July 6, 2022 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Braden called the meeting to order. Tony will be absent next week so someone will need to step up and perform the Sargent-at-Arms duties. As no one purchased a new deck of cards, there was no card game this week. Susan won the 50/50. Braden announced his engagement. Congratulations!
Braden started with a few announcements:
1. The Plymouth Senior Center will be having its anniversary celebration this Saturday. All are invited to attend.
2. We have made a $5000 donation to Little Antlers.
3. Rotary Cleans will be doing the Pinkham Notch cleanup on July 23rd starting at 9 am. Lunch will be a barbecue provided by Doug Morehead. Sign up to participate at Rotarycleans.org.
4. The Mayhew event will be tomorrow. This is the boy version of the Circle Program. If you can’t make tomorrow’s trip, you can contact them to attend a day or evening meal.
Denise noted that Plymouth Regional High School would like to have her and Steve serve on their advisory board for the new Rotary financial grants to vocational students Beth also volunteered to serve on the board. Steve mentioned that he is working with Lori Donahue at the school on the grant program, which will be funding 5 students this year. Since the marketing program did not nominate a student, we will support 2 students from the drafting program.
Braden then introduced our speaker, District Governor Caroline Earle. This is her first meeting to an individual club and she did this to honor our Previous District Governor and proud Plymouth Rotarian, Mike Carrier.
Caroline spoke of how we are all both shaped and transformed by our Rotary experience. She hopes to motivate and inspire us in the coming year. She proposes 3 initiatives:
- Infrastructure: by this she means the structure of clubs, committees, and succession planning. She wants to enhance the functionality of our clubs and committees, assessing level of participation, how successful our initiatives are. She noted that in her club (Barre, VT) 2 of the club presidents in the last 7 years have left Rotary when their presidencies ended due to burnout. She hopes to find ways to make the district more supportive and helpful to individual clubs. For example, a few months ago she sent out a survey on participation to recipients. This simple act has motivated some people to serve on district committees. She encouraged us all to read the district newsletters, Facebook pages, and emails. Rotary International also has lots of resources, such as the Club Health Check, that can keep us involved and motivated.
- Increase Rotary’s impact by increasing membership. She gave an example of a worker for Vermont’s DCF who spoke to the Barre club several years ago. This person mentioned the challenges faced by foster children, who are frequently taken into the state system with little more than the clothes on their backs. This woman helped to start a Children’s Clothing Closet to provide donated clothes to these kids and later joined Rotary. She has helped to provide and more diverse experience and vision to the club. Her goal is to get each club in our district to get 5 new members in the next year. Rotary International has informational documents to help guide recruitment efforts. In addition, RI has a document on the process of keeping new Rotarians engaged, including videos for new members that can be put on the website, on our Facebook page, etc
- Hire a social media professional to help at both the club and district level. Social media is a great way to reach people and also helps with diversity, equity and inclusion, as we can reach people who may not be members of Rotary yet. Facebook and other social media platforms reach into homes, schools, and other organizations that might not otherwise be aware of Rotary. We are the most effective volunteer organization out there and we need to try to reach more people. Caroline is also working with the district to create new $500 grants to each club that submits a new social media proposal.
Denise noted that demographics influence who uses social media. Steve questioned the confidentiality of Rotary members’ private information through Club Runner and was assured that our contact information is not available to the public.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary
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