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The annual tradition of swearing in the new Rotary Club Executive was acted out at our regular meeting today. The induction was performed by Dave Panabaker, who is beginning a term as Assistant Governor for the clubs in our portion of the District 5360. The President and Directors were asked to come forward and accept the duties and responsibilities of their new roles both for new appointments and those carrying into a subsequent year. The gavel was passed to Uwe, and he is now official at the helm for the next year.
The 2016 - 2017 Rotary Club of Medicine Hat Executive
President Uwe provided a short summary of the past year, our fond remembrances of Ernie Benesch and our wish he could have been with us to pass the gavel to Uwe. Wouldn't he have loved that moment. Although that loss overshadows all that was accomplished in his year, our club can be justifiably proud of what we have achieved in this past year. We had a very successful Music Festival, our 62nd run by Don Davis and Brenda Bauman, with the assistance of our Festival staff and a number of very involved Rotarians. Our club won the only Presidential citation in the district, for growth in new members, foundation giving and engagement in both community projects, Rotary youth activities and our International work. We also were awarded with a "Vibrant Club" award.
The International committee, led by incoming President-elect Karen Blewett supported and participated in the Los Amigo's project, helping get used emergency service vehicles to Mexico. As well, we have begun the work around supporting a number of projects in Estelli, Nicaragua.
The Youth and Vocation committee, led by Dawn Barr has supported the Interact club at Medicine Hat High School, assisted in the formation of a Rotaract club at Medicine Hat College and sent a number of students to both RYLA and RYPEN. Those youth programs have a lasting impact on the participants, and hopefully will encourage young adults to choose Rotary in the future. Our membership committee, led by Jenny Hetherington has been very active, inducting a total of 10 new members this year, with a loss of only 2 individuals. Chris Perret has been busy, working on fundraising with all our gaming activities and many members of the club contribute to ticket sales, bingo workers and casinos. New fundraising activities are being contemplated.
Uwe mentioned the work of both Mark Sorenson with Community Service and Pam Rickey with our Club Service team. There are an incredible number of "unsung" hero's, and that level of engagement by club members contributes to being a vibrant club and a place people want to spend time. President Uwe again credited the work of Ernie Benesch with contributing to this result.
President Uwe then unveiled the theme for the 2016 - 2017 Rotary Year, "Rotary serving Humanity". Uwe spoke about being the oldest serving President in the District, if not within Rotary as a whole. He indicated that although we have several continuing projects (Music Festival, International, Youth) we'll be focusing on our 100th anniversary celebration in June of 2018. We all look forward to a great year under Uwe's experienced hand.
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