President Margie opened the meeting at 12:10 and reminded the members present of the current Club theme ‘to harness diversity so as to strengthen the impact of Rotary service in the community’.
To set the tone for the main part of the business meeting, Margie provided a summary of positive events and developments over the first five months of the Rotary year (July – November 2019) which included:
Speakers such ED Chamber of Commerce, Chief of Police, College President,
Membership highlights – lost two gained one; two Hon Paul H Fellowship awards
Fellowship – lots of events and a new social club,
Community Service – World Polio Day, brown bag lunch, Rotary trail completion and signage, Rotary Park and trees, Rotary Track signage, Sri Lanka Denture Project
Music Festival – planning sessions for future planning and fundraising,
Youth – Youth exchanges programs and scholarships
Promotion of Rotary – has been done in various ways, including Club Facebook page
Rotary International and District – grants, webinars and Club TRF committee activities.
A copy of the presentation is available under "Presentations" in Clubrunner - Club Documents.
Rotary Club Membership Update:
The club enjoyed the Classification Talk of new member Rod Dal Collo, at the new offices of Stringham LLP on Friday afternoon, Nov 22. Snacks and a tour of the new building were provided.
Rotary Club Information:
Upcoming meetings:
See the club calendar adjacent or the club website.
Housekeeping:
Please bring club draw items. It is an important part of our meeting.
If you have a Meeting Minute, please send President Margie a note (email, phone, in-person)
Board minutes can be found on ClubRunner, under Club Documents.
Upcoming Rotary Club. District and International Events:
Club Leadership Training will be in the Crowfoot Room, MH College on Saturday, March 21, 2020...open to all Rotarians.
Next District 5360 convention May 1 - 3, 2020 in Calgary.
Next Rotary International Convention, June 6 - 10, 2020 in Honolulu, Hawaii
Future Programs:
For more Club activities, to keep up with events and stay in touch, check the Club website at: www.medicinehatrotary.com
Our Program coordinator is Jillian Koch. If you have any future program ideas, please email Jillian at jkoch@jmhca.com
The presentation and subsequent discussion were the main elements of today’s meeting. PE Mark Sorenson described a process the Board had been going through to consider the future direction and culture of the Club. Mark referred to a recent report from the Rotarian (available at each table) profiling a Club in Halifax which had gone through considerable change. Truly embracing change and remaining open minded and accepting diversity might be a challenge for some. Mark’s own motivation for joining Rotary was related to enjoying the lunch style meeting and a desire to give something back to the community, but he recognized the need to ensure the longevity of the Club by becoming irresistible to new and younger members.
A Think Tank had been created by the Board and had taken several weeks to research and collect information and report back to the Board. In essence the report provided a number of alternatives described by Mark and Gail (in no particular order of priority) as:
Maintain Club as is – no change – do nothing
Modify Existing Club to appeal to Younger Members
Completely Revamp Existing Club to an Innovative Culture
Maintain Existing Club as is and Start a Satellite Club/Charter a New Club
The Board did not have 100% consensus on which alternative might be best and there was obviously a lot to think about. For example, Mark described the Rotary Music Festival as perhaps needing to be little more independent so that the Club could reduce the current 80% of time and money spent on the Festival.
There were lots of questions and comments from members including, Dick Bide, Ken Fester, Lisa DesRoches, Sandy MacKay, Kitt Brand, Adolf Seiler, Jan Stalwick, Dieter Brand, Marg Mazerolle, Theresa Schile, amongst others. Comments and suggestions were related to the need for more of this type of communication with members, making membership as diverse and the process of becoming a member as easy as possible, getting younger members is one thing but expecting to get them straight into leadership roles is quite another, when other things need to take priority in their busy lives. Live streaming meetings would help those who can’t be present, so as to stay connected. Rotary ideals and 4-way Test are still a good draw for any age, and different types of meetings would also help.
This is a sample of the comments which took the meeting to almost closing time and some attendees needed to leave. No decisions made but a promise from Margie to hold further discussions on what can be done in the short and longer term, to make our Club more attractive, more diverse and to increase our impact in the community, during the December business meeting, scheduled for December 9th. A summary of the discussion was sent out to all club members, so absentee's and "snowbirds" weren't missed.
The club attendance draw was Jack Snedden, who was present and won a free meal.
The club gift draw was won by Lisa DesRoches .
Club 500:
The November draws were done today, Keith Walker ($500) and Tyler Ray ($1,500) .
Makeups:
none reported today.
Family of Rotary:
Linda Rossler passed on the news that former exchange student Luisemar Calzadilla is now working in Argentina as a TV announcer. It was great to hear she's been successful at gaining employment, and has not had to return to her home in Venezuela.
Minute People:
Adolf Seiler – with more information for those who are volunteering for the Salvation Army Christmas Kettle collection on Saturday 30 November.
Dick Bide - regarding the Dinner Club with a sign-up sheet next week and the Dinner Club likely to run starting January for the full calendar year rather than the Rotary year.
Chris Perret announced the winners for the latest Club 500 draw and also that the Club 1000 tickets had been received from the printers and would be available for collection at the back of the room at the end of the meeting.
