Pres. Sue's June 18 Message

Our meeting this week is at

MORAVIAN VILLAGE

which is located at 526 WOOD ST in BETHLEHEM!!!!!

Ok, see you there, same time,

7:00 am fellowship, 7:30 am breakfast

And our speaker is Natalie Bock of the Hotel Bethlehem. I hope she has some ghost stories

Greetings Rotarians,

Last Friday night I met Jean and Marianne down south near Philly for the District Changeover dinner. For you newbies, this is similar to what OUR changeover event will be NEXT week, only much more formal and with not nearly as good food because Tom was not there to grill it.

Again, mostly for the newbies, this is when the outgoing DG, Tony says his goodbyes and we welcome in the new incoming DG (District Governor) which in this case, is Frank Romano. I am a little embarrassed to say that this was my FIRST Changeover dinner. And I have to say, it was really terrific (ok, maybe not the food part but the important parts).

Again for the newbies, The District runs a lot like a mini-club. Or maybe it’s a mega-club. There is a Head person – the District Governor – who comes and goes with the new Rotary year, and DGE (District Governor Elect), like our Jean, the President Elect, who is learning the ropes, and a PDG, Past District Governor – who hangs around for a year to help train the new person and then there are a bunch of committees that oversee the all the operations of the District, like the Foundation, Youth things, 4 Way Test Speech, Finances, Secretary etc… JUST LIKE WE have in our club.

And so at the end of the year, the whole district comes together to kick out the old, ring in the new and thank those that have worked hard all year long to make the district a success.

So I would just like to take a moment and thank everyone in the club because we have all worked really hard this year and it has been a truly terrific year.  We have raised a lot of money and had (mostly) fun doing it. We have overcome a lot of challenges. We have welcomed some terrific and interesting new members. We are enjoying a wonderful exchange student. We have had some vibrant speakers, including many of our own. This will go down as the year of the re-classification talk for sure. But …

A year in a club does not stand on its own.

Our club had a great year because it has had many great years before it. And it will go on having great years because no matter how tough thing get, Rotarians always come through.

I would like to thank Bill and Karen Jahn, and Dee and Ron and Tony for their mentorship this year.

A huge thank you to Jean for many, many things. First for all her hard work as Communications Lead and getting these newsletters out. I just write them. She fact checks them; spell checks them and adds all the other stuff. But mostly, we all need to thank her for jumping into the abyss last fall and accepting the role of President Elect (which carries the added burden of Speaker Coordinator). Jean and I have worked through a number of club issues over the year and I cannot tell you how helpful it has been to have someone there to bounce ideas off and opinions off of. Of course, we didn’t always agree but at least that kept things interesting.

Finally, I would like to thank my Family for their support over the past 2 years as I fulfilled my role here. It was a learning experience for all of us. I could not have done it without their patience and understanding. And I would like to thank my Dad for introducing me to Rotary and encouraging me to get involved. It has given us a lot to talk about and wonderful stories to share as he has visited clubs all over the world, as I hope to do with my children.

Sincerely,

Susan