After the District Land Acknowledgement and the singing of O Canada, President Glenn provided a Rotary Moment recorded on Rotary International’s Facebook page. It came from Dr. Olha Paliychuk, a gynecologist oncologist from Cherkasky, Ukraine who spoke at the RI conference in Houston:

“As the international community of Rotary reaches out to help Ukraine, we are helping to build strong connections and friendships. As the war drags on, Ukraine will need your continued support. I hope to deepen our bonds and to plan for the future. With our shared efforts, peace will come."

ROTARY MOMENTS

Membership dues for 2022-23 Rotary year will be the same as last year ($240). Invoices will be issued and will be payable by June 30th, 2022.

There will be no meeting held on June 20th, the Monday following our Lobster Fest.

The changeover meeting for the new Rotary year will take place on June 27th and will include a year end report, appointment of the Board of Directors and presentation of the budget for the 2022-2023 Rotary year. The first meeting of the new Board of Directors will take place on Tuesday, July 5th, 4:30 pm.

Program Committee - Nancy Morris is seeking memberships’ help – Please send her your suggestions for guest speakers for the next two months.

Lobster Fest - PDG Jim thanked everyone for their efforts in selling close to 700 tickets for the June 17th event. He indicated that 15 members have volunteered to work on various aspects of the Lobster Fest, but more help was needed (partners were welcome!). He passed around information where areas needing another volunteer were highlighted. Two issues arose today.

• Because the potato supplier was unable to provide already wrapped potatoes, we will need to wrap 700 potatoes on Thursday afternoon and have them baked on Friday.
• The chicken supplier could only provide 72 of the 96 pieces of rotiserie chickens needed, so we will get the rest from Costco, Safeway or Co-Op.

Assiniboine Forest – Jack reported that work has begun on the sign that will face Grant Avenue, which should be put up in late August. Because of cost increases, the committee needs to defer some work around the entrance (like some paving and steelwork around the interpretive gardens).

Chase the Ace – Peter Tonge won the draw last week with the Queen of Clubs; the Ace of Spades is still to be drawn.

RI President Jennifer Jones will be visiting District 5550 in Winnipeg on July 6th and 7th. A schedule of events can be found at https://rotary5550.org/page/imaginerotarytour.

Cathy shared the contents of an email from Bookmates thanking Charleswood Rotarians for the great selection of books, play dough, and pencil crayons they received from Nancy Hansen

The training for incoming Rotary Club presidents includes a recommendation to hold regular club assemblies. Given that the number of Rotarians in D5550 is apparently only slightly above the minimum that Rotary International requires, PDG Nancy has suggested an assembly on the subject of membership.

From a list of 50 ways to increase a club’s membership (https://rotary7070.org/sitepage/top-50-ways-to-attract-new-members), President Glenn picked these 15 ways to share with our members:

1. It sounds simple, but the most effective way we have found is ….”Ask Someone”
2. Repeatedly invite prospective members - unless you get a definitive “no” from them.
3. Ensure that prospective members feel important. Everyone should speak with them
4. Everyone needs a one minute “elevator speech” about Rotary. Practice them at your club meetings
5. Engage your entire club – work together to invite at least one prospect to a club meeting
6. Assign a knowledgeable & sales oriented Rotarian to follow up with guests and report back.
7. Invite family members to join – spouse, sibling, parent, child. They already know Rotary.
8. Strive to recruit more women into your club.
9. Strive to accomplish ethnic diversity in your club. Does the club reflect your community?
10. Ensure your club website is current and contains membership information
11. Update your club’s classification survey – who’s missing in your club
12. Proudly wear your Rotary pin at all times
13. Send your club bulletin to your guests and prospects
14. Include “Why I am a Rotarian” in your club newsletter & website
15. Keep in touch with members who have resigned

And President Glenn’s own suggestion: Consider joining the membership committee.

The club’s membership chair, PDG Ed then spoke on the topic of recruiting and retaining members and how he follows up on leads from fellow members or issued by Rotary International. He began by saying that the first thing he has done in recruiting some members is to have a coffee with them and share information about Rotary and our club before they come to their first club meeting. He reminded members that each prospective member they invite to the Rotary club meeting is entitled to two free meals as a guest. Based on interviews over coffee, it appears that meeting time is one of the biggest issues. To this, PDG Ed indicates that this does not concern him, since there are local Rotary clubs – and satellite clubs, too - that meet at other times and places that the prospective member can explore and join.

