President's Message - July 19, 2013

I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome and kind words as I and the rest of your Board of Directors were inducted last Friday.  This is the beginning of a new, but at the same time familiar, journey for me.  I understand quite a bit about Rotary and I have led several non profit organizations in my past but this one is unique.  Our Rotary Club is made up of so many qualified leaders- some have led in the past and some are obviously future leaders.  I have to tell you this offers a level of comfort that allows us to take on some big projects which will change many lives.

As with all organizations there is a great need for strong leadership up and down the ranks.  As with any organization that has over 1.2 million members and over 30,000 clubs we need strong leadership.  This Friday we will have the pleasure of  hosting one of them when our District Governor will make his annual visit.  Blake McBurney is the new DG of our district 6900.  He is basically upper management for all the clubs in our district.  I have been extremely impressed with Blake, having worked with him over the last year in preparation for my year as well as his.  One thing Blake told me that really hit home was that his approach is that the District is here to serve the Club.  Too often upper management can lose sight of who really does the heavy lifting and what the focus of the organization really is, but not in the case of Blake.

Also joining us this week will be our Assistant District Governor Laura Kann.  Laura spends a great deal of time chasing me down for documents and reports that are vital to the organization yet seem to escape me at times.  Laura is a  great Rotarian and a wealth of Rotary knowledge which is extremely important to me and the job of running this club.

So, please help me welcome Blake and Laura this Friday as we kick off our year.

Yours in Rotary,

Dan Merkel