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The Rotary Spark Podcast
Welcome to our dedicated podcast for Rotary International's District 5750, designed to connect our community through the power of personal storytelling. Each episode celebrates the unique journeys of our fellow Rotarians and community members, highlighting their individual experiences, motivations, and the profound impact of their service and contributions.
Join us as we dive into heartfelt discussions with individuals from all walks of life, sharing stories that inspire and foster connection.
The Rotary Spark Podcast
#0023 - Adam Reese
In this episode of The Rotary Spark Podcast, we welcome Adam Reese, a dedicated member of the Bricktown Rotary Club. Originally from Gotebo, Oklahoma, Adam’s Rotary journey took off when he earned a scholarship that led him to join the organization in Denton, Texas. His story is one of commitment and community impact, shaped by a strong family legacy in auctioneering and a deep passion for service. Adam shares how his experiences across different Rotary districts have influenced his perspective and how he found a strong connection with the Bricktown Club during the pandemic.
We also explore the far-reaching impact of Rotary’s mission, showcasing service projects that embody the spirit of "service above self." From modernizing a fruit drive fundraiser in North Texas to providing fresh produce for local shelters, Adam highlights the creative ways Rotarians make a difference. The conversation extends beyond the U.S. to Guatemala, where partnerships with local Rotary clubs have helped rebuild schools and construct a collegiate dormitory, proving that service not only transforms communities but also enriches those who give their time and effort.
As Rotary Clubs continue to evolve from traditional meetings to globally connected service hubs, Bricktown Rotary is gearing up for its next international project in Bucerias, Nayarit. This initiative will focus on supporting families and children through education and shelter efforts. Stay engaged with Bricktown Rotary and District 5750 through digital platforms, and be sure to mark your calendar for the upcoming Days of Wine and Rotary event on May 2nd. Join us in making a meaningful impact while strengthening the bonds of service and fellowship.
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Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Traeger, and today with me I have Adam Reese from the Bricktown Rotary Club. How are you?
Speaker 2:doing today.
Speaker 1:Adam Doing great. Brian, thanks for having me. My pleasure. Thanks for coming on down. So tell us a little bit about your Rotary history.
Speaker 2:I was introduced to Rotary when I was a kid. Actually, I took piano lessons from a lady that played at the Rotary Club in Mountain View, Oklahoma, and occasionally she would have me in as their entertainment. Thanks to that, I won the Rotary scholarship as I graduated high school and took that along with me. I then became a full-time Rotarian with my Denton Rotary Club in 2008. From that point.
Speaker 2:I've been a constant Rotarian. I moved back to Oklahoma here in 2020 in the heart of COVID, and in 21, 22, started club hopping to find the right club. I was still a member of my Denton downtown club and joined the Bricktown Rotary Club, so I've been a road trainer for quite some time.
Speaker 1:What differences if any, have you experienced between the two different districts?
Speaker 2:You know, district 5790 is where it came from. We had 91 clubs when we were active there and here at 5750, we've got what? 32 clubs, I believe, that are active.
Speaker 2:I think each Rotary has the same mindset and you find the same type of people in each room, and then every Rotary club of course has its own persona, so to speak. So each one is going to be a little different. Even in the clubs just within Oklahoma City I found that all of them had great things to offer and then you just got to find the right fit in the right club for you and what makes sense to you. And if you connect with those people in the room, then great. And I walked into the Brooktown Rotary Club and I felt like I connected with everybody in the room in about 30 seconds.
Speaker 1:That's great I think for some people it takes a few clubs For others it's instantaneous, so I'm really happy for you that you were able to experience that.
Speaker 2:Do you miss some of the clubs in your old district I do, but I have the great honor of going back and doing things for them frequently. Last year I got called to the gala affair. They needed an auctioneer and I happened to be down there for a horse show and I said absolutely, I'll hop in and do your auction, for I think it was a polio auction or something. And then just this morning I was on the phone with past district governor, marianne McDuff, there in District 5790. I was her governor's aide for multiple years leading up to her governorship and then through her governor year and then beyond.
Speaker 2:But I'm doing another event for her and a handful of Rotarians called Didn't Benefit Lee coming up in April.
Speaker 1:That's very exciting. So the auctioneer title that you've mentioned in the past. Can you tell us a little bit about that and some of the work that you do with nonprofits? Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:My great-grandfather owned a Cadillac Pixelborn, and then my granddad on the other side of the fence actually had a car dealership.
Speaker 2:So I've been in and out of the auction since I was a little kid and my great grandfather pretty much not six months before he passed in his hospital bed told me if you want to put something in your back pocket to take with you, always go to auction school.
