President's message - Feb. 24

President's Message February 24, 2010 The monthly Club board meeting took place on the 22 of this month. Reflecting on that meeting now, I come to realize how seemingly unrelated elements of communication and community come together to achieve meaningful results. Sometimes events take us down torturously convoluted trails bring us to good destinations. A minor case in point: A few weeks ago, I got a call from the City of Port Moody about 5 mountain bikes they had from a special project and they were ready to unload. She knew from past contact that we like donate bikes to deserving kids. Could we use them. I asked if they had anymore in the impound lot and she said she would see if they had some they were ready to move out. I contacted our Community Service Director and he asked Nick Stebbing to have a look at them. He did, and found them somewhat shopworn but serviceable. Unfortunately they are full sized and generally not appropriate for the kids we usually focus on. But Lo & Behold they had 5 smaller bikes they could let us have. Again, worn but serviceable. Perhaps not serviceable enough for our kids. For some this would have been the "Thanks but No Thanks" moment, but not for your President-Elect. He thought this was a "Rotary World Help Network" moment. These bikes did not suit our original intentions but there was a way to take advantage of our City's generosity and our good rapport with them. These bikes will go to the Riverview warehouse and eventually on to a container bound to Africa or Belize or some other deserving place Lots of messages here but the main ones for me are; - Don't disregard the huge potential of a seemingly insignificant contact. Leave everyone you meet with a good impression of Rotary and the work we do. - Bring your creativity to every opportunity. You never know what you can accomplish. Let's see, Containers, Food Drives, 10th Anniversaries and Carol Cruises. Perfect Pints, Seniors reading and Chili Lunches. Terry Fox Run's and Hot Chocolate for the Christmas Train. I'm having a great year thanks to the hard work and creativity of all of you. Thank you all and please keep it up! Thanks for listening. Ron