PAST President's Message June 28

Posted by Ron Searfoss on Jun 28, 2016
 
MSR Changeover Celebration!
 
Our regular meeting on June 23 was a celebration of Morning Star Rotary with a great deal of Thanks! 
 
A Thank You went out to all the Committee Chairs who worked diligently to accomplish their objectives for the year.
 
A Very Special Thank You to Butch Macri in appreciation of the 20+ years of very successful dedication to making the Golf Tournaments a success!
 
Thank you to the Directors whose term ends 6-30-16:
Wayne Achey, Cheryl Baker, Jan Chicka and Jess Elliott
 
Thank you to the Directors whose term ends 6-30-17:
Dave Cincera, Jeff Kicska, Robin Metzler and Geoff Wright
 
Thank you & Welcome to our new Directors whose term starts 7-1-16 and ends 6-30-18:
Marianne Aronson, Janet Kolepp, Rick Morrissey and Jon Oesmann
 
Thank you to Past President Tom Kolepp for all his help and support.
 
A very special thank you to Retiring Treasurer Sue Reeps, who jumped in as Treasurer after barely becoming a Morning Star Rotarian. Everyone has been thankful for the sanity you brought to the club financials!
 
Secretary Val Walk, thank you for being so professional and dependable.
 
These two Rotarians, Sue and Val, are the backbone in our structure, i.e. they kept me out of trouble!
 
Thank you Incoming Treasurer Jean Searfoss for stepping up for MSR.
 
Cheryl Baker moves from the Board to Vice President in the line of succession.  Thank you – no good deed goes unpunished.
 
Thanks to VP Kristian Schafer for his fine efforts this year. You are rewarded by now becoming the President – Elect.
 
One final Thank You to all the members of Morning Star for achieving 100% Rotary Foundation participation for the second year in a row!
 
 
As has become a welcome tradition of our Changeover Meeting, next was the “passing of the gavel” in honor of all of Morning Star Rotary's Past Presidents, with the following able to participate:
  • Charlie Incalcaterra, our first and “forever young”
  • Barb Seifert-Sigmon
  • Mike Long
  • Butch Macri
  • Diane Donaher, who is also Past President of the Downtown Bethlehem Club
  • Tom Hartzell
  • Gary Hartney
  • Dee Elliott
  • Dave Cincera
  • Eileen Dunn
  • Susan Burnett
  • Jean Searfoss
  • Tom Kolepp
  • Ron Searfoss
We were missing past Presidents due to conflicts: Geoff Wright; Past District Governor Tore Hartmann-Hansen – Our Favorite Viking! Claire Rij; Stan Vasiliadis; Past District Governor Bill Jahn (President RC Skidaway Isle, GA); Charlotte Hartmann-Hansen; Gary Langensiepen; Dick Roberts; Gordon Sommers; Tom Mohr; Ron Helmuth; Don Scanlon (sadly, passed in 2014); and Jim Santanasto. Thanks to Past President Jean for starting this tradition!
 
I was humbled and very proud to join this group of Past Presidents!
 
I had the privilege to install PE Sharon Fontana as our next President for the 2016-2017 Rotary Year.
 
Congratulations Sharon!  The club will have a great year under your stewardship.
 
President Sharon then installed the Vice President and Board of Directors. *The remaining Officers will be installed at the next meeting.
 
Thank you to all Morning Star Rotarians for all your support. I will send a report to the membership on our goals and achievements during this past Rotary Year.
On June 27th, Morning Star was well represented at the District 7430 Changeover Dinner held in our own Hotel Bethlehem. In attendance were President Sharon Fontana, Assistant Governor Janet Kolepp and Past Presidents Jean Searfoss, Tom Kolepp and Ron Searfoss. (They are right – PP has a nice ring to it!) The event was very well attended. Based upon reports, the District is strengthening. More and more community service events are being conducted by the clubs. Significant growth in Rotaract and Interact Clubs was noted. Rotary Foundation support was outstanding. The Million Dollar Journey initiated two years ago achieved over $2,500,000!
 
On the Camp Neidig front, I am really happy to report Kathy Lee, from Freedom High School was selected as the Outstanding Camper at this year’s Rotary Youth Leadership Camp.  Please plan to be at the meeting July 14th to hear Kathy, Jovanni, Dorothy and Erin talk about their Camp Neidig experiences. It should be noted there were also a significant number of Exchange Students participating this year – both In Bound and Out Bound!
This Week’s Meeting
 
We look forward to seeing you at our June 30 meeting when Bob Hale will present to us on the “World of Wine.”
 
One last big Thank You to everyone for making this a wonderful experience.
   
Please continue to "Be a gift to the world!"
PAST President Ron
(Yes, it definitely has a nice ring to it …)