It's official! The 2022 Changing of the Guard is in the books. Special thanks to Heather Mader for a wonderful year of Presidency. We welcome Attorney Maureen O'Leary-Guth as our new President. In addition to the highly coveted Sam Azinger Awards, the following awards were given out: the Distinguished Service Award to both Rob Holtz and Herb Hillman. Todd Davis was the recipient of the Rotarian of the Year Award. And Sam Azinger won the prestigious Honorary Paul Harris Award. Many congratulations to all of the award winners! Thanks to Brittany, Ellen, and Russ for the great photos. To see more photos from the event, click on the "Read more..." button below.
It is my honor to be your leader for the upcoming Rotary year.
Most of you know me pretty well, but for anyone who does not, I got involved with the Thiensville-Mequon community because my law firm is here. I started working in Thiensville in 2008.
I joined the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club in 2017. When I joined, I didn’t yet understand the distinction between Rotary and a business networking club. Wow, have I learned a lot since then.
First, I have learned that Rotary is special because it is not just a local club, but part of an incredible international organization. Not many local clubs can sincerely boast that they are simultaneously improving the local community, and facilitating fellowship among true friends, and changing the world. I know we all know this, but it is worth reciting that Rotary has seven areas of focus that include both local and international components, and need to keep them all in mind.
Rotary members believe that we have a shared responsibility to take action on our world’s most persistent issues. With over 46,000 Rotary clubs around the world, through the combined efforts of our projects and fundraising, we all work together towards these seven areas of focus:
Promote peace
Fight disease
Provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene
Save mothers and children
Support education
Grow local economies
Protect the environment
Our mission
We provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.
Vision statement
Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves. About Rotary | Rotary International
This is a powerful charge. I will do my part to lead our club this year as we continue to fulfill our mission.
I’m realistic of the fact that only so much can be done in given year, so I want to focus my attention on a few things specifically that will strengthen the infrastructure of the firm for not just one year but many more to come.
There are initially three goals I will focus on:
First: I want to clearly assign all active members to at least one active committee. This can be done quickly.
Second: I will help the club work together to identify our next big project(s). It is essential our club be very thoughtful about this, strong building blocks.
Third: I want to focus on increasing our membership over the course of the year. Return to the strength pre-Covid attendance and build on that.
If we can add some more strong members to our club, it should help at all turns – it will held add strong leaders to our ranks for future board directors and officer roles, it can help strengthen each committee that is in need of volunteers, it can help us become more visible in the community, and it can help us better achieve all of our goals.
I believe that any significant business located in Mequon or Thiensville would want to send a representative member to our club. Perhaps they just need an invitation.
With those goals in mind, I have some specific plans to kick off working towards these goals.
First, on our first Rotary lunch meeting of the summer, July 12, we are going to have a special meeting without an outside speaker so we can take time to work on the first two goals. We will sort everyone out on committees and then take some time to talk about what we want our next big project(s) to be, so come prepared for productive working discussion.
Second, our Tuesday club meeting on July 26, 2022 will be a casual celebration of our local club’s 85th anniversary. In honor of our anniversary, we are preparing a special program that would be a great meeting at the park to bring potential new members to expose them to the club. I will challenge all of you to bring a potential member as a guest to that meeting, so begin thinking about who might be a good guest to invite.
For 25 years I worked for 2 communities in Milwaukee County. Unfortunately I did not have exposure to Rotary during those earlier years.
When I was hired by the Village of Thiensville, Rotarian Karl Hertz approached me to be a guest of his at the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club luncheon, held at Boder’s Restaurant. That was the beginning of a wonderful experience of dedication, community projects and long lasting friendships. The Rotary Riverwalk was of special importance to me. The walkability of our communities brings people together and builds a sense of belonging. This is the same feeling I get when visiting the new Gateway Feature.
I cherish all of the comradery at each and every meeting. Rotary – what a great place to serve your community and build lifelong friendships.
This is our Rotary Club's only fundraiser. We encourage every member to commit to purchasing a minimum of 4 tickets. Invite friends, family and business associates. Our goal is to sell out with 200 attendees. Our 10th Anniversary!
How you can get involved: be a sponsor, attend the event, acquire an auction item(s), volunteer to help set up and or take down. Plan to attend and enjoy a fun evening of socializing, dinner, and comedy while supporting all of the good Rotary does in our community and internationally.
Volunteers are needed for Taste of Mequon 2022. Volunteer shifts are 2 hours each. We need greeters at the Welcome Booth and attendants in the children's area. Please sign up to volunteer here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4cafaa29a5fec07-taste1
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