Rosemary did an extraordinary job of seeking out the happiness in the room.  She should be permanently hired for the job!

Our guest speaker had to cancel so to fill the time Erick spoke about how be became a Rotarian in the last year (he had created a charity organization and the Rotary Club got in touch with him).  He knew nothing about Rotary but seems to have been a fast study.  They are connected to a vibrant Interact Club and support several of the youth programs including RYLA.  He mentioned that his Club gives out “bookmarks” at various public events for  a free breakfast and this is used to solicit potential members.  He also told us that the speakers they have make pitches for funding their cause and every couple of months the Club decides who to support.  The biggest take-away from what he had to say about a Rotary initiative in another Club our west that raised $500,000+ by a conducting city-wide garage sale in the summer using a public school over the course of a week.

 

Allan filled the rest of the time by a masterful discussion of how we can grow our membership:  he called on Gary to say how and why he became a Rotarian which led to why we should be encouraging corporate memberships; Reg said that it was ROTEL, signature project of our Club, that brought him in; Orrie said an existing member invited him to join and he saw it as an opportunity to give back to the community.  Joan spoke about how inviting the Club had been when she first came out and that becoming a Rotarian had been life-changing for her.  Allan concluded by saying that he wants to establish a plan and goals for the year and he wants to schedule events (think fun) to which friends, associates, etc can be invited.

 

Meeting adjourned at 1:30pm