extraordinary event where you would seek a partner in Mexico to form a, if not several, bi-district grants. The toilet boys were a favorite of Amber’s. Behind lots of partying in the hospitality suites with way too many shots drank, partnerships were formed improving the lives of so many.
We didn’t stop here but have reached out to so many more countries in need. Sudan, thanks to Linda’s husband Awad, Columbia, India, Mexico, Kenya, and of course here at home, South Austin reached out offering much needed aide through grants and what Jenny so fondly has name dour dirty hands projects. Today we look to the future globally with Dawn and her much needed work in Laos. At home here in Austin, we look to Mickie with her soup kitchen, clothes closet, and huge heart, always giving more. She sets the bar for those of us to follow.
You see, as one we can leave a tiny foot print in the sand...but being a member of Rotary International, we are a massive group of elephants charging across that beach, changing lives forever. That day, speaking to South Austin Rotary, I found a group that would very soon become my best friends. A group of like-minded people able to rise above their own needs and make a difference in the world.
Live as Mother Theresa says, not doing great things with little love but doing little things with great love. Walk gently, love greatly and be humble and kind.