Summary of the 2022-23 Rotary Year

Rochester Rotary President Dr. Tim Duncan summarized some of Rotary International’s (RI) and the Club’s critical successes this past year.

RI had its first female President. Jennifer Jones’s vision of Imagine Rotary this year was clear, and she nailed it.  With over 1.2 million members, RI remains strong, supportive, and innovative in putting Service Above Self.

Each week the Rochester Rotary guest speakers have covered a wide variety of topics, from a project manager working on one of the Boblo boats, a television newsagent, to a judge talking about the Declaration of Independence and what it means to the world.  We had a city manager and a lawyer dedicated to finding innocence and freeing the wrongly accused, a computer engineer talking about artificial intelligence, and a speaker about autism.  We even had Santa and a clown show up for a meeting!

We had five off-site meetings, one at Innovation Hills, where we visited with a  Rochester Hills naturalist, one for the Rotary Emblem Dedication at Rotary Gateway Park, two at Neighborhood House to hear how one of our closest community partners is doing; and a visit to Leader Dog for a behind the scenes look at that organization.  We also had an off-site meal at Antoniou's Towne Square Pizza due to the Community House not being available for one of our nation’s most valued methods of governing, voting day.

The development of future leaders is a vital part of Rotary’s youth service. We hosted a Rotary Student Exchange student Mariana Celorio from Mexico, she had her ups and downs, including losing her father, and she had an exceptional year through it.  Our school Interact clubs are humming again, with two out of three high schools earning their Presidential Citations for the past school year, and all three schools are on track to earn that citation later this summer.

Fundraising events have been very successful this year.  Our August 30^th golf outing featured a fantastic day of glorious camaraderie and horrible golfing.  This was in conjunction with our annual golf ball drop. We raised several thousand dollars to support RI’s program to eradicate polio through our Shred It event last August and our Spring Fling. It was an excellent opportunity to interact with one another in a very low-pressure environment and raise some money for Rotary. Our annual Poinsettia Sale, Master’s Raffle, and Wine and Beer Tasting fundraisers were huge successes and much fun.

We demonstrated community outreach and service with three other local service clubs by collecting necessities (diapers, PJs, socks, undies, sweatpants, jeans, etc.) for eleven foster agencies in the area. On a more local level, we helped underwrite Neighborhood Houses Blast Off 2 School events and participated in the Meijer 2:1 matching grant program for Neighborhood House. Several members volunteered at Free Bikes 4 Kidz, cleaning up and servicing over 3000 bicycles, giving directly back to the community so every kid can have a bike (and helmet).  The CEO of that group came to speak to us about the program, and we will continue to support them. We also displayed our brand-new float in the Rochester Christmas Parade.

But the Rochester Rotary doesn’t provide just work and fundraising opportunities. 

The social component of the club was evident when we attended a Jimmy John's baseball game or met four times for cocktails at local watering holes. The Christmas party, the Spring Fling, and a family-oriented event at the Van Hoosen Calf Barn playing with trains were fun.

Our local club membership remained strong with 105 members, 90 active, 12 honorary, and three corporate.  These numbers are solid at a time when service clubs are struggling to find members; our attending membership numbers are increasing.

Financially we ended well into the black, and our investments allowed us to grow the Rochester Rotary Endowment Fund, enabling that fund to serve our club for park expenses and other club projects of interest.

To establish a direction for the club, we conducted a membership survey regarding meeting location, food preference, quality, etc.  The survey input gave the board the information to move this club forward, strengthening it by guiding these topics.  Thank you very much for your responses.

This year’s board consists of Phil McPeek, Youth Services Chair; Ernie Schaefer, Rotary Foundation Chair; Steve Oehler, responsible for coordinating our meals and our Think Tank and fundraising leader; Tom Townsend, Immediate Past President who filled the gap year left by David Eardley; David Archbold, Director and our Youth Exchange Co-Chair, Stuart Siegner Director, and Membership Chair; Linda Eastman Director and Invocation Committee Chair; Cindy Purdy, Director, and Master’s Raffle Chair; Rachel Aviles, Assistant Secretary, coming into the Vice-President position; Jeff Whitbey, Club Secretary; Tami Salisbury, Assistant Treasurer moving into the Assistant Secretary position; Tom Neveau, Treasurer and Youth Services Leader; Christine Hage, Website Administrator, and Vice President moving into the President-Elect position; and last but not least, Kyle Johnson, President-Elect and President of the Rochester Rotary Club for 2023-2024.

Our club is in great hands; we have the tools and outstanding leadership! 

One of my goals for this Rotary year was reconnecting with Rotary as a whole.  We are a powerful club; we showed strength throughout the pandemic when many clubs were folding.  However, Rotary is bigger than this club, as this video shows https://youtu.be/z1dxvQD3ryQ