Hello to all of the members and friends of District 6250 Changemakers Rotary Club.
I am a Rotarian because of experiencing the magic of Rotary through the District 6250 Friendship Exchange to Budapest in April, 2023. I met the most incredible, enthusiastic, caring people from Rotary District 6250 and from four of the ten Rotary Clubs in Budapest. Cheryl Mader and Cathy Statz represented Changemakers and I fell in love with this virtual club. Cheryl invited me to attend my first meeting in May and I became a member on July 1st. I wanted to be a part of the Service Project Committee and to learn from Cheryl how to be a Rotarian. Cheryl was an integral part of this club as Co-chair of the Service Project Committee, Treasurer, President-Elect, and Scheduler of monthly guest speakers. I am sure that she contributed in other ways of which I am not aware.
This club has so many talented dedicated members. I had the opportunity to meet with Dwight Heaney and wrap up the service project for Family Health La Clínica. We will miss his experience, wisdom, and friendship and wish him well as he focuses on his health. A BIG thank you to LeRoy Kemnitz for assuming the treasurer duties after serving as president. We are looking for someone to be our next treasurer. Valerie Wachuta has been leading us as president and also keeping us informed by serving as secretary and webmaster; truly a feat of multitasking. Peter Groth has shown great skill in moderating our meetings, keeping the Facebook account current, and doing the member spotlights as Public Relations/Social Media Chair. Thank you to Petra Roter for serving as Membership Chair and to Petra and Karen Hebert for leading our Happy Hours. We also recognize the contributions of Lisa McGrath. We greatly miss Lisa and Cheryl and I would urge you to make a donation to our club in honor of their efforts.
I would have preferred to wait a year before becoming president-elect and to learn more about Rotary and what it does. I hope that with your help and understanding I can make a difference and be a good leader. I am looking forward to the Midwest President-Elect training in March. 6250 Changemakers, let’s make it a goal to invite new members. Recruiting members to a virtual club has its unique challenges. After all, we do not have a geographical identity, nor a legacy to maintain as we are a very new club. I have been looking at the webpages of other clubs in our district and see that they do projects where they physically come together to benefit their communities. Is there something similar that a virtual club could do? On the other hand, being virtual has its advantages. We don’t have to find a meeting place or be concerned about what food we will eat. We do have to challenge ourselves to get to know each other and to commit to attending meetings and social hours.
Let’s make Changemakers 6250 a vibrant and relevant club and to continue our commitment to service.
Sharon