Club president Travis Miller began the meeting with announcements and updates. Following the announcements and the pair to start our meeting John Grant President-elect addressed to the club for the Rotary meeting.
Mr. Grant took the podium and greeting everyone he shared his enthusiasm for the coming year. Mr. Grant shared the new theme for the Rotary, "Making a Difference." This new theme fits hand in glove with Mr. Grant's optimism and expectations for the service as president he is looking forward to. Mr. Grant shared with everyone his fascination with the phrase, "to plant trees that you will never see the shade of" this form of attitude toward service to the community is one worth investing in. Mr. Graham outlined several key points of focus that he will endeavor to capitalize on as president of Paulding County Rotary club. Growing tomorrow was the central cord for all of the ideas that he expressed.
The first focus was to sponsor and interact club. As we seek to grow tomorrow and grow our Rotary club we need to invest in people who feel the need to participate. Our club is never been one who sought only to add to the roles. We want to attract members who have the desire to become a service to the community and to make a difference.
His second focus his outline dealt the grants that are club receives to sponsor projects. Rotary international sponsors initiatives by Rotary clubs through grants. Their questions and focus have been to question the longevity as well as the impact of the sponsored programs. Therefore, Mr. Grant suggested a higher focus on the stamina as well as the impact of the activities and programs that we apply for.
Mr. Grant's third focus was in regard to the Rangers. Throughout the year Paulding County Rotary club has several fund-raising activities that have achieved reoccurring success. These successes include the Invitational Christmas Parade, the Annual Rotary Golf Tournament, our participation in Paulding Meadows, the Rotary Senior Cookout and our participation in the Backpack Program. These programs have been very successful. However, Mr. Grant noted that we have a dead spot in the calendar. Between January to April there is no specific club activity. Mr. Grant proposed a Valentine's Day 5K Race. This would happen in February and allow us a fundraising activity on that end of the calendar. Mr. grants program to a promoter for these types of events and was encouraged by the success of these types of events. There is a very good market for 5K races now and our proposed race would allow runners to gain points towards the Peachtree race.
In closing, Mr. Grant suggested these key focuses as something of the club should consider. That we participate in exploring these new possibilities while maintaining our individual identity as the Rotary club of Paulding County.