Albion Rotary installs new president, celebrates busy year

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 June 2023 at 9:38 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Alex Krebs, president of the Albion Rotary Club for about three years, hands off the gavel to new incoming president Doug Farley during a Rotary Club meeting last week at the Thompson-Kast Visitors Center for the Cobblestone Museum.

Farley is director of the Cobblestone Museum. He said he was drawn to Rotary because of its work locally and also for its support for distance projects, including polio eradication and fresh water projects in other countries.

Locally, Farley noted the club supports an Interact Club at Albion High School and has been a Little League sponsor since 1957. Rotary recently donated $1,000 to the Orleans Koinonia Kitchen at Harvest Christian Fellowship, the proceeds from Rotary’s St. Patrick’s Ham Dinner in March.

Don Bishop, a Rotary Club member, presents Krebs with a pin that signifies she is a member of the Paul Harris Fellowship, Rotary’s highest honor. Krebs has met the standard on seven different occasions.

Krebs was praised by Albion Rotary members for keeping the club going during the challenges of the Covid pandemic, which included many Zoom meetings in 2020. The club used to meet at Tillman’s Village Inn. With the closing of that restaurant, the club is now meeting on Thursdays twice a month at the visitors center at the Cobblestone Museum.

“Change is tough but you were a good leader seeing us through,” said Bonnie Malakie,a Rotary Club member.

The club is keeping up with many of its community service projects, including sponsoring the Albion Strawberry Festival, putting on the St. Patrick’s Ham Dinner and donating the proceeds to a worthy cause, running a golf tournament (this year on July 20) and donating most of the proceeds to support a transportation program for senior citizens.

A wine-tasting event was added this year and Rotary and Interact are part of a community cleanup effort, picking up lots of trash along the railroad tracks each spring.

Doug Farley presents Alex Krebs with a plaque in appreciation of her service as Rotary Club president.