January 23 – Salem Convention Center
Program: State of the City
The State of the City address will be given by Salem Mayor Chuck Bennett.
The State of the City is co-hosted by Rotary Club of Salem, Salem City Club and Salem Area Chamber of Commerce.
Message from President Rus
This week’s meeting is one we do every year but out of the ordinary scheme of our weekly Rotary lunch/meeting. Fellow Rotarian and Salem Mayor Chuck Bennett will deliver his annual State of the City address, his third, and somewhere around the fortieth hosted by our club, the City Club of Salem, and the Salem Chamber of Commerce. I hope it is on your to-do list and will see you all there in support of this important event.
Speaking of lists, there is a great and very entertaining article in the February addition of Rotarian magazine by Joe Queenan, The Joy of Procrastination: It’s time to cross ‘make a list’ off your list. I have always been a task list maker to fight my way out of situations where I have been a super procrastinator. We are all subject to procrastination and there’s one item, I’d like to pull to the top of your list….our GoodWorks Auction, February 9.
This event is our largest and most important fundraiser allowing our club to make the amazing impact locally and globally we have for almost 100 years. We do it in many ways. We support our inbound and outbound exchange students at a cost of about $6,000. We support literacy projects, sponsor two high schools, our dictionary project, youth organizations and RYLA with a little under $10,000. Our Peace, Cypress Friendship, and participation in twelve international projects are budgeted this year at $22,000. We will provide $10,000 in small grants this year. And of course, the major project, currently our efforts to provide the city with our centennial gift of a new amphitheater at Riverfront Park. The impact is tremendous and our financial support necessary. The Salem Rotary Foundation is an integral part of the source of these funds, but not entirely…actually less than half. The rest comes from us and mostly generated by the February 9 gala. This year’s theme is “Setting the Stage.” To me, it means two things. First, we must meet the needs of our annual charitable contributions, those just mentioned and others. That provides the foundation for the second, doing our part in building a lasting Rotary legacy with the Gerry Frank | Salem Rotary Amphitheater…the stage. Both are important and need our support.
Please put at the top of your list, making your arrangements to attend the GoodWorks Auction and if you can’t, your supporting tax-deductible donation can be sent to the club’s PO Box, payable to the Salem Rotary Foundation.
See you tomorrow,
