The recently formed Rotary Club of Saugeen Shores held its ‘hand-over’ dinner on Thursday, June 29th (2023), when Ed Braun became the Club’s new President.
Braun took over from Pat O’Connor, who had been in the position for more than two years after the Club’s formation on January 5, 2021.
O’Connor on leaving his position as President reminisced over the past two years. “It was quite an accomplishment for 32 members to comes together and form a new Club in a community that already had two legacy Clubs. In only two and half years, the Club has made astonishing accomplishments – we have held golf tournaments that have created
considerable funds for projects; we brought back not one but two Christmas parades that had been abandoned by the Chamber of Commerce; we made a unanimous commitment for $100,000 for the Lamont Sports Park accessible playground. The sky’s the limit for this Club. With three communities, Saugeen Township, Southampton and Port Elgin, we felt that our Club would represent all three. I am so excited that Ed is taking over the reigns and I know that we are going to be better than ever with his team.”
O’Connor has now moved to Chair of the Rotary Golf Classic tournament that takes place on August 25th at Westlinks Golf Course, where the Club also holds its regular meetings.
In taking over in his role as President, Braun said that he would like to see more sub-committees formed so that individual members are not ‘over-burdened’ when it comes to organizing events. “I would really like to see members join in on committees to share the workload. It would also provide an opportunity to pool the talents that we have in the Club and give new members the chance to learn more about the Club and provide a more-connected feeling.”
“Given the wide demographics of the Club, there are also challenges as to when we can meet. We have younger members who are working and retired members, so it can be a challenge but is one that we will solve,” said Braun.
