Shy and inhibited growing up, my family and friends from the past would not recognize me today. I would stammer and shake if I ever had to speak in front of a group. I was the quiet kid who sat in the back of the class hoping I was never picked to answer a question.

Something in me changed over the last 40 years. Age, experience, resilience and great mentors sure can help build confidence. My role as publisher pushes me into the role of leading and speaking to groups of people every day. It sort of becomes as natural as breathing.

Next week, I will have two speaking engagements. Tuesday, I’ll be speaking to the Optimist Club in Niles and on Wednesday to the Lions Club in Dowagiac. I hope to meet a few more of my readers at each meeting.

My subject for Tuesday will be “Building a Better Community: How local media can assist in promoting Community Pride, Spirit and Compassion.” Simply put, Leader Publications has the ability to let the public know about the good things people are doing to better the community. We can also help market and create ideas for improved fundraisers. You have to do your part by letting us know. As much as we would like, we just don’t know everything that is going on in our communities.

As I have written in the past, I’m a firm believer in service clubs and the good they do for the community. I encourage all to volunteer your time to one of the organizations in your community. Here’s my shameless plug for the Niles-Buchanan Rotary Club. I am now responsible for recruiting new members. Give me a call at (269) 687-7700 if you would like to visit our club and hopefully join. We meet every Monday at noon at the Riverfront Cafe. If other service clubs in the area would like shameless plugs, give me a call.

Leader Press Club

The Leader Press Club will be founded in the coming year. Based on some of the entries in our photo contests, I know we have some fantastic photographers in the area.

We will be looking for volunteer community journalists to write, shoot photographs and videos to help us provide even more community content in print and online. If you have interest, contact me. Email is best at michael.bennett@leaderpub.com. While we can’t pay, there are many other perks for aspiring journalists young and old.