The Hamilton Rotary Club will welcome its youngest President to date, they announced yesterday afternoon.

Christopher Morris, 41, will become the Hamilton Rotary Club’s youngest president and told The Royal Gazette that he is honoured by the new undertaking.

He said: “It feels great— it’s an honour. I have been attending meetings since I was five years old, my father was the past president of the Hamilton Rotary Club, so I’ve been involved for quite some time but not as a member”.

Mr. Morris, a partner at Arthur Morris Christensen & Co said he plans to spend the year focusing on education and local projects. He also wants to encourage younger members to join the club and change people’s perceptions of the Rotary as “sort of the geriatrics club,” he joked.

Mr. Morris was handed the President’s Metal yesterday but will not officially start his Presidency until next week— until then the club’s 82nd President Keith R. Clifton will continue his post.

Mr. Clifton has dedicated this past year to humanitarian efforts world-wide, but has been most passionate about developing the Rotary’s youth projects.

He said: “It has been a good year because we have instilled some new programmes this year that I am proud of, particularly our efforts with the youth,”

He told his fellow Rotarians: “Youth programmes, such as Youth Exchange, Interact and Rotaract are vital to ensuring the health of Rotary’s future. They also further Rotary’s work by instilling a sense of integrity, tolerance and unselfishness in the next generation.

He continued: “We need to think of Rotary in terms of the long haul, not just a couple of years down the road but actually decades. We need to think of who is going to fill these chairs long after we are gone. It is the young people behind us that will take the reins of Rotary and we need to make Rotary attractive to them”.

At the meeting, several young people spoke on how Rotary’s programmes have benefitted them, including Lavonne Lee, a former recipient of their no-interest student loan, Leo Quack, a Rotary exchange student from Germany and two young girls — Stacia Williams and Tansae Wellman — who were recently sent to the States for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards.

When asked why he is so passionate about working with youth, current President Mr. Clifton said: “All people say we need to do something with youngsters but they don’t do anything — but we are in the position where we can,”

He continued: “It’s been challenging of course as a working person it’s difficult to devote your time. But it’s such a high you get, just literally helping people and doing the things we do, particularly with the youngsters.

“It’s such a fabulous feeling for them to tell you about their lives and see what they do and know we played a small part in helping that,” he added.

In addition, children from a local T-Ball team, sponsored by Rotary, were presented with pins at the meeting for their team spirit.

Mr. Morris, the team coach said: “Sponsoring a T-Ball team may not be as romantic or deemed as worthy as feeding starving kids across the world, but I believe it is a great contribution to our community”.

Mr. Clifton is confident in the abilities of his predecessor and said: “Chris will be one of the youngest if not the youngest President we have had and will definitely continue with the Youth programs and bring some fresh ideas to this coming year”.