Dear fellow Danville Rotarians,

President Tony Leonard

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since I took office as your 2010-2011 Club President. It was an extremely busy year both in the Club, my Family and my Business.

When I returned from the International Convention in Montreal, I did not know how it was all going to happen. Well, guess what? We have a very energetic and dynamic club that is a “Can-Do” group who know how to roll up their sleeves and get things done.

We succeeded in doing many things this year, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our membership.

We can all take pride in our accomplishments this year, and they include the following:
– Del Amigo-Career Day and Planter box construction.
– Contra Costa & Solano Food Bank-Working in their warehouse.
– Back-to-School Back Packs for under privileged students.
– Pete Villa Award- Funding for athletic programs.
– Service Above Self Scholarships.
– Outstanding Female Athlete- Scholarship funding.
– 4 Way Test Speech Competition- Cultivating future Rotarians.
– Camp Royal – Leadership camp for students.
– Dictionaries for elementary students.
– Interact Club support & Direction.
– Rotaract Club support & Direction.
– Secret Santa- for several under privileged east county families.
– 42 books donated to the children’s wing of the Danville Library.
– Discovery Counseling Center- Funding for their operations.
– Fellowship events at The Hideaway and Danville Bowl, and more…

Our International giving this year was as follows:
* Pace Universal–Piyali School for Girls–$1,800.00
* Rotoplast-$1,950.00
* Dictionaries for Life- $1,500.00
* Tanzania Clean Water Global Grant (through TRF) $4,000.00
*  Monterey Mexico-Nursing home equipment-$1,000.00

In addition to all of the above, we ran two very successful fund raisers with our Annual Crab Feed and the “Party on the Lake” Dinner and Golf Tournament. Our estimates are that between the 2 events, we will have raised close to $45,000.00.This is a record for fundraising in our club and They are excellent results in any economy, let alone a foundering economy. Congratulations to our sponsors, chairpersons, and everyone who lent a hand.

The year brought a change in our meeting venue, which I think was the right move for the club and has seemed to have given us a lift in spirit. The move to downtown Danville was most likely responsible for attracting some of our great new members.

The year was somewhat challenging in regards to membership as we lost 6 regular members. The good news is that we gained 7 very motivated and engaged new members.

All told , I believe we had a productive year and we seem to have a great feeling of forward progress within the membership. That will bode well for next year’s President, Bob Chace, and beyond.

I want to thank each of you for placing your confidence and trust in me and for all of your support during my year as Danville Rotary Club President.

I feel that the Club is in very good shape and wish Bob Chace much success in his year as your President.

Sincerely,

Tony Leonard

President 2010-11