On Target! ThePresident's Message. By Nicci Beninger
January marks the midpoint of our Rotary club's executive term—a good time to review the past six months and outline plans for the remaining six months of my term. I will also restate my five goals for my July-to-July presidency.
1 To increase membership by three: With 53 active and seven honorary members, we are the largest club in District 4140 and are healthy and growing. We have recently welcomed 5 new members and three honorary members to our club.
2 Increase our presence in Chapala: We have initiated 3 new projects, including providing health education talks on nutrition, dental and heart health to local villages. We are working with the Blue School in Chapala to provide electrical and painting upkeep to classrooms in this Special Needs School and we are helping at the Tepehua Community Centre with a Children’s lunch program and recently raised money for a special Christmas dinner for these children and their families.
3 Ribbon Cutting at the Sanitary Wastewater Treatment Facility: We completed our sanitary wastewater treatment facility at the village of Ojo de Agua using Global Grant funds. Raw sewage is now being treated in a municipal sewage system that incorporates a 3 chamber 180,000 litre septic tank, sewer pipe system and an engineered wetland. This project was completed and opened in July of 2025 with 60 people attending the ribbon cutting ceremony.
4 First Aid Station in Ojo de Agua: We are proceeding with planning and funding for a new Global Grant for the La Cuesta / Mezcala Medical Center with a First Aid Station in Ojo de Agua. This village First Aid Station was the third item noted in the medical needs assessment that was originally completed with their water and sanitary treatment grant. The need for a local village medical facility has grown and will become a satellite First Aid Station.
5 To further our relationships with other Rotary Clubs: We have furthered our relationships with other clubs with a joint wheelchair distribution project with our district governor. We have gained new friendships, support and donations with our Trip to Yuma, Arizona, our Heart-to-Heart club hosting with various clubs from the United States, and our Friendship Conference, hosting our western Canadian friends.
We are looking forward to our next 6 months.
