Membership Corner - October 28, 2013
Posted by Thomas Sturiale
Sit Back, Reflect -
Membership: As Rotarians, we are all very busy people. Most of us are hard at work in our many and varied careers while some of us are retired. We all remain very active in our clubs and communities.
Once in a while it is important to sit back and review what it is we are doing and why we are doing it. We need to reflect on what it means to be a Rotarian.
We do know that it is "Service Above Self", and we do know about the five Avenues of Service - Community, Club, International, Vocational and Youth, and we are aware of the six areas of Future Vision - Peace, Disease, Water, Health, Literacy and Community Development. But do we spend enough time at our club assembly meetings, our board meetings, our committee meetings or our district meetings to really understand what these goals of Rotary are and how they may be implemented by our club?
It is difficult, if not impossible, for any one club to be effective in focussing on all these goals at the same time. However, it is important for every club to have a clear understanding and a commitment from its members on what their club's strategic plan is to accomplish whatever they are interested in. Is your club so busy conducting the same fund raisers and community projects which you have been doing for years that you have not spent any time thinking about the future? Have you devoted any time towards the development of a longer range plan, say two or three or four years out? What do your newer and younger members think about your club's activities? Indeed, have you concentrated on bringing in newer and younger members? Is your club growing, shrinking or static?
Does your club reflect the changing demographics of your community? Every organization has to guard against becoming irrelevant either to its own members, or more importantly, to its community. How does your club see the future?
Tom Sturiale - Membership Chair District 7910