Dear Fellow MRV Rotarians,
Happy April!
As we enter this time of year, our club leadership begins preparing for the upcoming transition in June. A key part of this process is the President Elect Leadership Symposium (PELS), an event designed to help incoming presidents start shaping their plans for the year ahead.
Our President-Elect, Susan Klein, recently attended PELS and has returned with valuable insights to share. I thought it would be beneficial for her to speak about her experience firsthand.
So, without further ado, here’s Susan…Greetings all!
While many of you have already been a club president, this is a bit overwhelming for me as I want to do right by you and make Ben glad he took over the Parade duties. 😊
I had the pleasure of attending the Presidents Elect Leadership Seminar in early March with hundreds of other Presidents-Elect from all across the northeast. What I learned was there is A LOT I don’t know, never knew, or can hope to learn. Rotary International is a massive (over 1.2 million members across 200 countries representing 35,000 clubs!) organization with incredible talent and dedication. I felt so tiny representing a small club in a small town in a small state.
But – WE MATTER and we MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
We matter because we make a difference one deed at time and one grant/scholarship at a time. We can’t possibly do everything we wish for, but we can do our best and that can be enough. Since I have reconciled myself to not trying to do everything, I have narrowed the scope of my year to include:
- Be more intentional educating the club about the Foundation. How it works, why it’s vital and why we should all give even as little as $25 annually.
- Challenge the membership to exactly that – a minimum of $25 donated by each of us in the coming membership year once we all understand the WHY.
- Find a way to track volunteer hours across all projects. This needs to be done via an app, not manually. I will happily work with someone to find the perfect app for that.
- Seek out and solicit financial contributions and new members who are new property owners in the Valley. These may be new residents, new vacation home owners, entrepreneurs, etc.
- Make sure all of our members feel not only welcomed and included but that they feel they belong. That may mean sitting with someone new at each meeting, or listening closely to their ideas and observations. Just because we have “always done it this way” does not mean there isn’t another way. I want to engage and encourage all members to participate as they are able.
- Keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities for one or more satellite clubs. A knitting club making shawls for those in the hospital can qualify as a Satellite club of the MRV Club. Woodworkers who want to make toys for kids can qualify as a Satellite club of the MRV Club. Let’s learn more about this type of club together!
I look forward to our year together!
Susan Klein