Speaker 2:So in high school I thought about that and it was my senior year, and that fall after I graduated high school I thought about that and it was my senior year and that fall after I graduated high school I actually went to Missouri Auction School, kansas City, missouri, and I have been doing auctions ever since. I've done anything from a small farm sale to a consignment auction, all the way up to the big gala fairs. I circled my real auction love to nonprofits and I did that in about 1999. I created Reese Agency, reese Marketing then it was Reese Agency now, and I circle my love around nonprofits because my heart gets in the way of my pocketbook and I love to raise money. Give me a microphone on the stage and I'm going to raise money for any nonprofit that you have Are there any upcoming events that you're going to be doing auctioneer work for?
Speaker 1:I do. I've got an event coming up in.
Speaker 2:Denton Texas which is coming soon for the Denton Benefit League. I have an event here in Oklahoma City that we're going to do. Potentially we haven't decided whether we're going to have a live auction or not for Days of Wine and Rotary. Last year we did have some live auction items which were nice. We base our auctions on silent or live based on the amount of donations that we get. So right now we are in the donation series of planning for that event. May 2nd it'll happen and what we have to the table is yet to be known.
Speaker 1:And there'll be information tied to the Bricktown Rotary Club's Facebook as well as the website, and there'll be additional information tied to podcast material for anyone who wants to donate and or participate in any capacity.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, we rely on all of our connections, from all of our members, and each member reaches out to folks that they do business with on an annual basis and ask for those easy donations, whether it's a gift card or any type of fun event that perhaps people have tickets to, of a fun event that perhaps people have tickets to. You know, thunder Games are also very popular here in Oklahoma City, and just I mean the reach is unlimited.
Speaker 1:That's great to see. So just to let everyone know that might not be aware, I'm in the same club as Adam. I recently joined the Bricktown Rotary Club, so watching him and everyone else on the board and everyone that participates within the club in any way is a very unique experience that I appreciate. So thank you for all of your guidance so far, Adam. Let us know what else is going on in the Bricktown Rotary Club. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Brian, I think we're going to put you to work pretty soon and create a new committee of sorts and actually maximize that committee out for social media marketing management and public relations. It's something that I don't think we've done too great of a job at, but we're not terrible at either. For Brooktown Rotary, I came into the club in a transition period, I guess you could say and then we have just recently rewritten our bylaws to coincide with Rotary International and kind of getting everything back in order on a timeline that Rotary sets out for every Rotary club.
Speaker 2:And getting on those timelines and getting everything in order was a challenge in the beginning of course, because change is hard for some folks, but I was raised in Rotary by a group of Rotary traditionalists is what I like to call them. They are folks that have done Rotary since I was a toddler and Rotary has been around for so many years because we don't have to reinvent the wheel, it's already invented for us and we just have to follow the guidelines of Rotary International.
Speaker 2:And then, when we do that, we discover that, wow, these things are written on purpose and they have a place and they have an intention about them. And then, when we follow that intention, suddenly our Rotary world becomes simplified and I take an approach of keep it simple, stupid.
Speaker 1:The rules are already written.
Speaker 2:Let's just follow them.
Speaker 1:That's great to keep in mind for new members or prospective members. Is there any advice that you'd want to pass out to help anyone integrate into Rotary?
Speaker 2:I think the easiest way to really integrate into any Rotary club is immediately volunteer. Get involved in whatever seat that you see fit, whatever talents you have at the table, Bring them up and say, hey, I want to volunteer because I have experience in XYZ and this, and the more you can do that and the more you can speak up, there's always a place for anybody in Rotary. The more you can do that and the more you can speak up, there's always a place for anybody in Rotary. If you look at Rotary International and all of the fellowships and all of the different things that RI offers, you can just throw a dart on a wall full of say anything, any kind of descriptors, and wherever that dart hits you can do a search on Rotary International and you're going to find a fellowship or a group or something that has those same like-minded sets.
Speaker 1:There's a.
Speaker 2:Rotary Club in North Texas that really was created out of a lunch group and they quickly became the largest Rotary Club of District 5790, amazingly so and they've got a group of campers that they like to camp, like three, four times a year, and there's like 40, 50 of them. Great Family Fair, et cetera. Anything that you want to do, there's a way to do it through Rotary, whether it's bourbon and wine, beer, all those types of fellowships, those are out there. Those are types of clubs that are available. So, just getting involved, and if you have something that you absolutely adore to do, check out Rotary International, find the fellowship for it, and I bet there's like-minded people within just Oklahoma City and District 5750 that would have the same. One of my most unique experiences in Rotary and actually let me back that up when I first became a Rotarian. I always say you have a Rotary membership, but you truly don't understand what that means until you really become a Rotarian.