Because of the current age of most of our members, it’s important to encourage groups of younger applicants to become members. A visitor suggested that sending a text (especially to younger members) is much more effective than sending an email or making a phone call. Starting a satellite club (typically involving younger members) requires 8 individuals.

PDG Ed has prepared a membership application form, an application for Friends of Rotary and a Rotary Associates Form and discussed these forms with members as well.

President Glenn thanked PDG Ed for his presentation and asked for comments or questions from members on the idea of Friends of Rotary. A lengthy discussion followed on that topic, then diverged to means of attracting new members. President Glenn noted that there was no consensus on whether becoming a Friend of Rotary should be free, or cost $20 or $50. Rotary International is open to many new and different types of clubs and membership. However, the most important issue at this time is the renewal of existing memberships for the 2022-2023 Rotary year.

Acting Sarge Lyle welcomed our guest at today’s meeting – Dave Parker.

Happy Bucks

Cathy had a very happy buck. She was pleased to report that she had gone to the police station to enquire about her police record check (that she needed for a couple of Boards that she sits on) and learned that her record was negative (i.e. she had no police record). Less than two hours later, she received a call from Canada Border Services Agency telling her that they had intercepted a parcel with her name on it and there was a warrant for her arrest! (It was a scam.)

Jagdish was pleased to be sitting beside Dave Parker, who had informed him that his aunt recently turned 100 years old. Jagdish was happy because he was going to beat that aunt’s record and live to be 101 years old.

Rod was happy that the MS bike ride fundraiser will be back taking place in person this year. He had placed several sponsorship sheets on the tables for members wishing to support his bike ride for Multiple Schlerosis. For anyone wanting to donate, you can do so online here.

PDG Jim had a couple of happy bucks. One was for the fact that his summer started on Friday, when his trailer was parked on the site and was “pretty much ready to go”. The second one was for the fact that the number of tickets sold for the Lobster Fest fundraiser was only 4 or 5 below 700, which is the most we have ever sold.

Dave was pleased that he was able to add “Sold Out” on the Lobster Fest sign posted beside his office on Roblin Boulevard. He was also happy that he was able to get a ticket for PDG Nancy to attend the breakfast with the RI President at the Fort Garry Hotel.

Chuck had a “Happy Ten Bucks” for his granddaughter’s (his son’s daughter) performance in the pentathlon – Juliana Crocker from Vincent Massey Brandon – broke a provincial record by running 800 m in two minutes and 28.56 seconds at the University of Manitoba Stadium on the weekend. In addition, granddaughter Kinley – his daughter Erin’s daughter - will be participating in a music recital this Saturday. What talented granddaughters Chuck has!

PDG Ed was delighted to learn that a lady who participated in our Bridge of Hope Ukraine fundraiser was so impressed with this project that she raised $1,670 (not $2100 as he had announced; a correction he discovered when he made the deposit at the bank) from the residents at the Lion’s Manor on Portage Avenue. When he went to pick up the Lion’s Manor apartment dwellers’ generous donation earlier today, he learned that the lady’s husband was a member of the Winnipeg (Downtown) Rotary Club.

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Dave mentioned that he was celebrating a 59th wedding anniversary tomorrow and will be making a donation to the Scholarship fund in Guatemala.

Acting Sarge Lyle had a happy buck as well, saying he didn’t know it, but he had an anniversary this week. He got “a nice card in the mail and everything” – it was apparently a year since he bought his new vehicle!

50-50 Draw

The last three digits of the ticket number drawn was 875. That ticket number belonged to Ed Gramiak. With the bag of marbles refilled with all the marbles, the lucky blue marble easily avoided being drawn. Better luck next time, Ed.

Fines –

Acting Sarge Lyle fined several members whose enthusiastic discussions suggested that they were holding a separate meeting (Dave & Rod, Iain & Darvin, and Jack on the phone).

Dave had a correction about his Happy Buck earlier in the meeting. It was actually Nancy’s birthday tomorrow (not their 59th wedding anniversary).