April a Time of Renewal in Rotary
Posted by Ken Krebs
on Apr 11, 2016
Many look forward to the beginning of April with great anticipation. There are so many things that occur this month. First, one day a year everyone is on the lookout for practical jokes. Who knows who is going to try to fool you one way or another. But once “April Fools Day” is gone life more or less returns to normal.
But April is not really a normal month. Here on the Canadian Prairies, April marks the beginning of spring. Winter may still be trying very hard to remain with us, but the warm days outnumber the cold and our snow is slowly disappearing. We enjoy the lengthening days and are looking forward to beginning our summer activities.
In the Rotary world, we are in the midst of a renewal process. Our incoming club and district executives have been on training courses. The Governor Elect has been to the International Assembly, met with the district training team to formulate the material for the President Elect Training Seminar – informally known as PETS. The month of March saw our 46 club president elects attend PETS and return home filled with new ideas, a new knowledge of Rotary club operations, and ready to carry the theme for the next rotary year throughout the district.
April brings us District Assemblies, training for club officers and an introduction to Rotary for new club members. The incoming theme is discussed as is the Presidential Award criteria for the coming year. It is a time of excitement and promise for the coming Rotary year.
This is also a time that the current club executives, district executives as well, look at their clubs progress during the current year. It is time to take one last shot at meeting or exceeding the goals set one year ago. Have we exceeded our goals? Do we need to push a little harder to get those extra members? How have our plans progressed to start that new Interact Club, or Satellite Club, or to recruit students for the Rotary Adventure summer events?
Many clubs have fund raising projects coming soon and are scrambling to get everything in place so the membership can have time to enjoy the beautiful spring days that will surely be here shortly.