Fellow Rotarians,

I sat down to write this I looked back at what Catherine and Kristin had said the past two years.  Because, the more things change, the more they stay the same. They both focused on Rotary’s theme for August, which is Membership, which we need to continue to focus on.  While we are the largest club in our district, we are only about 2/3 of what our membership was 20 years ago.  I read a while back that the upcoming generation supports causes not organizations and my observation is that is true, with full disclaimer that “anecdotes plural do not statistics make”.

Now the quote “the more things change the more they stay the same” did not start with a Bon Jovi song, or even some Frenchman in the 1800’s like Wikipedia says.  There is book tucked way back in the Bible where the Preacher says, “there is nothing new under the sun”, which I find encouraging.

I find it good that as our club changes and our new members have invested in the Duck Race, which is the envy of Rotary clubs all over our district, and the greenbelt is the envy of Cities all over the northwest.  We owe a huge debt to those who had the vision for the greenbelt and started this fund raiser so many years ago.  I am proud to see our club continuing to raise money to grow this awesome community asset.  Take a moment to pat yourselves on the back, we have an awesome club.

To come full circle, our club has a huge cause that all generations can get behind and support.  A cause that can attract members from all generations, we just need to spread the message.  Of course, our club also offers great opportunities to build relationships, weekly learning about what is happening in our community, funds scholarships, and other ways to give back we haven’t yet thought about.  The shark pond is an example (thanks Eugene).

Thanks for everything you all do.