A big Thank You to everyone who helped plan, host, invited their friends, or simply attended the Hope and Healing Ukraine Fundraiser last month. It was a great way to not only show Rotary cares but to share the power of Rotary International with our friends and neighbors. The net funds raised from Hope and Healing ticket sales, the dessert auction, gifts, and the Rotary Disaster Grant exceeded $49,000. These dollars have been and will be used to make a difference in some of the many lives affected by this war, the largest war in Europe in nearly 80 years.
While our club is doing great things both locally and globally and will continue to do so based upon the quality of our members, we are none-the-less facing some challenges. The first and primary challenge is membership; we are simply losing ground on membership as people take on new careers, move away or simply retire from Rotary. If you were one of those many Rotarians who invited friends and family to the Ukraine fundraiser, invite those same people to a regular Rotary meeting some Tuesday. The people who supported that fundraiser are just the sort of people who have Rotary DNA - they just don’t know it yet!
Other challenges are the Student of the Month program and Rotary Youth Exchanges. These programs got off track with Covid in 2020 and have not gotten back on track since. If anybody would like to help out or has some new ideas, I am sure Ben (Student of the Month program chair), and Toby (Youth Exchange chair) would welcome the help.
Invite your friends to the programs in December as David Reynolds has a great slate of programs (see Page 1 of the Cog). Thanks for your continued support and for making Rotary part of your day!
President Erich