Dear Fellow Rotarians,

Being President of Club 13 is the greatest honor and responsibility that has ever been bestowed upon me (other than being a father). This year, I will try to build upon the nearly 100 years of traditions and success of the Club, which include programs like our Youth Camp, bell ringing, blood drives, and our many affinity groups. It is no wonder that our club is the envy of other civic organizations and Rotary clubs throughout the world.

We will build on Rotary’s success through several initiatives. There will be a new Advancement and Charitable Giving Committee, which will bring together talented members as resources about charitable giving for members and others who desire to contribute to the Rotary Foundation, the Youth Camp, or in other ways. We will also work to recruit new members to Club 13 through such new programs as a Leadership Development Initiative to help Rotarians in small groups get to know community leaders. We will try to consolidate some of our over 45 committees, to make them more effective. Every committee will have not only a chair, but a co-chair who will serve in the absence of the chair and learn the responsibilities of the committee, so that we will have smooth transitions and a well trained corps to carry out the work of Rotary.

Our club is so large that it is hard to even meet all of our fellow Rotarians, so this year we are emphasizing efforts to help us know one another more personally. We will have a Member Minute at every weekly meeting, in which a member will have the opportunity to tell us about his or her background, business, and reason for being passionate about Rotary. On the second week of every month, those having birthdays during that month will be the greeting committee, so that we can all wish them happiness and good health.

“Make Dreams Real” is the Rotary International theme of this year, and my suggested theme for Club 13, “Have Fun and Help Someone,” shows us how we can make dreams a reality.

Best regards,
Myron E. Sildon