Mother of two, and an accounting technician by profession, Tania Lowery may also need her multitasking skills at her fingertips, as she takes on the role of governor for Rotary District 9980 from July 1.
Founded on February 23, 1905, Rotary International has moved over the past 18 months to lift its public profile and, in common with many other service clubs, basic awareness of just what it does as an organisation.
After research showed about 35% of people were wholly unfamiliar with Rotary and its activities, the parent organisation launched a global advertising campaign around the new slogan "People of Action", and it is a push Mrs Lowery says chimes perfectly with own perception of and experiences within the club.
"Both as Rotarians, and coming from the south, traditionally it’s not in been in our make-up to shout about what we do — that’s not, after all, why we do it in the first place.
"Our collective service to the community is about volunteerism, which means action first and foremost, and often that can go unheralded."
The unfortunate corollary of "working behind the scenes quietly", however, was a lack of public awareness, which she said could prove challenging when it came to recruiting new members to carry on the good work.
"We’re actually quite a strong club here [in Balclutha] in terms of membership, but awareness and communication are areas Rotary as a whole has moved to address in recent years, and that’s something I want to continue to work on regionally during my tenure from July."
The steps towards that tenure began on July 1, 2017, when Mrs Lowery officially became District 9980 Governor nominee — covering "Te Anau to Temuka to Invercargill" — after receiving a "tap on the shoulder" from within the club.For the Rotary member, at that time of just six years, it was an honour that brought her to tears.
"It was such a privilege to be nominated, and my fellow club members were — and continue to be — incredibly supportive in encouraging and advising me. It’s been quite a journey, just arriving at the second stage now of governor-elect."
Acknowledging the time, skills and technical demands the role entails, Rotary supports prospective district governors with a comprehensive two-year programme of training and mentoring before they hit the podium proper.For Mrs Lowery, that had meant a succession of holidays devoted to Rotary-oriented events.
"I’ve been to Auckland, Toronto and Hobart and, in January, [husband] Phil [Atkinson] and I head to San Diego for a conference of all the governors elect — about a thousand — from across the globe."
Although the training and experiences thus far had been "amazing", the demand on time alongside her full-time work had occasionally been hard to sustain.
"In a way, that’s been the biggest challenge, the demands on time. Fortunately, Phil is a fellow Rotarian, and my daughters are grown up, so they understand the value of what I’m doing now, and hope to achieve while governor."
A self-described "hands-on" person, Mrs Lowery said she hoped to act as a living example of a Rotarian "person of action" during her tenure.
"I don’t really have any political or structural ambitions. My take is I want to inspire and encourage as many of those 1100-plus Rotarians in our district as possible to carry on and expand their range of voluntary activities, demonstrating first-hand what Rotary’s all about, and the value of what we can do as a group, working together.
"There’s the strength in numbers to achieve great things."
Although the role would involve further travel — she aspired to visit each of the district’s 31 clubs at least once during her 12 months in charge — Rotary at large would also venture south.
"It’s a long-standing tradition that the district governor’s home club hosts the district conference to wrap up their year of leadership, so we’ll be looking to show off South Otago at its very best."
The conference typically attracts about 150 delegates from across the district, and Mrs Lowery said she wanted to emphasise that actions spoke louder than words.
"We’re planning to innovate. Although we’ll have speeches, presentations and the like, I’ve also got plans to harness the collective voluntary power of our delegates in some amazing on-the-spot projects locally.
"People will be able to see for themselves the sort of things Rotary does and, I hope, gain a greater appreciation of who we are as an organisation."
Baulking the notion of service clubs heading into the sunset, Mrs Lowery said she was also looking forward to welcoming a new club into the District 9980 fold this year.
"We’ll be chartering a new club in Wanaka, which will be called the Rotary Club of Mount Aspiring. It’s just another illustration that we as Rotary continue to evolve and remain relevant in the modern world."
Prospective members were already "queuing up" to join, she said.
"There are people in every community who are passionate about giving back to those communities, and many of those people choose to join Rotary.
"Those are some of the ‘people of action’ I’m looking forward to meeting this coming year."