Speaker 2:And there was a city council member that was in our club in North Texas and he kind of threw me under the fruit bus, as I like to say, and we did this huge fruit drive from South Texas where we brought fresh grapefruit and oranges from South Texas every winter as a big, huge fundraiser for our club. We sold half a truckload of fruit. It was unbelievable, like a semi-truckload and I was like sure I'll help you out. So I digitized the ordering process and kind of maximized our exposure out in the community et cetera, created some deliveries, got my fraternity involved at UNT to help deliver and help unload those trucks and all those things. And when I truly became a Rotarian was when I was delivering those cases of fruit to the shelters around North Texas and specifically around Denton, and when I walked into the doors with fresh fruit in hand. That's something that those shelters usually never get. It's something that those food banks usually never get because they don't have a shelf life right.
Speaker 1:But the need is there and it's great.
Speaker 2:It's a great need. I literally saw the clients in the lobby salivating at the looks of the cases of oranges and the cases of fruit and that was my aha moment when I said this is what we do, this is what it's all about. It's all about service above self.
Speaker 2:This is us being a Rotarian Fast forward to 2016-17,. I was the governor's aide for our district governor at the time and I was working with the incoming governor because he wanted to remove our district conference and create an international service project in Guatemala. Well, everybody thought he had lost his mind. We started connecting with a Houston club, a Guatemalan Rotarian club Antigua, guatemala, guatemala City. We worked with three different Rotary clubs in Guatemala and we worked with multiple Rotary clubs across North Texas and we created this international service project.
Speaker 2:I had no intention of being in Guatemala, but I was just going to plan the whole trip. So I negotiated contracts with the Guatemalans. I got us a hotel, I got us restaurants, I got us places to eat, I got us a few tours for fun, and we went down there and we rebuilt some schools in Antigua, tocal and around Guatemala City and then, in Guatemala City specifically, we built an entire dorm out for some students. That was a very unique collegiate type of dorm and in the morning the college students lived on site and they would take their classes In the afternoon those same college students would teach the younger students of Guatemala all the skill sets that they needed, in whatever grades that they were in.
Speaker 2:Tremendous, tremendous trip Last. About six weeks before the trip was to happen, the governor at the time said I can't do this trip without you. You've got to be boots on the ground.
Speaker 1:And I ended up going to Guatemala and Guatemala City.
Speaker 2:We were there for nine days Amazing experience helping the people of Guatemala and rebuilding schools that were in dire need of being rebuilt repainting, cleaning, doing all kinds of service projects and then building out the collegiate dorm was a tremendous experience in 2019.
Speaker 1:We had a plan to go to.
Speaker 2:Tikal and help the people of Tikal for their volcanoes and all the destruction. However, 2020 happened, so those plans got put on the shelf.
Speaker 1:It's a long way from fresh fruit. Long way from fresh fruit, right. So Rotary does all kinds of things.
Speaker 2:It's really cool that we can do such significant impacts, whether it's a case of fruit or traveling across the country and helping people in another country and connecting with Rotary clubs around the world. So as a Rotarian, you have what? There's 1.2 million Rotarians across the world and 36,000 plus clubs, If my numbers are right in my head. You can go anywhere in the world and find a Rotary club yeah, yeah. No, that's.
Speaker 1:It's a lot to process and I'll always be grateful, regardless of what mental state that I'm in, because Rotary has made my life better, and that's how I know that it works.
Speaker 1:It's not even knowing what Rotary was it gave to me which allows me to continue to give back, and it's, if anything, not even knowing what Rotary was it gave to me which allows me to continue to give back, and it's, if anything, rotary's taught me how important it is to unconditionally care as much as possible, minimize and or eliminate expectations and just be remain grateful for having such a strong channel to maintain that momentum of giving. For sure, for me it's. It's just I mean again I mention this all the time I won't be able to use this excuse for too much longer. I'm relatively new in rotary.
Speaker 1:I'm about a year and a half going on two years in and I still have a lot to learn, but it really is a space where, as a Rotarian, I can humble myself to people that are farther along than I am, and I can work on myself.
Speaker 2:I can give back to the community and I can become a much better version of myself, so that I can continue to give back in more of a pure way, so that I can continue to give back in more of a pure way, which is, I mean, I just don't have words.
