7 days ago
‘Sharing ideas, sharing wins': Final preparations for the 2025 Rotary International Convention underway
Co-chairs of the 2025 Rotary International Convention, Craig Stokke and Mark Starratt talk with Sydney Boll about final preparations for the five-day event beginning June 21.
The 2025 Rotary International Convention kicks off June 21 and will see more than 15,000 Rotarians from 120 countries converge on Calgary for five days.
Local Rotary clubs won the right to host the annual event ten years ago.
'It's been a long journey for sure,' said Craig Stokke, convention co-chair.
'You know going from sort of the planting the seed and thinking about what may be and how the city got behind it and the communities got behind Rotarians, everybody's really excited.'
Stokke says it's a chance to show off Calgary to international visitors but also raise awareness locally with people in the city and surrounding area who are not familiar with Rotary.
'There's a lot of charities out there that may not know what we do,' he said.
'And there's a lot of people I think that want to give back to the community but they don't know how to do it and they don't really have an avenue so just getting that exposure about Rotary and what we do in the community, I think is really important.'
Mark Starratt, convention co-chair, says the annual event is designed for participants to share ideas and talk about projects they have in the works.
But at it's core it's a gathering of people with like mind who want to make a difference.
'It's about sharing projects, sharing ideas, sharing wins and how we've impacted the communities around the world,' he said.
'But at the end of the day it's about just helping our communities be better.'
Starratt says Rotary has been in part of Calgary and area's community for over 100 years and it's an organization that's working along side many other great organizations to build community and to add to everyday life here.
'From seniors to youth to new immigrant populations, just the sky's the limit in terms of the rich service that we've done,' he said.
'And the convention coming to Calgary allows us to show this on an international stage.'
Stokke says close to 1,500 people have signed up to volunteer for the five days of the convention.
He talked to other organizers around the world who recommended that Calgary have at least 400 volunteers to help it run smoothly.
'That's not Calgary, that's not what we do,' he said. 'We want to make sure that from the time somebody gets off the plane until the time that they leave, they know they're in Calgary, they know that they're taken care of.'
In the final weeks before the convention begins, Stokke says all the 'heavy lifting' has been done.
'It's the little things now that matter and making sure that we cross the T's and dot the I's and we know that we're going to put on an amazing event,' he said.
Learn more about the event here.
