President Brad opened the meeting followed by Don Anderson accompanying the members singing "O Canada" followed by the "Star Spangled Banner." Ken Jernberg gave the invocation.
Announcements:
New Member Breakfast -- The next New Member Breakfast meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 29, at the Best Western Oboe Restaurant at 7:00am. New members are encouraged to attend and complete their membership requirements. All members are welcome and receive a make-up by attending.
Discussion Topic Monday -- Monday, October 6, will be the kick-off of "Discussion Topic Monday" at the Rotary Club of Bellingham. The topic for lunch table discussion on October 6 is "Everything Sports Related."
Football Pool -- Starting Monday, September 29, members of the Football Pool will greet, cajole, suggest, ask, and/or in some other way urge each Club member to purchase a "square." The cost of a Football Pool square is $40.00. Be prepared.
Rotary District 5050 Conference -- This year's District Conference is scheduled for April 30-May 3, 2015 at The Tulalip. All members are invited to attend.
Guests of Rotarians:
Steve Hager introduced Lisa Saar with Law Office of Lisa Saar, PLLC.
Lori Leavitt introduced Stephen Trinkaus with Terra at the Public Market.
Del Vandekerk brought John Moffett, retired prosecuting attorney in Snohomish County. He has now moved to Bellingham.
Steve Adelstein introduced his wife Debbie and Rabbi Josh Samuels.
Presentations:
District Governor, Lyle Ryan, and President Brad presented Paul Harris Fellowships to four Club members: Kathi Hiyane-Brown received her first Paul Harris Award; John Holtzheimer received his second Paul Harris Awards; and Charlie Self received his third Paul Harris Award. All three Club members were congratulated and thanked for their support for the RI Foundation and the work that is being done as a result of their contributions.
DG Ryan gave recognition to Paul Grey and Bob Trunek for their significant accomplishments related to our international water project in Uganda.
Steve Adelstein, the day's Minister of Fun, selected Dominique Zervas, John Griggs, and Arlie Norman as the "contestants" to play a Rotary-focused parody of Jeopardy. The "game" was good fun and a good fundraiser.
Program:District Governor, Lyle Ryan
Assistant District Governor Bill Gorman introduced District Governor Lyle Ryan who informed the Club that RI membership dropped below 1.2 million members for the first time last year. The current goal of RI is to grow a net of 3% this Rotary year. For District 5050, this translates to 85 new Rotarians.
DG Ryan quoted former RI President Ron Burton, "If you are not growing, you are dying." He then focused his presentation on three aspects of membership: Retention/engagement, "organic" growth, and define membership attraction.
Retention: To keep existing members, members must be involved and engaged. Retention also results from members "taking care of each other."
Organic Membership Growth: Membership growth is not just for the Membership Committee and Chairs, we all have responsibility to grow Rotary. We also need to remember to talk to people about Rotary and show that we are proud of what we do in our community and in the world.
Define membership attraction: We are not attracting members in their 20's and 30's We have gone around the world and in our communities doing great things and not blowing our horn. The "We're This Close" (to eradicating polio) campaign it the first marketing campaign for Rotary. The DG challenged our Club to invite a focus group of 20- and 30-year-olds and ask what they know about Rotary. He also challenged us to look at our delivery model and identify what we can do for younger members, such as providing a networking organization. We were advised to be proud of who we are and what we are doing and told to keep our eyes open for people who are looking for an opportunity to serve their community. And, advised that we need to rethink the way we do the business of Rotary.
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