The Medford Sunrise Rotary recently swore in Susan Miller as the new president for the 2019-2020 term.
Kevin Frenia, who served as president for the 2018-19 term, presented the presidential pin at a recent meeting. Miller, the former managing editor of The Central Record and a former correspondent for the Burlington County Times, is currently the director of marketing and communications at YMCA of the Pines in Medford.
She became involved with the Rotary in 2016. At first, she wasn’t intending to move up in the ranks, let alone become president. However, as a former editor and reporter, she quickly found herself creating a public image for the club, eventually initiating attention from the community.
“I always thought of Rotary as this stuffy, grandfathers, all-guys clubs. I didn’t really know much about it,” said Miller. “I just like that we’re like-minded people that really care about making our little community a better place. That’s the most exciting part for me.”
As president, she will oversee the projects that the group plans to do for the upcoming year.
The Rotary is involved in a number of community projects each year, including the Medford Community Calendar, the Memorial Day Field of Honor at Freedom Park, Operation Yellow Ribbon collections at Murphy’s Market, road cleanup projects, providing dinners to families at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden, as well as initiating coin drops to raise scholarship money to send children to camp.
The group also tries to send two high school-age kids from the area each year to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts where teens develop skills as leaders.
“I just want to continue to do the good work that people before me have already started,” said Miller.
For the future, Miller has a few things in mind while she’s president. Her most important initiative is to work with the Josh The Otter/Joshua Collingsworth Memorial Foundation to provide water safety awareness information to daycares, preschools and kindergartens.
She’d also like to add to the club’s membership.
The group meets the first four Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at the Pop Shop in downtown Medford.
“We’re always looking for community-minded people who want to make the world a better place, starting right here in our own backyards,” said Miller.
