Jennifer Jones: The Power of Rotary Moments from Rotary International on Vimeo.
Our PETS (President-Elects Training Seminar) was held last weekend and Jennifer Jones, Vice-President of Rotary International, was present to inspire and motivate next years' leaders. Jennifer is a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. She was president of her club in 2001-02, is a past district governor of Rotary District 6400 and is particularly proud of having installed both her husband and mother into Rotary (despite, she says, not having sponsored either).
Jennifer is president and CEO of Media Street Productions Inc., a television and video production company in Windsor serving customers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Media Street’s specialties include commercial production (radio and television), corporate sales and training videos, not-for-profit awareness videos, live show production and full post production services. Jennifer’s husband Nick Krayacich is a family physician in Windsor who belongs to the Rotary Club of La Salle Centennial there.
What are two of your most memorable Rotary experiences?
How do you select just two…. there are so many Rotary experiences that have framed the way I think, feel and act. I think for most of us it’s the intimate, shared experiences as a Rotarian…the joys and the sorrows of life are that much richer when you walk alongside those who you cherish.
A day I will never forget was being a club president on 9/11. By about 10am I began receiving emails and phone calls asking if we would be cancelling our meeting. I knew this was an important time for us to be together and share our feelings…so the meeting went on, but certainly not as had been planned. Our members all arrived that day and as Canadian’s we stood belting out the Star Spangled Banner and weeping with our neighbors to the south. Rotary punctuates more than anything that we exist without boundaries and borders and that day as human beings we were all united. She shared this story at one of the luncheon meetings at PETS.
A second memorable experience that I have been recently reflecting upon was being the Host Organizing Chair of the Rotary World Peace Summit in April 2008 in Windsor, ON. It was a dynamic, three-day event in which over 1000 people attended including 400 young people. Rotarians came from far corners of the world and we opened the doors to the community to attend. More than 3500 people participated in a parade of flags along the Detroit River and an outdoor opening ceremony. It was breathtaking. There were many notable speakers including UN Ambassadors, Nobel Nominees, Rotary Senior Leaders and on Sunday morning a “spirited” keynote address from Robert Kennedy Jr.