Message From Our President

“Create Lasting Impact” is a noble theme for our Rotary International’s 2026/2027 year. I wonder whether Paul Harris and his friends knew in 1905 that they would be creating lasting impact? 14 years later, did Ollie Bannister, Walter Walker and our club’s founders know they would be creating lasting impact? Our tendency is to look back and regard the early 1900’s as a quaint, simpler time in history. However, they, as we are now, were riding on the crest of humanity’s wave. The Wright Brothers had taken flight at Kitty Hawk a mere 16 years before our club was founded. The horseless carriage had replaced the horse & buggy. Electrification was changing everything, as were motion pictures, the radio, the phonograph, more ‘free’ time and a huge increase in prosperity. The miracle of industrialization was promising and delivering further abundance.

Yet the age-old dance between hubris and humility was just as prevalent then as it is today.  I marvel at the wisdom of a group of individuals who determined there was a need for a service organization to ‘serve’ their local and global community. The collective power of like-minded ‘givers’ can be seen locally in institutions like St. Mary’s, CMU, Lincoln Park and our beloved Salvation Army. It can also be seen globally in our 41-year commitment to eradicate Polio worldwide and in the thousands of successful initiatives that have increased access to clean water & sanitation, improved healthcare, reduced illiteracy and supported efforts to coexist with one another peacefully.

I have always preferred the ‘Let it begin with me’ approach. My strategy to honoring and fulfilling the theme to “Create Lasting Impact” is simply by doing the next right thing. And when (not ‘if’) I stumble, I will apologize, dust myself off, learn my lesson and continue doing the next right thing. 

It has been 5 years since Kelly Anderson sponsored me as a Rotarian. In those 5 years, I have met the most extraordinary members who all have the common denominator of ‘service above self’. I have painted houses for Habitat for Humanity, served meals to the less fortunate, grilled brats for the GJSO, cheered for JUCO teams, rang bells for the Salvation Army, hawked tickets for Snowball, read books to first graders and channeled my love for golf into one our fundraisers. And guess what? In every case, it has always been an enjoyable and rejuvenating experience. That is the amazing power of being around other givers.

I am honored to serve our Rotary Club, our Rotarians and our community. I sincerely thank you for this honor. I encourage everyone to support the theme to “Create Lasting Impact” by consistently doing the next right thing. I believe the results will speak for themselves – and will be lasting.