Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch combines good work and friendship

When Bill Porter joined the Rotary Club in Monroeville, Pennsylvania 43 years ago, his wife wasn’t allowed to join with him. 

It was a men's only club, so Sybil Porter became what was known as a Rotary Ann, a term coined for members’ wives. 

In 1989, Rotary clubs all over the country opened their doors to women, and the former “Ann” is now president of the Lakewood Ranch chapter and is ready to showcase the “magic” of Rotary. She took over for Carmen Spagnola. 

“We did things like fashion shows and teas and cutesy little things (as Rotary Ann’s). When Rotary decided to allow women to join, thank goodness for that because women have been a great force in Rotary,” Sybil Porter said. “In fact, this past year, the international president is a woman and in two more years, there’s going to be another woman as international president, so we’ve made a big impact in Rotary.” 

Sybil Porter didn’t join the club right away in 1989. She had a career working as an oncology social worker. She’d say to Bill, “Rotary is your thing.” It took moving to Florida and being moved by a cause to take the leap. 

The River Place residents moved to the area in 2012. At the time, Bill Porter thought his time was up with Rotary, but the couple had made lifelong friends in Pennsylvania through the club, so his wife encouraged him to try out the Lakewood Ranch chapter. After meeting the club members for the first time, Bill Porter was a Rotarian once again.

Sybil Porter attended a Rotary district conference seven years ago when her husband was the club’s president. The couple chatted on the drive home, and Sybil Porter mentioned being impressed that Rotary was preparing to take on human trafficking as a major cause. 

“So I said, ‘Quit standing on the sidelines and get involved.’ She said to me, ‘I’ll get involved with the club, but you can’t tell me what to do,’” Bill Porter said with a laugh. 

Sybil Porter quickly moved up the ranks and was honored when asked to serve as president. Her theme for the year is a question: What is your why?

“I want people to understand what the magic of Rotary is all about, what we can do together,” Sybil Porter said. “We can have such a great impact.” 

Sybil Porter’s main goals are to increase membership and support the less active members to get more involved. She said Rotary isn’t just a place to come and eat lunch. Members are invested in their projects. 

Ted Lindenburg, a former teacher, combined his passion for education with the problem of high illiteracy rates amongst students who weren’t reading by the fourth grade, and started a book program. 

“We started out in Title One schools, giving books to the children to take home, and sometimes, those are the only books they’ve ever seen at home. We also go into the classroom, and we read to the kids,” Sybil Porter said. “So that’s been an ongoing project. It’s Ted’s passion and Rotary helped get him there.” 

Sybil Porter said the club is filled with so many dynamic members, there’s not a whole lot for her to do other than to run meetings and check in with committees to see they have everything they need. Beyond that, she’ll keep asking that same question: What is your why?

Because no matter how big of a problem, Sybil Porter knows from the club’s history that Rotary can make a difference. 

“Rotary International has pretty much eradicated polio. I believe last year there were maybe eight cases of polio in the world,” Sybil Porter said. “It started with one Rotarian who said I want to do something about this scourge of polio. Through his efforts, he spearheaded (vaccine distribution) into a global force.”

Currently, the Lakewood Ranch chapter has 100 members. Sybil Porter’s goal is to add 25 more to the roster before her one-year term is up. 

For prospective members considering joining, outgoing president Carmen Spagnola said people often get Rotary wrong, even Rotarians make the mistake.

“When you ask them, ‘what kind of organization are we,’ they’ll say community service,” Spagnola said. “We are a fellowship. Fellowship is just an old traditional worker friendship.”