November 8, 2023 Breakfast Meeting Notes
We had two guests: Doug Finesod and George Baranowsky
Tony presented his famous Rotary trivia: In quest of the perfect pour (of beer)
50/50 was won by Greg.
Card game: Braden had the chance to draw but picked the two of diamonds.
Announcements: Beth thanked everyone for their hard work at the Penny Sale! Alicia reported total ticket sales that night of almost $11,000, plus $870 from concessions. Grand Prize ticket sales that night were $1100. Bill noted that street sales totaled $1717. The largest one day sale was $210, by Bill and Braden at Chase St. Mike will send an email to everyone asking for feedback on the event.
Dawn LeMieux will be going to Florida for a service project and will take banned books to Little Free Libraries. Mike passed around the list of requested books and will attach it to his email about the Penny Sale, in case anyone wants to purchase books. Dawn will be here to collect books from us next Wednesday.
On Saturday, November 11, White Mountain Karate will be holding a 5K fun run in Campton from 8-noon. Volunteers are needed. The event will support Operation Delta Dog. If you are able to help, contact CNHX Board president Sarah Cate.
The Restoration Church in Plymouth needs help this Monday, November 13th from 10-2. They do a food distribution every Monday and can always use the help, but this is their Thanksgiving food collection and distribution event so they will need more help. Volunteers should arrive between 8-9 am. Park on the right side of the building so you’re not in the way of people collecting food.
Christmas decorating on the Common: This year we will decorate on Saturday, Nov 25th starting at 9 am. Peggy will need people to put garland out and lights; bring wire cutters and tall ladders. Peggy also needs help shuttling things from Flowersmiths that a morning from 8-8:30. Items will be in the basement; use the door at the far right side. We will need to buy new lights as half of ours were defective and thrown out last year. The parade will be on December 2. Last year Alicia supplied a trailer that we deocrated; the trailer is available again this year but we need a truck to haul it as Alicia is gone that weekend. George volunteered his truck. Alicia can help with the planning and decorating in advance.
Pemi Youth Center will be holding its annual Christmas party on December 8 from 4-5:30. We usually give them money to buy gifts for the kids. We are all invited to sing with the youth and enjoy the evening.
Moe Introduced our speaker Cindy Hemeon-Plessner. Cindy was born in Laconia and has worked for Fortune 500 companies. She is an avid volunteer especially with organizations that deal with children and families.
Cindy is the chief marketing officer at Meredith Village Savings Bank and leads their division of community support. She spoke to us on how to recruit people. MVSB provides 10,000 hours of service each year with about 250 people. There are a lot of state grants for money and most nonprofits know about them now. The big challenge is getting volunteers.
Cindy has reached out to MVSB members in Plymouth to see who would be interested in helping with Rotary projects and is suggesting that a couple of their employees should join Rotary. The bank can help us with marketing our projects. For example, each branch has digital signs that can be used by nonprofits. If we have a Plymouth-only event, we can print up dollar-sized announcements and the tellers will tuck them into the cash envelopes. They will hang our posters and promote us via their social media.
She shared a list of ideas from other nonprofits that have been helpful in recruiting. These include hosting a networking event (make it very specialized); creating referral programs; and bringing a friend to meetings.
Cindy also suggested that we work on our website and noted that at MVSB she has someone who can help us with this. The first thing on the website should be the first thing that we are trying to achieve (raise money, volunteer, whatever). Videos can helpful too.
Getting new members to stay and be engaged can be a challenge. She suggested having a mentor/mentee situation when someone joins so people feel more involved. Never email or text a prospective member…pick up a phone and call. Direct mail can also be a useful way to get the message out (use a postcard) Plymouth is one of the best communities in the state for state-based nonprofits.
Doug Finesod noted that every other meeting for his club in California is at a winery and since they started doing that, membership has exploded. We could try this with a brew pub.We need to meet people where they want to be, not necessarily where we are.. Denise noted that Bristol club has changed drastically: they now have a zoom meeting, a live meeting, and a dinner meeting each month.
Happy dollars were shared by Sharon, Tony, Denise, Mo, Mike, and Beth.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary