On this the 1st lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Belleville in its 107th year, President Hazzem was presented with his Club President Pin by Past President Tracey Vandervoort. President Hazzem began by acknowledging and welcoming guests, fellow Rotarians, Past Presidents, community partners, friends and family. All here to celebrate yet another chapter in the remarkable history of the Rotary Club of Belleville. Since 1920, the Rotary Club of Belleville has been making our community stronger through service, generosity and friendship and Hazzem found this to be truly humbling as the Club's President.
Rotary has always been a part of Hazzem's life because of his dad, Al who was a member of the Rotary Club of Belleville for more than 40 years. When your dad is a Rotarian, volunteering wasn't optional. One of Hazzem's first tasks was to record attendance, created by using Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet from the past. Working shifts at the Belleville Fair was also an expectation. Fast forward about 30 years and President Hazzem now finds himself at the podium after working at the Canada Revenue agency and attending Rotary meetings as a guest, and meeting a varied group of people with different opinions, perspectives and sometimes spirited debate, all signs of a healthy Club. In preparing for his year as President, Hazzem read the book Impactful Networks by David Ehrlichman and one passage resonated with Hazzem. “The objective of clarifying a common purpose is not to force agreement, but to legitimize difference”. When people recognize their interconnected aspirations, their perceived differences shift from barriers to gifts. Whether we are here because of service, friendship, professional relationships, community leadership or simply because someone convinced us to attend a meeting, we all arrive with different motivations, but what keeps us here is a shared purpose. Service Above Self. We are here to serve.
One of Hazzem's focuses is to close the loop on the work done over two years ago on Rotary Refresh, laying a roadmap for future success. We identified our strengths as a Club, acknowledged the challenges and imagined what our Club could become. The loop has to do with taking a look at existing committees and level of activity and member involvement and looking at opportunities to improve efficiency and bring more clarity regarding the Club's areas of focus. A prime objective is to ensure the Club continues to thrive for the next 100 years, to continue to grow and to maintain a strong base for each succeeding President, to build on the extraordinary legacy of the Rotary Club of Belleville.