Dear fellow “ Sunrise” Rotarians,

“WOW” what a great year! Rotary Year 2007-2008 once again we were rewarded with the District “Club of the Year”. We were recognized by the District for our outstanding performance in several areas. The highlight was our recognition in the District for setting up & administering an outstanding RYLA for the last three years. My thanks goes specifically to Tom Dueker for all his hard work in this area along with everyone else who has made this program the outstanding success that it is along with the volunteers from our club. I thought that by May of 2008 I would be winding down as my year as President of this fantastic Rotary Club. We were all sad to see Bruce Speck leave the area but were glad to see him get the job he really always wanted. I feel privileged that the Board & the Club has asked me to continue as President for the first half of this coming Rotary Year. Christy Batts will take the reigns in January to serve the last half of the year and her full year will follow in 2009-2010. So once again I want to welcome each of you to our new Rotary year where we will have an opportunity to expand the influence of our great Rotary Club. Last year Mitch mentioned in his goal statement about his source of pride he felt when talking to fellow Rotarians about our Club’s accomplishments. Additionally Mitch had as a goal to become a 100% Paul Harris Club. Through a little hard work & the dedicated efforts of many we were able to accomplish that goal this year. My thanks to everyone but a special thanks to Al Irby for all his hard administrative work to make this happen during my tenure as President.

Our fundraising efforts continue to be the best but we need to continue with our diligence to make sure we have enough funds to operate effectively. When we tell other club presidents about our fund raising success the reaction is one of disbelief. The support we receive is awesome but we also sense that the community and our supporters see our club as a group of dedicated individuals who get things done. Not just by writing checks but through actions – rolling up your sleeves and doing the work.

We are doing extremely well on our community & international service projects. Rotary International has once again picked Literacy & Fresh Water Projects as the two main areas they would like clubs to focus their volunteer work efforts. The Imagination Library and the work that Jeannie has been doing in Haiti fit the bill to accomplish RI’s Goals. Our hope is that we will be able to expand the Haiti operation into something that will lead to more involvement of our members in the club.

Membership, Membership, Membership is a key goal for RI in this coming year. We’ve set a five year goal to double the size of our club. We can’t accomplish that unless we ALL ASK, ASK, ASK! And we have to follow up with that ask with information about the impact Rotary is making in the world and our club is making in our community and internationally.

So fellow Rotarians, hold on for a fast and furious year ahead. Our motto for the year says it all about Rotary & the way our Sunrise Club works in the community, “Make Dreams Real”. Let’s get out there and make the Dreams of Rotary Real in our Clarksville Community. And while we are doing that let’s make sure that we all have FUN along the way.