Community-based club brings service, socializing to Kwantlen

In a quiet room at Kwantlen’s Langley campus, on the fourth Thursday of January, a group off Rotaractors meet to brainstorm ways to help people less fortunate then themselves.

Rotaract Club, a youngsters version of the Rotary Club, meets twice a month to mimic their older, more experienced mentors.

Dave Zenko is the president of Langley’s Rotaract Club, as well as a graduate from Kwantlen’s business program.

He has a full-time job and a passion for Rotary. But to qualify to be part of the tight-knit Rotary family, you must be a prominent business person in the community, so Zenko started Langley’s Rotaract club for anyone between the ages of 18 and 30.

There are two types of Rotaract Clubs. One is a community-based club, which is what Zenko is in. The other is a college-based club. Zenko says the Langley Rotaract Club elected to be a community-based club because it has the capacity to run all year and has fewer restrictions on membership than the college-based club has.

Similar to the Rotary Club, the Rotaract Club isn’t all business and good deeds. Its members like to have some fun, too.

One of the two meetings each month is devoted to a social event, where members get together for theme nights, potlucks and parties.

Zenko says that each year the Rotaract Club, which has branches in most communities, has one international project and one community project that they work on throughout the year.

This year, the Langley Rotaract Club’s international project is to raise money to send 110 wheelchairs – a shipping container full – to developing countries. The club need to raise $116,500 for the project.

Zenko said that this project is especially close to him, “because it gives so much joy to the people in need.”

It is hoped fundraiser for this event will be held at the Fox and the Fiddle in Langley in the near future.