Brentwood Rotary… an Exceptional Organization!

July has finally come and Presidents throughout all of Rotary worldwide have accepted the gavel from their Immediate Past Presidents and jumped into a new year. Thank you Fred Ehler for your exemplary performance as my Predecessor, I only hope to match your service to Brentwood Rotary and Rotary International in the coming year. It’s going to be an exceptional year for all of us here in the Brentwood Rotary as we finish up this year and move into 2011. Our first act of service was Brentwood’s Cornfest which allowed us to participate in Brentwood’s biggest fundraiser for local charities. Thank you to every Rotarian who braved the heat and helped us at this event.
Building Communities and Bridging Continents is our Theme at Rotary this year and of course we start right here at home by helping less fortunate children acquire the clothes needed for a new school year with our annual Kohl’s Shopping Spree. Our true Rotarians Vicki and Thais always make this event a huge success. Following that effort, we will once again be promoting one of our 2 annual poker tournaments which always add dollars to Rotary’s budget to re-distribute back into building our community. Our Program Director Don Stirling has become an expert at making these events successful.
October always means Trade Club for Brentwood Rotary and because it’s one of our most successful fund raisers, every Rotarian finds a way to get involved. Expect this year to be no different in our continuous effort to succeed in giving.
Growth within our Club has started out very promising with no less than 5 new prospective members looking at joining our great organization just this month. Our present club size of approximately 85 members is expected to reach 100 this year as more and more local Professionals, Business Owners, and Civic Leaders find it to be an exceptional place to give back. Brentwood Rotary through it’s positive growth this year will not only succeed in building our community through greater involvement of more Rotarians, the additional dollars will reach across oceans to solve heath, water, literacy, and human suffering issues on other continents. Our Immediate Past President Mr Fred Ehler continues to serve as our International Chair leading Brentwood Rotary in our goals of bridging Continents.
Be excited my friends! This is a great time to be a Rotarian in Brentwood. The friendships that develop are only the beginning of the many benefits you will enjoy by being part of our great club. I could list the great many events and activities coming in the next twelve months, but I’ll save that for our club meetings. We are without a doubt an exceptional club not just because of what we do, but because of the combined contribution and personal touch from every Rotarian who participates in our many causes. I’m grateful to be your President for the coming months, and I look forward to helping every one of you maximize your personal goals of contributing to our great cause.

Enthusiastically Yours,

Paul Kelly

“Did You Know?”  In 1988, Rotary International began it quest to assist in the eradication of the polio virus.  Before the beginning of the campaign, about 1,000 children a day were paralyzed by this terrible disease.  Who can tell me how many countries today are still polio-endemic as opposed to how many there were when Rotary International began their fight to end the disease?  122 in 1988, 4 in 2008.  Whose Foundation recently announced a $100m grant to assist in polio eradication efforts?  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
 
 That’s the only “Did You Know?” from January!