(Greensburg, IN) – On June 12, at its weekly meeting at the Decatur County REMC, the Greensburg Rotary Club welcomed its next club president, Robert DeHoff. The outgoing president, Alex Sefton, will hand over the reins to Robert DeHoff at the beginning of July.
During his farewell speech, Sefton lauded the club’s active involvement in ten monthly service projects in the local community during his tenure, including assisting Wreaths Across America in honoring military veterans by placing and removing wreaths at veterans’ graves for the Christmas holiday season, a clean-up of the Decatur County Courthouse grounds, and assembling blankets for the local chapter of the Linus Project, a national effort to provide blankets to children in less fortunate and stressful situations or in foster care.
He also noted that the club had exceeded its goal of $7500 in donations to the club’s Annual Fund, with $9940 donated in support of Rotary International’s worldwide humanitarian projects.
During the 2022-2023 year, club members also raised and donated $10,000 to the local community, including the Special Olympics team, Choppers for Coppers, the Decatur County YMCA, Speranza House, and Our Hospice. The club also donated $500 in support of Rotary International’s goal of eliminating the Polio virus.
Sefton wrapped up his time as president saying, “I just wanted to thank you all truly for an awesome year in Rotary. It’s been a crazy year in my life, but it’s been really cool to see how our club has just stepped up and rallied around all the amazing projects here in our community.”
Sefton then formally introduced DeHoff as the club’s president-elect.
DeHoff took the time to thank Sefton for his leadership and the club members for accepting him into his new position. He told his fellow Rotarians that, during his time as club president, he wanted to foment more collaboration between the Greensburg Rotary Club and other, local service organizations. He also said he wanted to increase club membership by engaging with a broader segment of the community at monthly community events.
“We need to be out in the public more,” said DeHoff, “telling people what we do and how we serve our community.”
He stressed the need to be more open and inclusive, breaking out of the mold of what members see as the “typical Rotarian” and reaching out to a broader local base. “Anyone can be a Rotarian,” said DeHoff.
DeHoff also stressed his intent for Greensburg Rotary Club to re-engage with local high schoolers to provide opportunities as part of the Rotary Youth program, Rotaract, as well as identifying collaborative opportunities for club members to act as mentors and role models for students at the three area high schools.
DeHoff concluded his discussion by quoting Galatians 6:9: “Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Born and raised in Sunman, DeHoff relocated to Greensburg in 2008. A 2000 Purdue graduate, he has a Sales Management degree and is a mortgage originator with the local First Community Mortgage office, with 22 years in the field. DeHoff has two children, Mila, John, and two dogs, and he joined the Greensburg Rotary Club in 2020. He is also active in the local community as a member of the Greensburg Optimists Club, treasurer of Greensburg Youth Football, and a coach for local youth softball and basketball.
In a written statement DeHoff said, “I am truly honored for the opportunity to be president and lead our Rotary club. We are very blessed to have many committed members within our club, and I will do my best to make sure our efforts are focused on serving our community properly.”
(Greensburg Rotary Club press release)