Speaker 1:It's a fantastic opportunity.
Speaker 2:Leading by the four-way test of Rotary is a great way to lead any organization.
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter whether you're in Rotary or outside of Rotary or what have you.
Speaker 2:I have the four-way test on my fridge. I have the four-way test on my keychain. I have the four-way test in every office that I've ever had and it's hung brightly and in a central place where anybody that walks in the door says what's that? I can say, well, that's Rotary International, that's our four-way test. This is what we do and the way we think, say or do we do everything by the four-way test. Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? And imagine a world if we utilized the four-way test in everything that we think, say or do? I've led sales teams, I've worked in academia and I've taught students the four-way test At the University of North Texas. I helped recreate our university Rotarians and our Rotaract group there and everywhere that I've introduced that everybody has said Wow, that's so impactful.
Speaker 2:One of the most unique things that I think 5790 did and a lot of districts do this is a rotary four-way test competition for speech competition for youth. What I would love to see District 5750 do is a rotary four-way test competition for youth, but I would also love to see them do a rotary four-way test competition for adults. Make those adults go through that same process that the youth have to go through, because some of those four-way test competitors, if you've never heard them go Google it.
Speaker 2:There's going to be tons of videos out there with those kiddos. They take it in such a way that you wouldn't even imagine and it just blows your mind right, completely blows your mind on what their thought process is of the rotary four-way test being just now introduced to it. Never really been around, rotarians et cetera know nothing about it. They take it with you know, eyes wide open and then they say we can apply this in X, y and Z way in their life.
Speaker 2:It's tremendous what these kiddos think about and what they do, and I would love to see that from Rotarians. What is your perspective of a rotary four-way test? So perhaps we just make that challenge today, mac's coming in as governor next year. Let's say, mac, we need to have an adult rotary four-way test for 5750 and see where we go.
Speaker 1:You hear that Mac. I know you're out there listening. This is your challenge. This is our challenge as a rotary district. I like that a lot so, and I encourage anyone and everyone within our district, or someone who's not in Rotary yet, to come down to Charleston's in Bricktown 530 pm CST every single week. We'll be more than happy to welcome you into the club to visit. We'll also, you know, take you to some other clubs and we'd love to break bread with you 100%.
Speaker 2:I mean Rotary is on a model that we have to continue to recruit. A great boss of mine said to me years ago if we can't stop them from going out the back door, how are we going to keep them from coming in the front door? So we have to continuously recruit. Things happen, life gets in the way, all kinds of stuff happens, but there's a club for everybody, whether you like breakfast, lunch, no, dinner, whatever happy hour.
Speaker 2:It's simple. It's no longer your, as I always say, your grandfather's Rotary Club, because my grandfather was a Rotarian so many years ago, and it was the fork and knife club at noon every week and you were forced to be there. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:No, it's all about engagement.
Speaker 2:It's all about doing something. It's not necessarily about showing up to every meeting every week.
Speaker 2:That's a great thing to do because, that's the way we become true friends and Rotarians together and really work together. However, it's really more about engagement outside of that too. So there are so many opportunities, not just within whatever club you're a member of, but within any club across the world. I try to seek out a club anytime that I'm on travel, If I have time to go grab lunch or dinner or breakfast or whatever. Whenever they're meeting, you can go find a club across the country and across the world and I try to reach out to them because it's a cool experience to walk in the door and say I am a member of XYZ Club and I'd love to join you for lunch, and they welcome you with open arms and they appreciate you as a guest.
Speaker 2:There's a flag program of course you can take your club's flag and do a flag exchange. I did that for fun last year with my Denton Rotary Club and surprised them in the room. Of course, by surprising them in the room.
Speaker 2:they said well, now that you're here, you have to lead our singing, because we were a singing club and we sang every lunchtime, lunchtime, and so I led the song and presented the flag from Bricktown Rotary and brought the Denton Rotary Club flag back for Bricktown Rotary, et cetera, as a flag exchange. That's just one of the old traditions of Rotary, I guess, yeah.
Speaker 1:I like that. You mentioned that there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff, whether it's you know doing a podcast doing website development, working on projects, working on policy changes, picking up the phone and embracing a connection with another district governor through, you know, in your country or maybe in a different country.
