Dear Rotarians and friends,
There are two significant events that I wanted to mention this week. First, we held our 2024-2025 Annual Meeting on Thursday and had a great opportunity to obtain input from members in a variety of areas.
Please click on the links below for more information on:
- Survey results and recommendations
- New Bylaws
- Results from voting for Officers and members of the Board of Directors
- Committee chairs
- Centennial events
Thank you to Sarah, Brad and Frank for helping to prepare for the meeting, to our Committee Chairs for sharing updates and to Jean for follow up after the meeting.
Second, Kelli, Charlie, Darlene, Rick and I had the chance to interview 8 candidates for 2 John Moyer and 2 Al Engel Memorial Scholarships on Friday and 4 of those candidates were chosen to receive $3,000 each. There was so much to appreciate about the whole experience:
- Kelli took the lead to chair the committee, building on great practices started by Charlie Amuso and Al Engel
- Great memories of John Moyer and Al Engel stirred up by interviewing candidates to receive scholarships in their honor and wondering which candidates they might pick
- Visiting the Souderton Area High School and talking about the atmosphere of kindness, respect and excellence that Sam Varano fosters in the students and staff
- Sitting at the same table that Charlie Amuso sat at many years ago in the old high school building to conduct interviews
- Observing an incredibly orderly evacuation drill when we arrived
- Meeting hard working and talented candidates with very promising futures of academic excellence, leadership and service
- Recognizing some candidates from various other Rotary and Interact events
I also thought about how much has changed in the last year. One year ago, I questioned Al about allocating so much of our budget to scholarships that were not based on need. Al took the time to explain why he thought merit-based scholarships were so important.
First, Sam Varano, Principal of the Souderton Area High School, had shared that he thought they were very valuable in offering encouragement to exceptional students. I thought about the advice I gave my own daughters when they were in high school to not apply for scholarships and instead leave them for students with financial struggles. I had been saving for their higher education expenses since they were born and I was ready to invest in their success. I have thought about my discussion with Al often since then and recognize that my daughters may have missed out on the opportunity to be celebrated for their work. I like to think that they are intrinsically motivated and do not need external validation, but it can be nice to be recognized by someone other than your mom sometimes.
Second, Al explained the value of encouraging both the strongest members of the community AND those who are struggling. It reminded me of an experience I had with a church a few years ago. There was a lot that I liked about the church, but it was hard to keep up with the many needs of its members. I decided to leave after a few years and the reason I gave the pastor was that there was an imbalance between the people who were asking for help and the number of people willing and able to provide that help. I could see the wisdom in what Al was saying. By not making financial need the focus of the scholarships, we encourage some of the strongest candidates who will hopefully grow to become positive leaders in the future regardless of their financial status. We also support community-based scholarships which are need based.
Third, Al talked about the differences between Rotary projects and other community-based projects. Our club does not exist to be a fundraising arm for other community non-profit organizations. He talked about the amount of work that our fundraising chairs put into events and about making sure that most of the money goes to Rotary led projects that are aligned with our areas of focus. I had never looked at it that way before. After that, I thought about how much work he personally put into many fundraisers like the auction, BeerFest and STEM YEA and about how that made me feel like he should get more stay in where the money goes. It also makes me feel more accountable to the other chairs of fundraising events, like Chris, John, Suzi, Ginny, Jean and Steve. I think about the enormous effort that is required to host these events and about what they would want to see us support.
I am thankful that Al took the time to explain his perspective on our merit scholarship program. That one conversation led to such a great improvement of my understanding and approach to Rotary funding. I do not like to have disagreements with people but believe there is great value in having open discussions. Most of the time those discussions lead to a much greater outcome than whatever idea I could have come up with on my own.
In Rotary
Kate Hoath
President