Haddonfield Rotary - Message from the President

President's Message

Remarks at the Annual Dinner, June 2011

Fellow Rotarians, guests, District Governor Alan Stein, vice president Roger Dunnavan, and my family:

It is an honor to stand before you as President of the Rotary Club of Haddonfield. Following Arnie Olt will not be an easy task. It has been my pleasure to have served as his vice president. Arnie has served twice as our Club's president, each time with good humor and with dedication to the ideals of Rotary.

Arnie, I've got one word for you: three-peat!

When I was approached by David Hunter to serve in a leadership role of the Club my first question was if this was an elected position. When he said no he got my interest.

No president can serve effectively without a strong board to carry out the duties of the Club. I am looking forward to working with our new board for 2011-12.

I also look forward to working with our new vice president, Roger Donovan. Roger has already shown an energic leadership style that will help me carry out the goals of our Club.

I would like to add my thanks to the retiring board members for your contribution to the well-being of the Club.

Our Club theme has been "Doing good, and having fun doing it."

Indeed "doing good" work has included:
• Third Grade dictionary project
• Sponsorship of the Municipal Alliance
• Maintaining Rotary circle
• The Oyster Dinner
• Golf Outing
• Mystery nights
• Career Day
• Pedals for Progress
• Bird Seed Sale
• Scholarships through the Rotary Foundation k
• Summer Concerts on Kings Highway
• Little League Team
• Fourth of July Parade

... and we had fun doing it!

This club will continue to support the Fellowship House in Camden. We will continue to support The Rotary Foundation in its goal of wiping out polio from the planet.

We look forward to partnering with Alan Stein and the District on Strike Out Hunger and other initiatives.

Several goals that I have for the new year include;
• Membership. We need to rebuild our numbers
• Partnering with the Rotaract Club on new and exciting projects
• Asking our members who have not volunteered in a while to step back up. We need everyone's participation to keep our club fun.
• Find new fund-raising ideas to fund our many projects and initiatives

This year's RI slogan is "Reach Within for Humanity." It is a challenge to all of us to think about others. Sometimes we don’t want to think about the child in India who been diagnosed with polio, or the family in Haiti that has no home or food, or kids in Camden who need a safe place to go after school. But when we reach in and take action its us telling our kids and our neighbors and our community: We are Rotarians!!

I want to thank the past presidents of this Club for your contribution and that you have been an inspiration to me as I become president.

I would like to introduce my wife Laura, my kids Brenden, Liam, and Taryn. My daughter Danielle is in Germany ... due home in several weeks.

We are days away from the Borough's Fourth of July Parade. I am inviting all of you to come march with us this year. Line up is 9:45am. Let's show our community that Rotarians make a difference!

In closing, I look forward to my year and I plan on having some fun and making a difference.

I hope all of you will continue to be a part of the family of Rotary.