Eugene Rotary Club President's Message
2/1/2010 The Haiti Earthquake Helps Remind Us that Rotary is International
1/1/2010 A Painless Resolution: Visit Montreal, Get More Out of Rotary
12/1/2009 The Holiday Spirit: Giving Thanks, Reflecting, and Beginning Anew
11/1/2009 “I can guarantee you, it will make you feel great!”
10/1/2009 How will our Club help build the skate park we’ve been hearing about?
9/1/2009 What is this Skatepark proposal we’ve been hearing about?
8/1/2009 The Great Rotary Duck Race is in your hands, too!
Mike Fox, President 2009-2010
My Fellow Rotarians,
As I mentioned to you when I addressed the Club on July 7, and in my July President’s message, I am thoroughly convinced that Rotary is the most important and most effective volunteer organization in the world.
Among other things, I said:
“Rotarians know the needs of their communities. Rotarians communicate these needs to other Rotarians, and Rotarians join hand in hand to do the work necessary to make this world a better place.
“Rotarians get the job done when nobody else can.”
The principal community challenge all the Rotary clubs in the Eugene-Springfield area have joined hand in hand on for twenty years is the elimination of child abuse in Lane County.
We Rotarians may not have the skills, time, or energy to intervene directly in the lives of unfortunate families, but we certainly do have the skills, time, energy, and connections to do what we can to help by selling Great Rotary Duck Race tickets. Our work will help those with the intervention and prevention skills to do what they do best.
When the economy goes south on us, as it has for the past several months and will for at least the next several, families who weren’t even close to living on the edge now are, and many of those have slipped over. Family economic stress can show many symptoms, and for some, unfortunately, the eruption of abuse of one’s children is one.
So, when you’re out selling Duck Race tickets to your friends, business acquaintances, and the general public, don’t think of it as selling tickets. Think of each ticket as saving the life of a child.
You can get the job done when nobody else can.
Mike Fox
President, Eugene Rotary Club
2009-2010