BEGINNINGS

By Greg Lynch, President, NY6

 

            The holidays are coming to a close.  In a matter of hours, it will be time for each of us to begin the New Year.  Schools open.  Business gets back to normal.  After a two week recess, our weekly Rotary meetings begin again.  We have much to look forward to and much to achieve.  As all of us make our preparations to go forward, indulge my looking back to the close of our 2003 activities.

 

            The last quarter of 2003 presented such a flurry of activity at the Rotary Club of New York that we really did need to catch our collective breath.  There was in the air a great, good feeling of fellowship and unity that is a credit to every member of the Club.  We are showing up for meetings and attendance has been strong.  Little wonder, when we were able to finish our luncheon program season with a speaker as dynamic and timely as Louis Freh.  Our Xmas luncheon was festive and the festivities continued with a social sponsored by the Rotary After Hours group.  That same holiday week we held an International Breakfast and the members of the Club’s International Division conducted a planning summit at the Madagascar Mission to the United Nations.  Earlier in the season, we held another Evening of Harmony – dubbed by many the “best ever” – which proved, once again that we know how to party in style.  Not only did we party but, through a successful silent auction and raffles, we have guaranteed keeping the Club “in the black”.

 

            On the subject of money, our Foundation launched its fundraising campaign with a stated goal of raising $80,000 for the 2003-2004 year.  Up to the end of last year, many of our members proved their generosity and their faith in our Foundation as the life-blood of the Club.  It remains for many more to make contributions – large and small – to reach a goal that translates into touching thousands of lives. 

 

            Our inexhaustible Ambassador without Portfolio proved to us that there is more exotic garb being worn at Rotary meetings around the world then we might have imagined and he continues to represent us and occasionally do some modeling.  The Club signed an historic Friendship Agreement, twinning us with the Rotary Club of Milano Aquilea.  We hope to do a friendship exchange with the members of that prestigious Milan Club in the spring.  Perhaps more importantly, when I got back to my desk over the weekend I found a status report on our joint project to combat buruli – a dreaded disease – in West Africa.  This is a report we requested in order to assess our on-going commitment to the project.   In that same period, we have also seen what our efforts can do in Mongolia and heard calls for more activity in that region.

 

            All this said, it is in the area of service that the Club really has shone at the close of last year.  It was kind of a dream of mine to really have members up and active in our community, and it happened!  So many of you participated.  We served Thanksgiving dinner to homeless vets in Harlem and saw a lot of smiles.  We participated in a Xmas party on East 120th Street with our own Santa (don’t tell anyone but we had two Santas this year) and many, many Rotarian elves bringing joy, wonder and holiday cheer to 1,500 children.  It was a gargantuan task.  Take a look at the pictures of our Club volunteers on our website…and there were many others who did not get in the pictures.  Thanks to FND for allowing us to share in those great events.

 

            Maybe the service project that touched me the most deeply is the one for our troops in Iraq.  It was a project conceived and executed strictly within our Club.  It involved a couple of months of planning.  We had many volunteers and many, many generous contributions from you our members.  We put together holiday gift packages for some 120 members of a brigade and sent them off as a tribute to those who serve.  I don’t think our individual feelings about the conflict mattered.  These were our neighbors who have interrupted their own lives and those of their families to serve.  We may never see the faces of those to whom we wrote our messages of thanks.  We hope they are enjoying their CDs, books, etc.  Our support for our service people, both at home and abroad, will continue in the New Year as well.

 

            With all this, we managed to give out a number of awards for outstanding Club service.  In particular, we honored two members with Paul Harris awards.  In the coming months, all of us will have the opportunity to participate in the pride and recognition that is participation as a Paul Harris Fellow and Paul Harris Sustaining Member.  In recounting our many achievements, I have not cited individuals.  First, there are too many to name.  More importantly, this is a collective effort of the Club.  I really see all of this being achieved by all of us together.  Each of us does what we can.  The important element is the collective support, the palpable “buzz”, that reassures us of the quality of our membership and of our traditions that caused Paul Harris to aptly name us, some ninety-four years ago, the “Host Club of America”.

 

            Perhaps this was a long-winded way of getting to our “beginnings”. Yet, I feel that we need to remember where we are coming from to be able to appreciate where we are going.   There is much about the past months that have not been mentioned.  There are many plans for 2004 which will soon be revealed.  For me the important point has been and will be our great membership.  None of this could be done without all of us doing, giving and supporting.  As we begin 2004, I have one final thought.  New York Rotary always needs more good members.  If you have a colleague, a client, a friend who could benefit from the Rotary Experience, bring that person to a meeting.  In 2004, share the Gift of Rotary!