By Henry Drury
The paths to Rotary membership are not always well marked or direct!
James Rankin was raised in the semi-rural area of Narre Warren North surrounded by market gardens and dairy farms where a 12 year old boy could go on daily biking adventures, finding something new every time.
Then came the property developers, buying up the farms for residential subdivision and establishing a sales office on the family property. One day, James noticed a lady standing in front of the unattended office and, being the farm boy that he was, unembarrassedly asked what she wanted and subsequently showed her the advertised block that she ultimately bought. That lady told the story to the real estate agency sales people who came over one night and presented James with an L J Hooker badge, making him an honorary agent.
“I was quite chuffed and have never forgotten it,” said James, who today has his own thriving business as a mortgage broker and buyer’s advocate.
However, on the way to his real estate career, he was a design student at RMIT, a part-time designer, and then construction hirer and supervisor for an international sign company. He also started a successful car detailing business, a car modification business, and after selling his interests, ultimately found himself at age 26 working for a property developer in his first love being real estate.
James had heard of Rotary mainly through a family friend, Macro Dong, who being member of Rotary Frankston, was always telling him about his club and their amazing activities. But, James really did not think much more about it.
It was about four years ago when Macro suddenly passed away. James was inspired by the published short story of Macro’s life since migrating to Australia and the impact that Rotary had on his life. At the time, James had been helping out at organisations such as Father Bob and Peter Mac’s Unite to Fight, and it seemed to him he should investigate joining Rotary.
James was inducted into Malvern Rotary on 26 August 2020, and is enthusiastically looking forward to exploring the work he can do with others.