Thank you to the many Rotarians who were able to make it to our meeting this past week. It was my last meeting for the year, and we had a little bit of everything!
This week, we inducted yet another member into Rotary International (RI)… our 12th new inductee for the year! Congratulations to William (Bill) Matz who is returning to our club after a more than 20 year break. As his sponsor, Charlie Walter, introduced Bill, it became clear that Bill, while not formally a Rotarian during this time, still continued to exemplify service above self through his extensive community service. It is great to welcome Bill back to our club and RI!!
Charlie Walter introduces Bill Matz - our 12th new member for the year!
In addition, we celebrated Hopeton Clennon becoming a Paul Harris Award recipient. As I mentioned in our meeting, although this award celebrates Hopeton’s financial support of Rotary International, he contributes in so many ways to the vibrancy of our club AND demonstrates service outside of the club as well. Thank you and congratulations Hopeton!
President Mark honors Hopeton Clennon Paul Harris Fellowship!
Since this was my last meeting as President, it did give me an opportunity to review the many accomplishments of our club over the past year. To prepare for the meeting, I reviewed the newsletters of the previous 51 weeks. It was inspiring to be reminded of all that we accomplished…. We should all be proud!
To summarize, we made great progress in 3 general areas:
- Philanthropy
- Community Service
- Advancing the Strategic Plan
Philanthropy
Over the past year, our club contributed more than $60,000 to more than 25 non-profit organizations in our community. Tastes and Tunes and the Annual Golf Outing require an enormous amount of planning and work to execute, but between these two signature events, we were able to net $38,000 and $13,000, respectively. District grants ($4,000) and our Foundation’s spending policy ($6,000) rounded out the funding that we generated. This year we also got to hear directly from a significant number of organizations that received funding from us as to how the funds were used… getting a chance to hear, first hand, how we are making a difference in our community.
President Mark sharing results from our amazing year
Community Service
And we contribute in more ways than financial support. This year our members were involved in Outreach Hunger, a combined effort with other clubs within Area 2, where we packaged more than 40,000 meals for local food banks. We also visited many of the 3rd grade classrooms in the Bethlehem Area School District, where we distributed 350 dictionaries! Through direct participation or sponsorship, we also heavily supported the Purple Pinkie 5K Walk and Run that was held at LCCC. And many of you helped the Salvation Army through your bell-ringing efforts at our new site, Christkindlmarkt.
Advancing the Strategic Plan
Membership – If you have been attending the meetings or following along through the newsletter, it should come as no surprise that we had a banner year in the area of new members. Thank you to the Gerrys (Foran and Long) for their work with the Membership Committee. Through their programmatic changes, they provided opportunities for us all to get involved in the recruitment process. Adding networking events and a guest table at our lunch meeting are two examples of simple and meaningful ways to build our membership. Evidence that this worked…. 15 new members and 3 transfer members from other clubs! At the District Changeover meeting, we were applauded for our efforts in this important area. Way to go!!
Awareness of Rotary, Brand Development – As you all know, we do so much great work in our community that somehow flies under the radar. This year we promoted Tastes and Tunes and thanked our sponsors with a billboard advertisement on Route 22! We also purchased advertising space in the local newspaper to thank our program speakers for the year. And our networking events and community programming with RAGAS continues to get our name out there in the world of non-Rotarians!
As you can see, it was a busy year, and with the collective contributions of all members of our club, we were able to accomplish great things! This year for me has been, among many things, inspiring! I feel I have gotten to know all of you in a much different way, and I am a richer person for it.
2019-2020 President Thea Lind and 2018-2019 President Mark Reed
Many thanks to all of you who have supported my journey. This is a year of my life that I will never forget, and I have grown in ways I had never imagined! It has been an honor and privilege to have served as your President.
President Mark Reed
PS - THERE IS NO MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2019.
