06/04/2026
Thank you to everyone who attended our Passing of the Gavel last night. For those of you that could not attend, I am posting the few words I said because it is important for us to truly see the impact we made in the last year, and acknowledge those who supported our efforts.
It has been an honor to serve as your President this past 2 years. We have achieved several of our goals, including adding 2 new members to our club, Doug Machias and Deanna Cooper and we have one on deck, Lucas. We were able to have our first fundraiser in many years. We were able to fully fund Mr. Derek Worch’s free snack program at the High school with a donation of $1,000 dollars. This event was possible with several donations including Metz Catering, Tina Conti, Hoppe Jewlers, Warm Glow Candle factory, and Dana Bakes. We also sent our first student to Ryla in several years Chasen Thurston-Perkins. Chason had a great time at RYLA and said it was a life changing experience and wondered why more people didn’t know about it! He has agreed to help recruit for next year. We helped serve a meal at the “Dinner at the Lamplight” program and cleaned up Star Park. Several of us supported Girls Inc. and Athena awards Dinner, supporting women in our community. With Texas Roadhouse staff we provided Christmas to 10 children in Wayne County through Community in Schools. With the leadership of Terri we were able to continue the Gleaners free food give away that has been averaging 500 families each month. We could not do that without her help and the help of all our volunteers. I also want to thank Teri for finding our speakers, Will for making sure e-mails are sent out weekly and keeping Bluesky updated on our club. I would like to thank Mary for her accounting help and keeping us updated on our dues and tracking all our club funds. I could not have had a successful 2 years without any of you. I especially want to thank Bill for stepping up to be President!
It is now my pleasure to turn the gavel over to Bill Bunch for the 2026-2027 Rotary Year. I hereby declare the new president installed and give President Bill Bunch the gavel as a symbol of the transfer of the club's administration.
