Jim Myers received the Rotarian of the Year award for his many years of service and his research and weekly presentations of our 100^th Anniversary moments.  Jim has been a valued member of this club for over 58 years (and he had barely aged over all that time…. What’s the secret, Jim?)  Congrat’

 

In addition to the Rotarian of the Year presentation for THIS year, I also was honored to present the plaque for our 202 recipient, Roger Sidoti.  As we had a virtual get-together, last December, it was great to present him with this award in person.

 

Because there were so many deserving individuals and many great nominees, three President’s Award winners were announced.  One was given to Dave Myers, for all his work in making our hybrid meetings possible, his continued work to have our meetings move back to Pierson Hall, his participation in the planning and execution of the Story Walk project, among other Rotary activities.  A second President’s Award was given to Randy Smith for his work keeping the club going during the pandemic and for chairing our 100^th Anniversary Event Committee, among other Rotary activities.  The final President’s Award went to Amanda Senn for all her work organizing our summer lunches using different vendors each week, and creating and promoting the registrations for the lunches.  She was not in attendance, so I look forward to presenting the award to her at an upcoming meeting.

 

I look forward to hearing District Governor Larry Lohman speak on Tuesday, December 7^th and to listening to the Kent Roosevelt Aces on December 14^th.

 

Let’s Serve to Change Lives!

 

With gratitude,

 

Kathy

President Kathy expressed thanks to Curt Stumpf and Dave Myers for their work on the Story Walk project.

 

President Kathy indicated that The Kent Rotary Foundation will be meeting next Tuesday evening and will be reviewing funding requests.  Please submit your request no later than Friday, December 3^rd.

 

President Kathy reminded everyone that the Jingle Mingle event is this Friday…hope to see everyone there.

 

President Kathy remarked that next year’s election of officers is now in motion.

 

Rachel Kerns requested that any toys for needy children for drop off should be placed on the UMCC gymnasium stage; Rachel does have a Venmo account for any cash contributions.  All contributions should be received no later than 12/17/2021.

 

Salvation Army bell ringing event is scheduled for this Saturday at ACME.

 

 

Assad Khan introduced todays’ speaker – Hafiz Haq, an independent entrepreneur from the United Kingdom.  He is presenting via Zoom and will be providing remarks regarding his 52 year professional journey….

Mr. Haq has amassed a remarkable professional record across the past 52 years – from manufacturing and logistics to a business development consultancy. An engineer by education, Hafiz’s professional journey has taken him all across the world, providing invaluable experiences that have helped shape and expand his knowledge of the inner workings of business.  He attributes his success to a subscribed set of themes that have served as guiding principles:

 

Self-development and competitiveness – This comes from within.  An individual must make a whole-hearted indivisible commitment to the idea or notion of success. 

Ambition and Passion - Cited an example from a former mentor who gave him an impossible task.  What he learned from this experience was that it was not good enough to be good…one must strive to be different.

Managing people -         What was key here is the importance of catching people when they achieved success and to reinforce the same. People need to know their contributions are valued – cultivating ideas from them will help boost your relationship to develop a chemistry necessary for successful collaborations.

Learning from Cultural aspects – Helps develop / foster better understanding; needs/desires; behaviors and work ethic.

 

In closing, Hafiz shared with the audience what occupies his time today – an organization called Transformation Beyond Imagination.  It was founded out of the need to pay the lessons of success forward.  The program is geared towards individuals and provides professional scholarships to those who lack financial resources to receive the proper educational opportunities to improve oneself.

 

Today’s responder to the program was Tom Larkin.

 

Respectfully submitted,