Speaker 1:You know we have. We're lucky enough that, even though this podcast hasn't been around too too long, we've hit, you know, at least like 10 plus. You know countries throughout the world, and that's the power of Rotary. It's not I mean, it has something to do with technology and the mix of people and stuff like that. But without having Rotary as a platform, I don't think that would have happened as quickly. And there's just there are so many extracurricular activities. If what I'm learning is, if you're willing to put skin in the game, you're going to be able to engage with other people that have skin in the game 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the cool things that Bricktown Rotary is about to do is we're adopting an international service project, and these folks, um, I met in 2021 and I built a hotel with a mentor of mine many moons ago in in a little sleepy village called Bucerias Nayarit, and I was down there in 21,.
Speaker 1:Uh, staying at the hotel we sold out in 08.
Speaker 2:Um but the new owner was uh about to take ownership of of the hotel so went ahead and rented it and stayed there with the new ownership and the old owner outgoing had turned the kitchen the commercial kitchen into basically a soup kitchen.
Speaker 2:I'd met these folks from Canada that retired to Bucerius in 2019, and they brought golf carts for golf cart rental because it was a vibrant community of a lot of transient and vacationers. 2020 happened and they had all these golf carts and nobody renting them and they put their golf carts into service and they started serving the people of Bucerias and discovering that families were home without food. They were bringing food to them, also discovered that kids were home alone without parents because their parents were having to work to even try to pay the bills, et cetera, and scraping pennies together to do so. This evolved into what's now called a refuge of hope, where they are teaching students from where they are, how they are. They have 12 and 13 year olds that never even knew their ABCs. They have mothers that were in bad situations and needed out of their family structure because of abuse or cartel or whatever it may have been.
Speaker 2:So they're bringing them into the fold along with the kids and giving them a safe space to come and stay. They're expanding and they're building a four-story building next door, on the lot next door, which will actually butt up to the building they own now and the building now is going to be a three-story housing unit for families that need housing and need that time of regrouping and that support for housing.
Speaker 1:And then the four-story building next door is going to be the new school that they're building for the kiddos of Bucerias.
Speaker 2:That area is beautiful and it's covered in tourists, et cetera, but you don't see the true Mexico and the true need there unless you go up the hill a little further east and then you find the Refuge of Hope where they're doing the greater good.
Speaker 2:Bricktown Rotary Club is going to adopt the Refuge of Hope and we invite anybody else that wants to come and be a part of that project to do so I took a group in October down there and part of our mission there was to do a tour and find out their need and find out what they're going to do and what their plans were. I took a ton of photos and spoke at length with the families and with the people that run the place, it's a full 501c3. They have a board of directors just like anybody else.
Speaker 2:They follow the rules just like anybody else. Anybody else, they follow the rules just like anybody else, and then we'll connect with a Rotary Club either in Nuevo Vallarta or Puerto Vallarta, because the Bucerias Rotary Club is no longer, unfortunately, the Nuevo Vallarta wasn't meeting the week that I was there. They meet every other week but we were there for 10 days and I just missed them.
Speaker 1:So I'm going back again in May and I do have some rooms available.
Speaker 2:if anybody wants to hop on that trip and come, those are at my cost.
Speaker 1:Thanks to the new owner of the hotel that I helped build.
Speaker 2:He's giving us all at cost, which is really nice, so we can come down and do some greater good, also have some fun along the way and just get to know our fellow Rotarians a little better.
Speaker 1:So that trip's coming up in May, so anybody who wants to hop on board, reach out and it'll be our second step in creating this international service project, and then we're going to do an international grant through Rotary.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic, and all the channels tied to the club, as well as the district, will make that more of an availability. Anyone who wants to reach out to Adam, anyone connected to the project, will have the ability to do so. Thanks for sharing that, adam. That's fantastic. So let's see. I'd like to wrap this up by thanking the Almonte Library They've been fantastic for the last 23 to 24 episodes. Montee Library They've been fantastic for the last 23 to 24 episodes. I'd like to thank Rotary District 5750, as well as Rotary International and ITSpark for supporting us in the background and anyone I haven't thought of.
Speaker 1:Sometimes people or organizations fall between the cracks. A lot of people inside and outside of Rotary have helped me and others along the way, so thank you for that. Go ahead and check out our website, rotary5750.org. I believe Brooktown is brooktownrotaryorg, and both Rotary, district 5750 as well as Brooktown Rotary can be found on Facebook. Feel free to follow. Send us some messages, subscribe to this podcast, really connect with us in any way that you want to.
Speaker 1:There's no pressure. Obviously, we'd love to hear from you and connect with you further through this tech lens. I want everyone to have a wonderful weekend and thanks again, Adam, for coming by.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, Brian. I appreciate it and don't forget, May 2nd is. Brooktown Rotary's Days of Wine and Rotary. I'll see you there, thank you.
