President Rebecca called our meeting to order promptly at 12:30pm. We began by reciting the 4 Way Test, which was followed by Craig Stiles with the day’s reflection. In light of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, he suggested that Rotarians consider helping out with the recovery efforts through Rotary or the American Red Cross. If you want to contribute to Rotary’s efforts, look for an email sent October 4th from chris.etienne@rotaryzones28-32.org to all members in Districts 28 and 32. Our patriotic song was “America, The Beautiful” accompanied by John Dale Smith. That would have been followed by the introduction of guests and visiting Rotarians, but there were none even though Linda Sarnelli was ready with the microphone. President Rebecca noted that one of our former members, Bill Paxton, passed away recently. His obituary was in last week’s Rotogram. She also welcomed Sarah Garcia back to the club after her prolonged absence. It was great to see her smiling face among us. Additional announcements included: • Jason Brunette is getting a group together for the Downtown Fall Cleanup on October 12th from 9 – 11. Contact Jason at Jason.Brunette@martincommercial.com for more information an dto let him know you will be there. There will be coffee, cider and donuts for those who participate. • Corey Grant reported on the September birthdays. With just shy of 100% participation, they have raised $800. Her birthday question asked what Rotarians would use as their campaign slogan if they were running for office. Pat Munshaw penned "Step aside gentlemen - the women are taking over". I didn't capture all of George Siegle's but he wants to put "We the People" before everything else. Corey's slogan incorporated her Rotary membership with "Let's build goodwill and better friendships." Fortunately, John Dale was still in the room as we sang "Happy Birthday" to all those with a September birthday. • Ben Rathbun was standing at the podium as the music faded to let us all know about the “Principal for a Day” event that takes place in Ingham ISD during October and November. Ben has been a participant and found it very beneficial. He has worked at the Talent Center with the Insurance program and has hired directly from the Talent Center due to the contacts he made there. Many school districts in Ingham County are participating and details are worked out directly with the school you decide to visit. Cards with contact information were on each of the tables. • Most importantly, Craig Stiles returned to the podium to present Paul Harris awards. We had a total of 21 Rotarians earning awards this year. Those in attendance were called to the podium to receive their pins and receive congratulations from our District Governor, Mark Odland. President Rebecca introduced DG Mark Odland as our speaker of the day and commented that his team is doing a great job responding to requests for information. DG Mark began by taking a selfie with the room in the background. He has plans to create a “Service Above Selfie” collage reel from shots taken as he visits all of the clubs in the district. You can look for that on Instagram and Facebook. He also presented a certificate to Past President Nick and President Rebecca acknowledging our club’s contribution to Polio Plus. Our contribution was the largest in the District and is especially important because the number of polio cases has recently erupted, going from only 7 cases to 40, not counting cases in Gaza, where the live virus has been found in the water. Donations to Polio Plus are still being matched 2:1 by the Gates Foundation. He has been looking forward to his visit to our club for a number of reasons. He was sorry to have missed Irv Nichols’ birthday celebration and was anxious to meet a man who has been a Rotarian for 67 years, 54 years longer than his own tenure. The theme for Rotary this year is “The Magic of Rotary”. The real magic is all of us working together. Our club has the oldest charter in the District and we are also the largest club. He was excited to meet us because of the impact we have made. Rotary does nothing without us. Before the meeting began, he talked to Patrick, who makes sure our technology works without issue, about becoming a member. He also chatted with John Dale about our special music. He is not a fan of the Rotary Songbook and is glad that it is not present at our meetings. Club culture is extremely important, and he sees signs that our club has worked on culture. We have a 12% attrition rate, which is lower than the district average of 16%. He is 100% focused on membership because everything starts with members. No members - no impact. The District has seen a 40% drop in membership over the last 20 years. He has set a goal of finishing the year with 100 net new members and 4 new clubs in the District. He is posting 3-minute videos on social media focusing on this goal and the importance of developing relationships within the club. Three new clubs have already been announced – Niles, a second club in Charlotte and Hillsdale College. Four new clubs should add about 100 members, a good start towards the goal. In order to achieve 100 net new members, we need to attract 400 new members to offset the expected attrition. It is important that we ask people we know to join Rotary. He also noted that our club currently has 159 Paul Harris Fellows, and we have had 323 in total. 150 are multiple Paul Harris Fellows. We also have 7 benefactors – Rotarians who have committed to leaving part of their estate to the Rotary Foundation. We have also contributed over $800K to the Rotary Foundation in spite of having a local Foundation. 47% of those donations come back to the District to be used for local grants. DG Mark wants to be remembered for making things happen, not letting them happen or wondering what the hell happened. It was clear that he is well on the way to meeting his goal! Bilky Joda-Miller asked why the percentage of donations returned wasn’t 50%. Nathan Triplett had the info – the return was 50% prior to COVID but was reduced to 47% as donations dropped during the pandemic. A return to 50% is being discussed. Stephen El-Khatib asked if exit surveys are conducted when members leave. Surveys are conducted with current and exiting members regularly. Club experience is the number one reason for members leaving or staying. Rebecca added that our club also conducts an exit interview when members leave. DG Mark added that there is work underway to investigate the feasibility of starting an e-club. The initial reach will be to terminated members to gauge interest. There are over 3000 members who terminated in the last 20 years. If 3% were interested, the club could have 100 members. E-clubs usually have a purpose and conducts service projects. Rebecca thanked DG Mark for speaking to us. She also commented that wearing your Rotary pin can be a conversation starter as you go about your day. We all have a reason for being at Rotary and all of our reasons are likely different. Next week our speaker will be Kevin Guskiewicz, President of Michigan State University. We will likely have lots of guests. Who will you be bringing? Email for Linda Lynch: linda.j.lynch@gmail.com |