Rotary Club names 2020-21 president, officers
During Wednesday’s weekly meeting, the Weatherford Rotary Club installed its 2020-21 officers and presented the 2020 Rotarian of the Year award.
This Wednesday, Todd Earp will open his first meeting as the Rotary president.
Earp grew up in Mountain View before heading to SWOSU in August 2003.
“I originally thought I would just come to school, get my degree and move on, but I fell in love with Weatherford,” Earp said. “I believe this is where God wants me to be.”
He worked at the Great Plains Family YMCA for 7 years as the program director before taking a job with the City of Weatherford in April 2014. He now is the assistant director of Parks and Recreation and runs the youth sports program in the summer.
Earp then joined the Weatherford Rotary Club in 2014. Shortly after joining, he was appointed to the club’s board, where he has served ever since.
“I joined (the board) to finish someone else’s term, and I continued to serve,” he said. “I have been on the board since then.”
The board chose Earp as the president-elect to follow Dr. Chad Kinder.
“Names were tossed around and mine was brought up,” he said. “I was nervous, I’m not a great public speaker and I get nervous when I’m in front of people, but they had confidence in me, so I accepted.”
Earp is taking on this role at an unusual time — not just for the club, but for everyone.
“This has been an unusual year, ever since COVID-19 hit in March, Chad (Kinder) and I made the decision to move the meetings to Zoom because we missed the interaction,” Earp said.
The “interaction” is one of the things Earp loves most about Rotary. In addition to the interaction, he also enjoys the projects such as the car show and Fourth of July events. He also likes the “Service above Self” emphasis, enjoying the community service aspect of the club.
Similarly, Earp enjoys many of the same aspects in his job — the people he works with, interacting with the community and serving the public.
As a president, Earp faces some big challenges. He looks forward to seeing everyone at the weekly meetings, but it has been a challenge to set the online meetings up.
“It has been such a great opportunity to come back to Lucille’s and see everyone in person, but we still have those who are participating through Zoom,” Earp said.
He does not have any long-term goals for the club right now, but he still is focused on making sure everyone is included until they feel safe to attend in person.
“It is going to be a challenge to incorporate everyone, but with technology, thankfully, we won’t leave anyone out,” Earp said.
In addition to installing the new president, the Weatherford Rotary Club installed the other new officers.
Kari Jones, Sheriff Raji and Steve Zahorksy all rotated off their position as club officers. However, they will continue to be active members in the club. Only Zahorsky was present to receive his pin in person.
Legend Tate, Jill Tourian, David Tautfest Jr. and Lynn Welch are the incoming board for this year. Welch was there to receive her pin in person.
Jarred Jones, Iva Sadler and Damon Schultz remain on the board for the coming year.
Weatherford Police Chief Louis Flowers received the club’s Rotarian of the Year award. Dr. Kinder, who presented the award before stepping down as president, said Flowers is one of the most active and dedicated members the club has ever had.
When accepting the award, Flowers said, “It’s a beautiful day to be in Weatherford, and if you have to live anywhere, why not Weatherford.”
For his first act as president, Todd Earp presented Dr. Kinder with a plaque commemorating his year as president of the Weatherford Rotary Club.