On June 23, 2010, the outgoing president of the Savannah West Rotary Club, Brad Lucas, gave the following address to the membership. The occasion was the Annual Junking Party, an opportunity for the membership to thank the outgoing officers and welcome the new.
Brad's remarks give a wonderful inside look at what this club represents and how it addresses its commitment to the Rotary motto: "Service above self."
The following is the text of Brad's speech:
I am going to say this for the penultimate time in my Presidency, “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands”. It has been a very fast year for me with the duties of Club President being added to the more routine functions in my life. Between family time and work responsibilities, we all seem to stay busy most of the time. Balancing the additional demands on my time that being Club President requires was the satisfaction of doing good through the many excellent programs that Rotary promotes. I have enjoyed getting to know many members of our club much better, learning a lot about Rotary, and generally having fun while participating in Rotary activities.
I have had an incredible level of support from our club with many of you going out of your way many times during the last twelve months to help me muddle through.
I would like to personally thank the following individuals who were our Club Directors, Officers and Committee Chairs this year:
Past President – Pam Parker – big shoes for me to fill and our Assistant Governor going forward.
President Elect & Club Administration – Boyce Young – good luck and you know how to get a hold of us when you need assistance!
Secretary – George Word – always helpful, and doing administrative things for our Club that the rest of us take for granted.
Treasurer – John Howard – your detailed records help us keep track of our club funds just like you have done for many years.
Rotary Foundation – Dennis Leadbetter – your efforts have led to the continuation of a long track record of our Club meeting its annual goal of contributions to the Foundation.
Membership – David Bradley – ever ready with new ideas for recruiting – your enthusiasm resulted in our Club adding many new members this year which will add to our future success for many years.
Sergeant-at-Arms – Jamie Hamrick – your sense of humor and dedication to collecting fees has added materially to our Club coffers and warmed the cockles of my heart! I suspect you will be fined every week you show up next year . . .
Directors – Carol Lawson, Clate Ralston, Barbara Martens, and Wick Searcy – you have all served our Club for many years in many different capacities – we could not have accomplished all we have without your efforts.
Web site – Dave Legasse – You have helped move us technologically into the 21st Century!
Fund Raising – Bonnie McMillan – what a great Club raffle you have honchoed this year! Excellent prizes, great participation, and money raised to support our great causes.
District Raffle – Dick Wallace – with your efforts, our Club met its goal assisting our District to raise more funds for Rotary (including providing some matching funds back to our Club).
Public Relations – Sonny Hamrick – we can always use good press!
District Conference and new President Elect – Sun Breza – nice work – our Club had over 10% of our active members at the District Conference and you can look forward to being our new Club President in just over one year!
Service Projects – Ellen Whitford (International) and Russ Watjen (Vocational) – you helped our Club do great things this year.
Consulting Past President (and fellow CPA) – Carlton Hodges – who answered many of my questions about what in the world I was supposed to do on many occasions.
And last but certainly not least, Programs – Peter McMahon - During this fiscal year we had the chance to hear from a wide range of weekly guest speakers that provided a great deal of worthwhile information along with an equal measure of entertainment. From music to information about foreign countries (thanks to our GRSP students!), we also covered local politics, economic development, and many worthwhile charitable activities. We had magic, law enforcement, martial arts, fine arts, and health care. When you top these off by a few Club Assemblies (always one of my favorites!), I can say that I have always looked forward to our regular Wednesday lunch meetings. Many thanks to our Program Chair – Peter – for coordinating such a wonderful line up!
I want to thank the loyal cadre of Club Members who were always ready to step forward and lead us in our invocation, pledge and four-way tests – your spontaneity and sincerity always provided a great way to start our meetings.
Carolyn and I had the privilege of acting as the host family to our GRSP student this year, Ramsha Khalid. I took her to the airport this afternoon for a trip home to Pakistan so she could attend the wedding of one of her cousins. She has definitely become a new member of our family this year thanks to the funds our Club has provided for this wonderful scholarship program.
We also had a nice series of monthly Board of Directors meetings that helped us organize our efforts. Our Club accomplished a number of successful activities this year. These included making substantial contributions to the Rotary Foundation and the GRSP Endowment. We provided toys through the Toys for Tots program sponsored by the U.S. Marines. Our annual Thanksgiving food baskets made a positive impact on the lives of several families and our Christmas food baskets and family Christmas presents were equally nice – I suspect that our club members were as happy to provide these as the recipients were of getting them! We helped fund the Guatemala Literacy project and we provided funds to send a shipping container of medical supplies going to the Ukraine through the METS program. I personally thought it was very cool to go over to the METS warehouse with a number of you and help sort through the surplus medical supplies – many interesting items! We received some matching funds from the District Simplified Grant program that helped us provide some computer equipment to the Wesley Community Center. As a History Major, I was pleased and surprised to discover that our club has two active members who are WW II veterans – John Stevens and Rex Thorne! I look forward to seeing their names on the new WW II monument that will be in sight from my favorite lunch room (with the best view, the best food, and always the best company!). We finished off our year with a very successful Club Raffle as our annual fund raiser – great prizes and excellent funding for our Club projects!
Because of the extra efforts many of you put forth this year our Club received a Literacy award, a Presidential Citation, and a District Governor Citation. These would not have been presented to our Club without your efforts!
In summary, it has been an honor and a privilege to serve as Club President. The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands!
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