Well, here we are, starting another Rotary year! This past year has been filled with many challenges; in the way that we are running our meet-ings, holding our fundraisers, and providing valuable service to others. I first want to say that the needs that our Rotary serves certainly have not been cancelled amid this current crisis we are in and therefore our projects and our fund-raising can’t be canceled either, they must though be shifted to meet the current needs to ensure the health and safety of all. While I am not a fan of the phrase “this being the new ‘normal’ for us”, it is where we find ourselves now and certainly for the coming months, I am very excited to lead us into the future despite the challenges that lay be-fore us.
We are a very resourceful and energetic club that has never shied away from challenges. Like you, I am so disappointed that our Corn Fest had to be cancelled for the first time in 33 years, but I know that we will pull together and have a successful Road Rally/Scavenger Hunt. I would like to thank everyone who gave ideas on other fundraisers that we could hold while providing responsible social distancing. All these ideas helped lead us to this very different, but exciting event that we will be holding on August 8, 2020. It has also been very motivating to see so many of the newer members step up to the challenge of making this alternative fundraiser a success. Active participa-tion of new members, that feeling of being valued and needed in the organization, can be a struggle for clubs to attain. I certainly do not see that as an obstacle for retention of newer members in our club.
I have been a Rotarian for 11 years and I have enjoyed how our club has grown. I joined Rotary after hosting 4 exchange students one weekend as part of the Avon Interact Weekend. After vol-unteering to help with the weekend’s activities with Ed and Linda Kime, I knew that I wanted to be a Rotarian and be involved with the youth pro-grams. The last 11 years have led me down a
path where I have gone from being a club coun-selor, to country officer, to District Chair of the Youth Exchange program, a position that I step down from this year. Along the way, I got in-volved in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) program and am currently the District Chair of that and now am the District Chair of the New Generations Service Exchange Program, a program for 19-30 year old’s that I’m very excited about.
As your President, I look forward to working with all of you during our fundraisers, social events, community activities and Rotary meetings. I know that having meetings that are engaging and provide a sense of purpose are vital to the health of a club. Your time is important, and we want to be sure that besides the great social enjoyment we get from our fellowship at meet-ings, we want you to walk away with a feeling that your time is working towards the goals of Rotary and is being spent purposefully. To that end, I would like to see presentations come back to our meetings at least once a month. If anyone has ideas, please let me know. I would also like see the return of our in-meeting service projects once a month. Rhonda Hirschler will oversee organizing these, so please, if anyone has any ideas, contact her.
The official Change of Officers event will be Tuesday July 14th at 6:00pm at the Avon Inn. This will be a time to be together, while acknowl-edging social distancing. It will be a time to cel-ebrate our club and our accomplishments as well as set goals and expectations for the future year.
Yours In Rotary Service,
Julie Carney, President 20-21