Since 2011, members of The Rotary Club of Bowen Island have managed community projects ranging from the Rotary Run — to raise funds to support female students in Rwanda — to the water fountain on the Snug Cove marina wall.

On Monday Oct 26th, Steven Trende explained how those projects developed from a first idea to real impact — and how yours can too if you have a good (convincing) idea.

Steven related the Bowen stories behind some of those projects, such as a student’s essay that put more than 20 km of Mount Gardner trails on the map, a three-year relay to bring drinking water to the Cove, and the bumpy road behind this year’s Purple4Polio.

How does every project happen? Steven outlined a simple five-step method, done the Rotary way, from the Project Submission Form to a funding ladder that climbs all the way to a Global Grant (a rung this club has never reached).

The challenge for the future is for Rotarians and our colleagues in the community to take advantage of the the Rotary project system to create new and imaginative initiatives.