As we start our new 2011-2012 Rotary year, I feel like I should follow in the footsteps of our past presidents and share my vision of what I believe and perceive our club to be at the beginning of the year, and how I feel it should be the end of my tenure as President of Four Peaks Rotary Club.

 About a year and a half ago Pete Donzelli, Jim Guess, and myself, got together and discussed how we should move forward for the next 3 to 5 years and provide seamless transitions from president to president. Our primary goals for the club do not differ at all. As presidents and president elects, we decided we wanted to provide leadership in the following areas

·        Involve all the membership in the management of our club

·        Increase the number of new members joining our club

·        Work with other clubs in the district in a PR campaign designed to educate and recruit  the 30 to 40 age group of people not knowing what Rotary is all about

·        Providing funding to Rotary International for polio eradication

·        Encouraging every member to continue to donate a minimum of $100 every year to the Paul Harris fund (EREY)

·        Realistically defining what we are capable of doing to raise funds and then continually reviewing who should be the recipients of our fundraising efforts

·        Continually review our achievement/activities of participation in all five Avenues of Service

The only difference between the three of us is how we implement our plans to accomplish the above leadership goals.

Membership:

·        Pete Donzelli will assume the role of Membership Chair  and my goal for the club is to have a net  membership increase of seven (7) new members. Last year Pete’s goal was five new members and that was accomplished. We can accomplish this goal by encouraging each member to bring in one new individual who could help us to achieve our goals. The more members we have the easier it is to increase our numbers.

·        Work with our new interact club and make contact with their parents who might possibly be interested in becoming Rotarians

·        continue to involve our membership in board meeting attendance

·        continue to have one business meeting every other month with all members

·        continue to have the committee chairs review and update to the membership on a quarterly basis, our activities in the “Avenues of Service” and make recommendations on what/where we should be during the following quarter

Fundraising:

·        encourage all our members to make the 14th annual Roy Tuttle Memorial tournament the best one to date

·        have our fundraising committee select one or two new fundraising activities that we could accomplish with our current membership numbers.

·        Encourage all the members to participate in all of our fundraising activities or provide the club with a substitute in their absence.

·        Have our giving committee work with the membership to find new organizations that our members have a passion for. Someone special to give our help to.

·        HAVE FUN.  After every fundraiser, after every service project our members should get together and celebrate their accomplishments and fellowship

Continually work with Roger Riggert throughout the year in refining our approach during the 2011 – 2012 year, so that he will also experience a “seamless” transition, and be prepared to continue to grow our club with his goals and objectives.

For the last several months I have always asked everybody Why Rotary?  Last year Pete stated it perfectly. “It is knowing that our prime purpose as Rotary members, is to help those that cannot help themselves. It is important to understand our objectives and approach to continue “Service Above Self” as their underlining goal in determining our success as a club and as Rotarians.”

With everyone’s help, how can we not succeed?