Past Rotary President Mark Steelquist has been busy talking around town about Rotary. He and others in the community are recruiting new Rotary members to join an “after-hours Rotary club” to meet twice monthly on Tuesday evenings in downtown Missoula. The new club is being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Missoula. It represents the fifth Rotary club in Missoula, including the flagship Rotary Club of Missoula, Rotary Club of Missoula Sunrise, Rotary Club of Missoula Centennial, and Missoula Rotaract Club. 

Some people can’t attend a morning or a lunch club, Mark explained. There are many whose jobs restrict them from attending a meeting during traditional hours. More workers are home-based with online work meetings happening to coincide with time zones around the world. When workers in today’s work world leave a computer to have lunch, a stack of emails piles up that takes forever to catch up. Worldwide teams rely on them, so they must be present.

The work life has changed for a lot of people, he says. The evening meeting time fits many who are interested in joining Rotary but can’t be bound by daytime meeting hours.  

Rotary clubs of all types have been chartered throughout the world in recent years, including E-clubs that meet entirely online and single focus clubs that raise funds for one type of charitable need. 

Missoula’s new downtown club seeks members whose schedule accommodates a nighttime gathering. 

“We won’t poach members (from other Rotary clubs), or we will if they need a night meeting,” says Mark, who indicated that 17 prospective members are already interested in joining. Rotary International requires 15 members to start a new club. 

The after-hours Rotary club has already planned a fundraiser, says Mark, a pinball tournament presented jointly with Watson’s Children’s Center.

“We’ll be fast and go quickly,” he says. “Fast decision making means we may make mistakes. Today’s business environment accepts that mistakes will be made, so we will learn as a group. Emergent quality occurs when everyone learns together. If it doesn’t work, it will fail spectacularly and we’ll share why it didn’t.” 

Mark invited all Missoula Rotary members to visit a meeting of the new club once it is chartered, which should be soon. The club has been meeting at the Missoula Symphony offices temporarily while looking for a more permanent meeting location.