From October 2 to 13, the Rotary Club of Wilsonville will be one of a few groups in Oregon welcoming Rotarians from Sri Lanka as part of an international Friendship Exchange program, focusing on increasing peace and cultural understanding. Besides the Wilsonville club, Salem and Portland clubs are also hosting the group, collectively “showing off” our beautiful state and touring our natural wonders, companies and other organizations serving our area.
Club president Pat Wolfram says, “I think this gives us an opportunity to have the Wilsonville community see Rotary in a different light. I think we’re primarily known locally as concert-makers, omelet makers, Polio fund-gatherers, TACE and HOG hosts. This gives us the ability to show our international reach, and how we actively do the things this world needs to goodwill and fellowship. A major part of Rotary’s wider mission is to promote world peace, and one way of accomplishing that is one handshake, one friendship, at a time.”
Activities for the Sri Lanka contingent in the Wilsonville area will take place October 8-10 and include a reception at the World of Speed, tours of local organizations including GK Machine, Oregon Institute of Technology, and Aurora Airport; and some fun at Bullwinkle’s Miniature Golf and entertainment center. Other highlights of the overall Oregon tour from all of the clubs involved include a trip to the Oregon coast, the Oregon Gardens, the Columbia Gorge, Washington Park attractions, Chinese Garden, a studio tour of AM Northwest local tv show, a tour of the Capitol in Salem and meeting with the Senate President, and many other places and meetings with dignitaries.
Wilsonville Rotarian Ned Preble is one of the organizers of the Sri Lanka Friendship Exchange, having been involved in an exchange that took him, and 11 other Rotarians to Sri Lanka in January of this year. Ned had arranged for the group to visit Oregon back in the Spring of this year, but the Easter Sunday terrorist attack that killed and injured many in Sri Lankans delayed the visit for several months.
“Our visit to Sri Lanka was truly a highlight of my time in Rotary so far, especially given my service there years ago in the Peace Corps,” said Ned. “There is no better way to understand the world and also get a better appreciation of our place in it than to travel internationally, and spend quality time interacting with communities in meaningful ways. We are excited about hosting our Sri Lanka counterparts and reciprocating the generosity and time they gave us when we visited them.”
For more information on the Sri Lanka visit, please contact Ned Preble at ned@kironconsulting.com