President Mike's Acceptance Notes

June 27, 2005

It is a great honour for me today to officially become the next Rotary Club President for Saint John, this club has a rich history and if you look at the past presidents I am humbled to become a member of that esteemed group. I only hope that I can make a valuable contribution during my year to make the club a stronger, like everyone has done before me.

I congratulate Jay on a truly outstanding past year, making the Rotary Centennial Year a memorable one for all of us in the club. I would like to present him with his Past President Pin and Plaque. Even though our centennial project has not officially gotten underway, we all should be looking forward to getting our centennial project campaign off the ground hopefully very soon. It will be a big challenge with so many other groups and organizations out there looking for support and capital. However, I am confident that we can ignite the community and get the support we need, like we have done so many times before with the many major community projects this club has been behind in the past.

My vision for the club this next year is to engage everyone in the activities of the club, there is a saying that "None of Us; Are as Good as All of Us." And I believe that this is so true, we have the potential to a lot of great things for this community but we need everyone's support and commitment.

This past year has been a one of profound change in my life and I was very appreciative of the support and fellowship from all of you during my difficult time. This is a true example of what this organization is all about, service above self - fellowship - family. We as a club are experiencing change as well and it will be my job - our job this year will be to effectively manage the change and make the club a stronger, one that will lead us into the future.

We will have a number of priorities going forward, the most critical is membership, there is strength in numbers and that will be our primary focus. The more committed people we have the easier our jobs will be. Fundraising is going to place a significant demand on all of us this year and we will need to look at what we are doing to ensure that we are effective, relevant and successful as a club in meeting our obligations for club projects and programs.

My management style is one that is inclusive and the team approach is what I strongly believe in, so your thoughts, input and opinions are a valuable resource that should always be expressed and I encourage all of you to support me with your feedback.

Your board members and directors this year have begun the process of long term planning with the strategic plan draft, our goal is to build on this draft and develop a plan that will insure greater continuity and maintain momentum in the activities of the club going forward. The other priorities from this plan include membership development / training - building the leaders for tomorrow.

Remember the reasons behind joining Rotary included:

• Effecting change within the community
• Developing leadership skills
• Gaining an understanding of - and having an impact on - international humanitarian issues.
• Developing relationships with community and business leaders

In addition, we also need to stay focused on fellowship and more importantly have fun doing what we do, we need to insure that members are gaining satisfaction from being involved with the club. Having a sense of purpose is critical and celebrating the small victories along the way is essential.

Let's also remember to always apply the four way test to everything we do and say. Finally, the thought that I would like to leave you with today is that is that "I am here to serve you" - this is your club and the more that we put into it; the more we will all hopefully get out of it.

Let's have a great year.

Michael Schulze

President