July 1 officially marks the first day for John Billups to assume the status of Club President for the Rotary Club of Summerton. It also denotes the first day for William Johnson to hold the title of Past President.
“It has been a privilege to serve as President of the Summerton Rotary Club,” said Johnson. “Every member has a true heart for service to those in need. I appreciate the chance to give back to the Summerton community. Together, the members and I have had a lot of fun. It has been very easy to serve as President because of the hard work and dedication of the members. We provided clothing and shoes for some of the neediest children of the community. We were able to sponsor students to attend Girls and Boys State. We also quietly supported other needs in our community and look forward to doing much more in the future.”
“John Billups completed a very successful business career in New York,” Johnson added. “He has the skills and the heart to lead the club to even greater activities and accomplishments this year. I look forward to supporting him in any way I can.”
John Billups was introduced to the Rotary Club by George Summers, who is a retired colonel in the military and a past President of the Summerton Rotary Club. Billups said that Summers asked him several time to join, but he felt like he was too busy and wouldn't have time to participate. Finally, Summers was able to convince him to join. Billups said that he is very grateful that he did.
“I have been involved as a Rotarian for eight years,” said Billups. “And to be the President of our Rotary Club is a huge honor that I am extremely proud of. This is not something that we are entitled to do. We are able to do this through hard work and dedication to the mission of being a Rotarian. We go out and do our best to serve the needs of the community. We sponsor students to attend Girls State as well as Boys State every year. We have passed out dictionaries to school children.”
Billups said that one of his goals to increase the number of members, and to retain the current Rotarians.
“Like the Marines say that they are looking for a few good men, we are looking for a few good people,” said Billups. “We are just a group of people that became a team, and it shows in everything we do.”
