Good morning ladies and gentlemen of Milford Rotary!

Before I really begin, I would like to thank Doug Rupert for his year of service to our club and for his patience and guidance this past year. Albert Einstein said: “Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.” Doug is a man of value, who has shown me the value of listening and working hard. He has helped prepare me for my presidency with thoughtful advice and training. As a token of my appreciation I found a small gift at the International Convention in New Orleans- this banner of the 4-way test!

Why did I join Rotary? As many of you may know, I was a GSE team member to Scotland in 1996- thanks to the efforts of first Betsey White and many other Rotarians from this district and in Scotland. I realized during this experience of simply being a guest in 7 different Rotarians homes over the course of the 4 weeks that- MAN-these people know how to get things done! I came to understand what real fellowship means, and that the Rotary Clubs that are spread throughout the world can accomplish more than any other organization in the world because of this fellowship. I realized in Scotland that I wanted to be a part of this group, that if I belonged to this group, I could make the most difference in the world. I have always longed to be part of a group that can accomplish extraordinary things, like our new Rotary International president Kaylan Banerjee, whose theme is “Reach Within To Embrace Humanity”. Like him, I want to change the world, to make it a happier, healthier and more peaceful place: and it is through Rotary service that this can be accomplished.

Rotary has already done much to change the world. Polio is nearly gone- we are this close. Thousands of projects serving millions of people around the world have improved so many different aspects of people’s lives, from simply providing clean water or vaccinations to providing money for special scholarships to send the best and the brightest to graduate school in foreign countries. But to continue to expand Rotary Clubs and their ability to keep making these kinds of service projects viable, Rotary has had to consider changing itself. Plans are being made to incorporate more flexible rules of engagement. I hope that the Milford Club will embrace the changes that are coming to make Rotary even better. We have an amazing club here in Milford, and we do so much for our community and the world beyond our community. It has been so successful because of the dedication and vision of the pillars of our community and the continuing efforts of all our members.

As your president this year I have 4 major goals. They are:

To encourage, recruit and retain members.

To participate in a new district-wide international project in Pakistan which will include but not be limited to A National Immunization Day, literacy projects and some vocational projects.

To establish a Roteract Club in our community.

To improve public relations for our club and its activities.

To retain the excellent members we do have may require some creativity in how we conduct business. In this ever-changing and connected world, many new and exciting choices are available to us. Two of the major themes at this year’s Rotary International meeting, and therefore by induction, two of the major problems facing Rotary clubs around the world, are retaining current members and attracting the new generation. There was much made of how to attract (and keep) generation Y into clubs. Look around –do you see any members under 30 here? Additionally, RI recognizes that a major problem they have is the revolving door on membership. Every year they attract hundreds of thousands of new members, only to see the same number leave. The total enrollment has become static - not a good thing in our expanding world at the International level. The same is true at our local level as well; we recruit new members, only to loose the same or an equal number of members each year.

Change happens all the time, at every level, in every part of society. We must embrace change. We must find ways of attracting new, younger members while keeping the members we have. This could include revising our attendance policy to include things like working at extra service projects, conducting a number of new member socials that not only recruit new members, but promote our club’s as well as RI’s global accomplishments. We need to continuously improve our weekly program so as to insure that it represents time well spent at our meetings and that fun remains front and center. At the conference we heard of other clubs with similar issues. For example, one in St. Paul MN, which, faced with dwindling membership, elected to reset their structure so that their 4 monthly meetings included only 2 required program meetings (lunches), one evening social soiree, and one community service effort. Their membership doubled in one year.

I am firmly committed to leading a group of Milford Rotarians to Pakistan to participate in several service projects there. I realize this will be a difficult destination, fraught with obstacles, but I am still determined to pursue this course. There are a number of members of this club and others in the district who are equally determined to make this happen. Anyone who has not already indicated an interest in planning this trip please let me know.

“A good deed is never lost: he who sows courtesy reaps friendship; and he who plants kindness gathers love. “ St. Basil

The next goal will be the establishment of a Roteract Club. Similar in nature to our new Interact Club, but designed for young people ages 18- 30. David McBee will be heading up this effort for our club and for the district as well. Finally, not enough people in our community know what Rotary is or does. This needs to change, so I hope to ramp up the visibility of our club and Rotary International with support ofpublic service ads specifically and in general more publicity including newspaper articles Radio and TV spots and billboards. Additionally we need to have an active Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Well, as they say, “the more you say, the less people remember” so I will draw this to a close.

I hope all of you will be patient with me as I journey through this first real major leadership role of my life. I find it hard to believe that you have the faith in me to do this job, as I have had so little experience being presidential! But as I reflect on my credentials I should consider that I did lead a classroom of usually unruly students for 15 years, and I have raised 2 fantastic children who have brought me great joy. I guess that counts as leadership.

My goals are few but wide-reaching. I hope to enhance membership by focusing on retaining and recruiting fantastic people, establish a Roteract Club here in this community, improve the public relations of both our own club and Rotary International. Most importantly, I will lead a trip to a beautiful country to visit beautiful people who will welcome us with showers of rose petals and unbelievable hospitality- to Pakistan!

William Penn said it best - “I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. “

Thanks so much for putting your trust in me and allowing me this great honor. There is no greater group of people on the planet than the Milford Rotary Club!

Goals

1.  Embrace change to encourage and support mew members to join and to retain members we have.

a.  Includes alternative attendance policies that count community service participation.

b.  Conduct new member social events to recruit new members and promote our club’s many accomplishments

c. Keep weekly program improving to insure tour time spent in meetings is time well spent.

2.  Participate in a district-wide new international project focused on traveling to Pakistan for an NID, literacy project and vocational project.

3.  Begin work on establishing a Roteract club in this community.

4.  Improve the public relations of our club. Not enough people in our own community know all that Rotary does! Needs to change. Support of TV, Radio, Newspaper and billboard ads to increase visibility.