Community Newsmaker Clare C. McKenry

BY MARISEL A. OTHON

For Clare C. McKenry joining the South Miami Rotary Club in 1993 has given her a sense of community, a sense of belonging and great friendships, and even a sister-in-law.

"I enjoy the South Miami club because it's smaller averaging about 50 members," McKenry says. "There's a good diverse of professions within the club and it's just a great sense of fulfillment to help others."

The Rotary Club is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage ethical standards and help build goodwill and peace in the world. There are approximately 1.2 million Rotarians, members of more than 29,000 Rotary clubs in 161 countries.

McKenry was born in Ennis County Clare, Ireland. The 35-year-old has a bachelor's in law and French from the University of Limerick, Ireland; an LL.M., master of law from the University of Exeltor, England; an MBA and J.D. from the University of Miami. McKenry's husband of 11 years, Carl, is a professor of law and business at the University of Miami.

The first time McKenry heard about the Rotary was in 1984 while she was a student in England. There she met a woman by the name of Isabel Val, a rotary scholar and present sister-in-law, who took McKenry to a speech Val was giving about the Rotary and learned about the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship.

"The whole idea sounded fantastic," McKenry, a Coral Gables resident, says. "However, at the time I caught up in my studies so I just put in the back burner. I began inquiring about the Rotary in my local town but I was just becoming familiar with the club because women couldn't be members at that time."

The Ambassadorial Scholarships, established in 1947, are the Rotary Foundation's oldest and best-known program. The scholarship's purpose is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. The scholars serve as ambassadors of goodwill to the people of the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups.

McKenry came to Miami in 1988 serving as council for the DeBeers Diamond Company and it was in 1989 that she was honored with the ambassadorial scholarship.

"They sent me to the University of Miami to study business. I was 24-years-old at the time and the idea behind the scholarship was not only academic," McKenry, a real estate and corporate lawyer, says. "You have to be an individual who could represent goodwill and make lots of friendships. It's because of the scholarship that I moved to Miami."

McKenry has served as secretary of the South Miami Rotary club and director of the international service avenue, which undertakes the advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace.

"I don't plan on taking a leadership role right now," McKenry says. "It takes a lot of time commitment so maybe in the future I'll take on that role but I will continue my work with the Rotary club."