Hughes takes position as president of Rotary

Matthew Hughes was formerly announced as the new Rotary Club of Graham president during their weekly meeting last Tuesday. Hughes is filling the role which was held by Pam Scott for the last year.

Hughes is joined by the new board for 2019-2020 which is Sarah Lundgren, vice president; Eva Hoffman, treasurer; Brenda Harrleson, secretary; Brandy Canton, club services; Alex Hearfield, rotary foundation; Chris Blanton, club membership; Rebecca Sullivan, public relations; Chance Condron, youth involvement; John Brown, club admin; Cam Bennett, finance; and past president Scott. Scott made her closing remarks on Tuesday before Hughes made his announcements regarding the club.

“It’s when you are back here behind the podium that you realize how stressful, time consuming this job is and how much you appreciate those that take on this position, so our hats off to Matt who made that commitment and will be our fearless leader next year,” Scott said.

Hughes thanked Scott for her service to the board and all of those involved last year in making the organization successful. He said he was glad to be offered the position by Scott.

“I was honored to be asked to do this,” Hughes said. “You know, I came to Graham about six years ago and I really didn’t know anybody in this community and didn’t know much about this community and I really believe the best way to get to know your town and community is to get involved.”

Hughes said he was originally looking for an organization in order to get involved in the community. He wanted one where he could make a change in the community while also helping him establish relationships both personally and professionally.

“I really feel like Rotary leads that charge out of all of the organizations here in Graham, so it was really simple and a really easy decision to make,” he said.

Hughes said he is looking to change some aspects of the Rotary Club in Graham starting with the promotion of businesses within the organization.

“I think that it is important that we promote our business,” he said. “A lot of us are business owners. We have bankers, we have lawyers, we have insurance agents, we have oil and gas professionals and I think we need to really do a good job about promoting ourselves and promoting our businesses and that’s important and also community service and community involvement.”

A second change Hughes said he is planning is to have the community service projects for Rotary Club on Tuesday around the Rotary’s standard meeting time in order to get more members involved with their efforts.

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, July 10 edition of The Graham Leader.