Rotary Impact Seeking New Members

Entrepreneur Devin Blase loved being part of the Rotary International's service mission. Constantly being the youngest person in the room? Not so much.

"There were no people from my demographic," said Blase, who is 25 and lives in Brentwood.

Unless they're members of the high school program Rotary Interact, most Rotarians tend to be in the 45 and over range, often up into their 70s. Also, it's harder for younger adults fresh out of college and in their first jobs to pay for the dues or attend meetings and do more frequent service projects.

"Most people my age can't make a lunch meeting weekly," Blase said, explaining that young adults just starting their careers often don't have a lot of time for activities outside of their jobs.

So Blase and some friends applied for a grant from the Westwood Chapter of the group (which serves Brentwood, as well) to start an affiliate group called Rotary Impact to better serve the needs of young adults just out of college.

"There's a different need here," Blase said. "People want to get involved."

The grant was approved in January and the group has between 100 to 150 members.

There's a monthly happy hour mixer for professional networking and philanthropic planning, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the charity of the month. There's also a monthly volunteer day, with the goal that each member will eventually spend 24 hours a year volunteering.

The next happy hour will be June 18 at South, 3001 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica. For more information, email rotaryimpact@gmail.com or check out the group's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/RotaryImpact.