President's Message - August 23, 2013

I think it goes without saying that we owe a very big thank you to everyone who worked on the Mayors Challenge, and especially to our sponsors for their continued support.  I dare count the hours that went into the preparation that started shortly after last years race ended.  As with any event of this size there are always a few hiccups but only those behind the scenes and maybe one or two participants noticed but as for everyone else it was a great success. 

Success can be defined in many ways and we all have a different picture of what that is.  For the public safety staff who attended the race to provide support will usually define success as “nobody got hurt and nobody got arrested.”  For the race director success is the number of people who sign up and run in the race.  For the person in charge of entertainment the band (well one of them) showed up on time and sounded great.  For the chairman of the event it’s the bottom line financially.  For the club as a whole it means all of these things.

A very influential mentor of mine for many years used to say to me “Success is a given but what about being significant?”  I am confident every one of you can call yourself successful.  You may not make a bazillion dollars but we make more than most.  We all have some struggles when raising a family but I believe compared to a lot of really messed up families yours could be defined as successful.  For most of us we had a family that raised us with our compass pointed in the direction of success.  This is by virtue of them valuing education, maybe some financial support, moral support etc.   

Being significant can also be defined differently. You may donate time to something- your Church, youth sports, youth clubs, Rotary etc.  Your passion could be on the front lines organizing, recruiting and executing.  Maybe you’re more comfortable behind the scenes coordinating, managing or accounting.  You may have focused most of your life on business and making money and now you want use some of that money to change peoples lives.  All of these are attributed to your degree of significance in the community.  I would say based on what I see when I look out over the club on Friday mornings is that there is an unbelievable degree of significance in this club.  The Mayors Challenge was a success and we are about to use that to elevate our significance.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Dan