It was a beautiful sunny afternoon when the club met in person for the first time in over a year for our annual installation dinner. With vaccines being rolled out, and the meeting being held outdoors we could all see each other’s mask-less faces, which was good in most cases :-) Everyone socialized for a while, then sat down for a box dinner provided by Red Dog, a new restaurant in town. (And isn't that a good sign, a restaurant that opened during Covid). They provided a main sandwich of our choice: Chicken, Roast Beef, Tuna or Falafel, along with chips and a cookie. I'll go there for lunch!
New Members Welcomed
After we ate President Bob started the meeting by welcoming two new members to the club. Lori Goeckler and Jason Primus. District Assistant Governor Randi Saboski put the Rotary pin on Lori while her sponsor, Sue Klock, stood by. Peter Klock sponsored Jason as District Governor Marc Glass pinned him. They were both presented with Membership Certificates and the club gave a warm welcoming applause. Welcome to you both!
The membership induction was followed by several presentations. Marc Glass talked about the district, follow by Randi Saboski explaining her role as Assistant Governor. In her role she acts as a liaison between the District and the Club. She encouraged people to go to her if they have any questions about Rotary.
Two Years of Outstanding Leadership
President Bob then spoke again. He thanked everyone for attending, then thanked his wife Sandie for supporting him through his 2 years as president. The last year was especially difficult, as we all know. He thanked his board members and the entire club for their support also. He then listed some major accomplishments over the past 2 years, some of which are related below:
Successful Spring Raffle brought in over $5,000
The Golf Tournament was successful beyond expectations, netting several thousand dollars when we had hoped to at least break even
Successful National Night Out in partnership with the EHPD
We collected over seventy turkeys for the food banks in 2019
Koats for Kids continued to provide needed winter coats
This past year we could not do Secret Santa, but we did donate hundreds of dollars’ worth of gift cards to distribute
The club provided tens of thousands of masks to essential workers including police, fire and EMT.
We distributed candy at the Halloween drive through at Rentschler field.
Following President Bob's speech, Sandie presented him with a Past Presidents pin. Incoming President Sue Klock thanked them both for their sacrifices made for the club during his presidency. Bob demonstrated the leadership required to keep the club together through the challenging time we went through.
President Sue Has Experienced Board
Incoming President Sue Klock and then District Governor Marc installed the incoming board. The incoming board consists of President Sue Klock, Past President Bob Buettner, Vice President Alex Wisz, Treasurer Wes Willett, Secretary Laura Floyd, Directors: George Schoen, Connor Martin, Daniel Firestone, Neal Cunningham, Anwar Hossain, and Jack Sayre.
We finished with Incoming President Sue talking about her plans for the coming year. Her priority is to get the club Bylaws and Constitution updated. A task force has worked on them, and the revised editions are being presented to the club next week for approval. Other plans include putting together a district grant to support child literacy initiative in our local schools and building club membership.
