Dear Fellow Rotarians,It is difficult to believe six months of my term as President of our club is already gone. I’m truly honored to be able to serve. Our club continues to participate at high levels in service projects, fellowships, socials and more. We have so many opportunities to get engaged and I encourage you to continue to “lean in” to Rotary.
As a club we should be so proud and excited at the success of our recent car show on October 19th. Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated volunteers and the generous support of our donors, the event was a tremendous success. We raised a lot of money for our beneficiaries. Be sure to attend on January 22nd to hear the results of the car show as we give checks to our beneficiaries. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our Car Show Chairs, Jen and Sean Hoffman, the TLT and to all who contributed time, talent and treasure to make this event such a great success.
Our "Events Around Town" lunches on the second Wednesday of each month continue to be a hit, with over 40 attendees at our December 11th lunches. I want to extend a special thank you to our hosts for their hospitality and invite any Rotarians who are interested in hosting one of these events to reach out. To host all you need to do is pick a restaurant, make a reservation and then let Dorinna know when, where and how many. Don’t worry, as the host, that’s it, everyone will be buying their own lunch. These lunches are a great opportunity for our members to connect with each other and with the community, and I encourage you to get involved.
Our service project with the Salvation Army continues to be an annual club tradition, and I am thrilled to report that our recent Bell Ringing event on December 14th was a huge success. With over 70 volunteers serving at seven locations, we were able to raise almost $6,000 for this important cause. Thank you to Tom Strasburg and Dan Kalm for leading this service project and to all of the volunteers that made it successful. I am proud of the dedication and commitment shown by our club members, and I look forward to continuing to make a positive impact in our community through all of the upcoming service projects.
Lastly, I want to remind all of our members about our goal to be an “Every Rotary Every Year” (EREY) Club by supporting the Rotary Foundation. I encourage each of you to give at least $25 to the Foundation and help us reach our club goal of $100 per capita or more. Your support is crucial in helping us make a difference in our community and around the world.
All this illustrates why I believe our club is so incredible for us as members, for our community that we serve and the impact we make internationally. As we move into the new year, I ask all of us to continue to lean in to the “Magic of Rotary” and continue to see firsthand what a blessing our club is. In January we will be launching our membership drive and the opportunity for you to invite someone you know who already meets the ideal of “Service Above Self” and introduce them to a group of like-minded individuals who work hard to make a difference, a club where they will find a place they belong and, most certainly, find new friends who like to have a whole lot of fun.
Thank you for your continued dedication to Rotary, and I look forward to all that we will accomplish together in the coming year.
YIR,
Kurtis Dawson
2024-25 President
