Rotarians Betsy and Geoff Pentz were the guest speakers at the Wednesday, 5 February, noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston North Kitsap. Betsy is the Secretary for the East Jefferson County Club, while Geoff is the Secretary for the Bremerton Rotary Club. Geoff was the Olympic High School pool manager for 20 years and is now the owner/operator of Sound Dive Center. Betsy was an accountant at Kitsap Bank for 43 years and is now retired.

 

Betsy and Geoff have gone to India and Nova Scotia on Rotary Friendship Exchanges (RFE).

 

A RFE is when a group of Rotarians from one Rotary district in the world travel to another for fun and fellowship. It's a wonderful way to travel, but it's not like a regular holiday—it's an experience. You'll learn about how the locals live, make lifelong friends and discover new cultures and communities. Often you share Rotary projects and ideas. Exchanges are usually reciprocal. Rotarians experience different cultures and build international friendships. 

 

Each participant funds his or her own way and a RFE generally lasts about two weeks. The RFE team is home stayed, usually changing host homes every few days. The host Rotarians show their guests local sights of interest, parks, museums, things they are proud of. The hosts generally cover lodging and home meals. Transportation within the district is provided by the hosts but admissions or extraordinary costs such as restaurant meals are covered by the guests. The visit is then reversed with the foreign district visiting our district. RFE participants are expected to host for a few nights and participate when they visit here. You will travel with a group and your tour will be mapped out by the hosts.

 

The benefits of a RFE include: Make lifelong friends; Live "with the locals"; Certainly cost efficient; Expand your Rotary knowledge; See parts of the world you may otherwise never see; and Develop future partnerships. Current RFE's on the district list are: District 4640 Brazil, District 2440 Turkey, District 4455 Peru, District 2220 Russia, Northern East England, District 5020 Intra-District, District 2232 Ukraine / Belarus, District 2360 Sweden, and District 9400 South Africa.  

 

Team members are selected based on geography and history. Participants are needed from varying communities in our district. The district also looks for as many different Rotarians to experience RFE as possible.  The goal is to have as many different Rotarians be a part of it as possible. For more information see the information on the Rotary District 5020 website: https://rotary5020.org/page/rotaryd5020-friendship-exchange