As Public Relations Manager for Founder’s District I have a motto which I wish all to follow:

Make History, Not Lose History

The reason I have this motto is that I feel that there have been opportunities that we’ve missed to celebrate over the last few years. We’ve missed out on the opportunity to document, photograph and write articles on certain special anniversaries of either clubs or club members.

In an effort to curb that, I have implemented a few changes to the Public Relations Team, which include recruiting Christine Brady as the Talent Scout and David Moore as the Special Events and Anniversaries Scout.

Both are asked to scout throughout the district and through our available data to “go where no person has gone before” in order to find pertinent information and share it with the right people who can share it with the appropriate Toastmasters world.

Their information will be passed both to the Division Directors and to either FDTV for talent or Social Media for Special Events. We need your input to help make this happen. If you have information for Talent or Events, please give to Christine for Talent or David for anniversaries or events.

I encourage more participation across the board in the Public Relations arena both from the Public Relations Team and from the Toastmaster members. All Public Relations members are also included in this offer which includes the Division PRM’s plus their teams. Also encouraged to participate is any individual member who either brings an outstanding article or brings light on something that is happening within Founder’s District. Each month, I will be looking for those whom I believe have gone above and beyond their Toastmaster expectations and I will be rewarding 2 members a $25 Toastmaster gift certificate.

The 2 individuals I’ve chosen to recognize under that program initially include:

Avis French, who even while ailing, remained liaison between Founder’s District and the local community. Avis continually works to make sure we have opportunities to serve as local judges for local school and community speech events. These events weigh heavily on Toastmasters participating as they see us working to our core values of integrity, respect, service, excellence. Avis is also looking to our Toastmasters community for someone who may want to help out and possibly transition through the next few years. Thank you, Avis.

Steve Itzkowitz, who worked up until the final hours before being admitted to the hospital for his surgery. Steve is a real trooper and is always the first in line to help make it happen. After the awards night, Steve took on doing a lot of the articles. I love him for all he does and now need him to concentrate more on delegating. Thanks for all your work, Steve.

Here are a few other mentions of individuals that I really appreciate stepping up to the plate:

   Lawrence Crandall, who is always there when you need him and then some

   Jeff Lee, for stepping up when Steve was ailing given how much we had to cover.

   David Shostak, the man of the hour, who is setting the way as an example for everyone.

   Mike O’Neil, who has been my right hand man in the Tech Team.

   George Day, who has been doing amazing programs and software in the background that have made a big difference. We need you back.

I could go on but let’s save some for next month.