Thursday July 2nd 2020
Today was the inaugural meeting of Rotarian Katherine Hahn, president of the Rotary club of Stratford for the 2020 - 2021 year. Katherine may have had butterflies, but none of us knew. Her first talk to the club as president touched all the right notes.
In her words, Katherine considers it an honour to be given the President's role. She noted that she is the 98th president of this club (the first president held office for two years). She noted that there are 28 past presidents in our club.
She spoke of her experience working in the avenues of Rotary service mentioning youth services where she was a leader in youth exchange, new generations exchanges and worked on the Honour Student committee as well as Shine ON Car Rally and Rural urban.
Katherine encourages us to reach out beyond the local club to the district clubs and to Rotary International to learn and to participate. She has done this in her work in youth exchange and attendance at Rotary International conventions such as Portugal and Atlanta and her participation in a polio immunization event and in a Friendship Exchange.
She knows that Rotary is changing. Covid-19 has pushed changes that we are experiencing. So now is the time to review and plan. In March 2020 our club set Four Strategic Objectives:
1. Build the Membership
2. Enrich/Enhance the Club Experience
3. Financial Sustainability
4. Lead by Example
Katherine reviewed these objectives noting that building membership was the most important and may require changes to the club meeting experience to work. She also noted that we are working on financial sustainability right now and we will be working on fundraising plans. Leading by example means getting more involved in the community and in community organizations. Working together helps us all.
The new Rotary International president is Holger Knaack and the new theme is "Rotary opens up opportunities".
Scribe - Norm Bird
