Speaker July 08, 2025; Club President, John Farrow

President Farrow addresses club July 8th 2025

In June, John Farrow, our  2025-26 Club President, along with over 15,000 other Rotarians, had his eyes opened to everything that Rotary is and does when he attended the RI Convention in Calgary." We're a respected partner of many clubs around the world," he said. "I want every member to feel this is a good place to be, worth your time, a ‘third place’, after family and work,” he added.

To launch his year as president on July 8, Farrow outlined his Rotary goals for the 2025-26 year. He praised the club for making a difference locally, regionally, and internationally. 

 John joined the club in 1990 and has served in many capacities, including president. He said it was truly a privilege to lead the club and thanked all members for their contributions and support. He'll emphasize the family aspect of Rotary and challenged us to bring guests to our meetings, to hear our speakers, and to get to know us. “It takes the whole club working together to build membership. I would especially like to attract younger members. Only 5% of Rotarians in North America are under 40. That’s a challenge we and Rotary face.” He shared that our Interact students want to be full Rotarians and suggested we could create a special category of membership for them. He wants to talk with individual members about their Rotary experience, too:

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your Rotary experience, what you’re doing, talk to me. I’ve felt that way too at times. The flip side—I want every member to feel this is a good place to be, worth your time; a “third place.” For most people, the first place is your family, the second place is your work, and the third place is somewhere you can interact with people and feel good about that; it helps your mental health; it helps your physical health. I want this to be everybody’s third place. We can help share the load; I will help share the load.

He encouraged us to continue to develop its work with the awesome youth with whom we partner, building on the work we've done with Pathways and the Interact club at Kingston Secondary School. With our youth and the special interest of our members, he hopes we will expand our contribution to address Rotary’s most recent cause, protecting the environment.

He pledged to support our current area governor Elsabé Falkson as she transitions to being our District Governor in 2027-28 and as she leads our District 7040 in hosting the District Conference in Kingston, April 24-26, 2026. He encouraged us to attend, to serve on the planning committee, and to open our homes for hospitality to attendees from our whole district.

“I invite you all to unite to do good in the world and I thank you for your support.”

View Farrow's Presentation

Farrow's view on what it means to be a Rotarian?

At the District 7040 Conference, April 26, 2025 Bill Egnatoff interviewed President John.

Bill: So John, what does it mean to be a Rotarian? Where did you start?

John: I started because my dad was a Rotarian and somebody asked me, who was a Rotarian, and I thought, what a great way to be involved in my community, and, I found my people in my Rotary club. I found people who were like me, who thought like me, who wanted to give back to the community and then it grew to so much more than that. It grew to the district level—we’re at a district conference—and then it grew to the international level, and I’ve been lucky enough to attend two international conventions and I’m going to attend a third in June. It’s the power of 1.4 million people working in a similar cause working in every country in the world and I love my people.

More by John Farrow: John Farrow - The Rotary Foundation