Since the chartering of the Lincoln Rotary club in 1925, the history of the Club and the city has been tied together. We have been meeting in the same building since then and, in fact, there are current members whose ancestors were charter members. In short Lincoln Rotary is both a historical and modern club.

The major challenge facing our club is to maintain a growth rate corresponding to the extreme growth in the city.

The city of Lincoln has grown 10 fold in the last 10 years from a city of a few thousand to a city approaching 50,000. We have a mixture of members from the historical side of the city (which comes from a pool of a few thousand), and the newcomers. We at Lincoln Rotary are striving to grow while maintaining the rich historical traditions. Dick McDaniel, President from 2005-2006 appointed Claudio Serafini as chairman of the membership committee. Since then we have increased membership by 50%, and this year we have been sustaining an increase of 2 new members per month. Getting new members is one issue, but keeping them is another. You cannot keep intelligent, energetic, new members by merely offering them a lunch club. Key to this is to have meaningful projects.

One great project that we undertook this year was to manage a program for CCI(Concerned Citizens Initiative). CCI is a San Francisco based company that encourages entrepreneurship in Russia by bringing groups of business people to the United States to familiarize them with the American System of business. Our role was to setup and manage the project for three weeks.  Our Lincoln Club became much energized because of the success of this program. The club demonstrated their “CAN DO” ability.

Another project that we will be involved in is the “Clay Fest” on May 5, 2007 in downtown Lincoln. We coordinated the establishment of a ‘Grand Service Club’ of Lincoln (Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and Soroptomists) for projects that exceed the capacity of any one club. The “Clay Fest” of the City of Lincoln will be handled by this ‘Grand Service Club’.

Lincoln will host the first District Interact Conference here at the Lincoln High School. Key to a successful Rotary club is the members and key to good members are good projects. Looking toward the future, the current, former, and future presidents are developing a strategic plan for the continuing success of the club.

Bill Smith 
President