Dan Merkel - President's Message

Engage Rotary….Change Lives.  This is our guiding motto for the 2013-2014 Rotary year.  It’s very fitting because of the direct cause and affect that it has.  If you do what “Rotary does” you will change lives. It could be as simple as changing somebody’s mood at a meeting with a joke or a story and they take that up-beat new mood and transfer it to someone they encounter.  The change has begun and continues in a pay it forward kind of way.  We see this as we go through the many projects we engage like with a brand new back pack for a school kid that he gets to carry all year long or you went on a mission trip and built a house that several generations will live in.  The key here is to take the first step and engage Rotary.  The second part can’t help but happen.

Speaking of changing lives mine is about to experience a major change as I serve as your president for this Rotary year.  This has been in the works for three years and as with those that served before me and those who will follow it’s a big commitment and a humbling experience.  There are so many different facets to not just our Rotary Club, our district 6900, our zone 34/35 but also the organization of Rotary International and its 1.2 million Rotarians world wide.  I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know many of the organizations leaders last week when I attended the Rotary International Convention in Lisbon Portugal.  These are some really amazing people doing some really life changing things in the world.  Engage Rotary…Change Lives.  How simple yet powerful is that? 

Yours in Rotary,

Dan