A New Rotary Year

Peter Malone as the new President of the Rotary Club of Belleville, thanked the Club first for the opportunity to attend the recent Rotary International Convention in Melbourne, Australia, a wonderful experience and a real inspiration that helped Peter connect all the Rotary dots.  Every piece we do as a Club, all has an impact and everything rolls up to positive peace.  Are we ready to go?  Hang on to your hats.  Peter first introduced the Board of Directors and provided an organizational chart.  Peter Malone as President; Jo-Anne Wheeler, Club Secretary; Tracy Bray although not on the Board is key to providing programs and organizing events; Karen Baker, President Elect; Tracey Vandervoort, Vice President, looking after Member Engagement; Darrell Smith is Past President, Rosi Ouellette, Treasurer; Hazzem Koudsi, Director Public Image; Heather Hall, Director Fundraising; Sam Reid, Director Environment and Sustainability, Brenda Snider, Director Community Service; Terry Thomas, Director International Service, Anya-Deane Best, Director Special Projects; Collin Myers, Director Fundraising.

 

Building on previous Club strategies, there are three main areas of focus that came out of Refresh Rotary -- Member Engagement and Growth, Public Image Development and Fundraising.  Vice-President Tracey Vandervoort will develop a strategy to engage members and will be responsible for continuing the momentum of Refresh Rotary by creating a sub-committee.  There will be an emphasis on fellowship and fun.  As far as membership drives, we are all Rotary Recruiters and responsible for encouraging people to join Rotary, make them feel welcome and mentor them along.  Director Hazzem Koudsi will be responsible for Public Image development through branding and a communication plan to capture all media platforms, locally and beyond.  We need to beat the drum of Rotary in the community.  If we elevate the Club's public image, we will elevate member engagement and that will elevate fund-raising.  Connect all the dots.  Directors Heather Hall and Collin Myers will look at ideas to increase fundraising efforts, establish innovative partnerships and Rotary collaborations and leverage grant opportunities.

 

To ensure effective and internal communication, committee chairs will report activities to their respective Director(s) so that this information can flow through to the Board as well as to all the members via Director presentations.  Internal communications will be strengthened by providing Clubrunner training, creating a notice board (already done and looking good!), promoting long range events and speakers and ensuring the bulletin or Rotopics is tied in with the Club's public image.  We will look at Rotary engagement on a local Club level as well as within the District 7070 and Rotary International.  Already thinking about the International Convention to be held in Calgary in 2025, a Rotary Club of Belleville contingent?

 

A thought to ponder:

Rotarian and Past President Ken Dickson thanked Peter, grateful that Peter's submarine found its way to the shores of Belleville.  We appreciate Peter's new ideas and new energy and are happy to support him as President for 2023/2024.