Weekly Update from President Scott Emley

Greetings Rotarians,

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable 4th of July holiday weekend.  We are very blessed to live in the greatest nation on earth. 

One of my goals for our club this year is to recognize members who have recently experienced a noteworthy milestone in life or perhaps were the recipient of some type of recognition for personal or professional accomplishments.  My intent is to incorporate this into the Moment of Inspiration at our weekly meetings.  Last week, we learned C. Clyde Jones was recognized in the latest issue of Money Magazine as one of "50 Heroes in 50 States."  The article highlighted those who give of themselves in providing guidance and financial counseling to those in need.  C. Clyde was recognized for his work at Shepherd's Crossing.  Congratulations to C. Clyde and thank you to Jeff Geuther and Bill Richter for calling the article to my attention.  I hope doing this will keep us all connected and will hopefully add a small club feel to a large club.  If you know of any positive event or accomplishment of a fellow Rotarian, please let me know so we can share the good news with the club!

Mike Mayo shared the good news that our club exceeding our 2013-2014 Foundation goal.  As you know, our goal each year is to give $100 per member to the Annual Fund of the RI Foundation.  Mike also reported the "bad news" that are club goal for the 2014-2015 club year has been set at $20,700 since we have 207 members.  Our club has a long history of meeting or exceeding the goal and I anticipate we will accomplish that again this year.  Thank you to all the members who have contributed.   Thanks to Mike and the Foundation committee for the continued good work. 

Our program was lead by Vernon Turner.  Vernon provide an overview of Rotary Leadership Institute.  Vernon is a trained facilitator and encouraged us to consider attending a RLI session.  The basic premise to Rotary Leadership Institute is to provide in depth education about Rotary to Rotarians.  One of Rotary International's primary concerns is that club leadership  turns over frequently.  The goal is to have more well trained Rotarians involved in club activities and in leadership roles.  If anyone is interested, there is a Leadership seminar on August 9th in Topeka. 

This week's program will be John Armbrust who will comment on the impact of potential downsizing at Ft. Riley. I hope to see you for lunch this Thursday!

Scott Emley
Rotary Club of Manhattan