Service Meeting: April 3rd, 2019 (Apr 03, 2019)

Stratford Rotaract Meeting

Thursday March 21, 2019 @ 7:00pm

MTE, Stratford Ontario

Members: Rebecca, Nick, Geoff, Kelly, Shira, Laurie, Erin, Amanda, Sarah

Guests: Diane Yundt, Ben Kane, Clara Wheaton, Linda Bathe, Wendy Wilkinson, Dave Fitzsimmons, Jane

Agenda Item	Follow Up
1. Welcome & Introductions	Nick
2. Guest Speaker Transition to Rotary Previous Notes: Costs, Meeting times (7:00am or 12:00pm), Interested in professional development, social components, This conversation came up from the Mentorship Mixer, and was an open floor conversation. Nick asked who had attended Rotary – half of the members had attended, some by self some with other people Rebecca shared that age of Rotaract used to be 18-30 but ultimately we are all Rotarians and won’t turn anyone away. This is not a conversation about Rotaractors NEEDING to transition, but how we can smooth the transition when we WANT to Linda shared there is an associate membership (or duel-membership) where it is $50. You would not be a member of Rotary International with no attendance or committee obligation. Note: This is a pilot heading to be officially voted on towards the end of the year – elder members or those on a fixed income where getting ready to leave due to costs. This could help with the transition to Rotary. Cost has been a point of discussion as one of the challenges of joining a Rotary Club. The Festival City (Morning at Queens Inn) has an annual fee of $180 and $12 for breakfast. There is a requirement of 40 hours of service/meeting attendance a year. Meetings are weekly. Committees, volunteering etc count towards the 40 hours. Rotary Club of Stratford (Noon at Army and Navy) has an annual fee of $245, and $17 per meeting with 40 hours a year. Meetings are weekly. Committees, volunteering etc count towards the 40 hours. For both clubs $100 goes to Rotary International, you do receive a receipt. Fees go to the district. We are in District 6330, which covers Michigan to Tobermory. Within District we are area 3 which includes Mitchell, Drayton, St Mary’s, Stratford, and Listowel. Every club has different agendas, traditions meeting consistencies and projects. The members set the tone for the club. The only difference is the time they meet. Morning club started 24 years ago and was founded because the noon club wouldn’t let females join. Stratford allowed women to join in 1996. Noon club is 98 years old. Diane shared that there is the option of creating a satellite club. This would mean that there would be a commitment to attend two meetings a month, and we would need to be sponsored by one of the Rotary Clubs. Rotaract is traditionally seen as having a focus on leadership and networking based where Rotary is seen as service based. Geoff raised the question about classifications and professional requirements. People share their positions but you can have more than one of the same permission. Historically you had to have to ask permission if you could join if you were duplicating a “classification” Laurie shared about a passport club that is mostly online, but the service based would be locally. $200 USD would be the fee. Geoff asked about local or national projects. The Hospice is the biggest piece, Dragon Boat festival, aqua boxes, spaghetti dinner. Diane shared that some initiatives include short story competition, Christmas craft festival, scholarships for high school, catch the ace (to the local and hospice), cookies and carols, upcoming builders association, rural urban night (just the noon club). There is something monthly. Noon club has 47 committees. Rebecca shared that she is sitting on the Youth Services Committee, so it is nice way to meet Rotarians and ease the transition as well. Geoff requested a list be shared. Aqua boxes were discussed. It is nice to stand back and watch all of the workers building the boxes as 500 can be built VERY quickly. Next date: TBD, but coming up soon. Publicity committee has been started and is focusing on: How do we connect with each other? How do we share information? Associate Fee: Would it be interested to have it waved? Can a member come for free one time to see what it’s all about? How do you become a member? Noon: Sponsored in by a previous member. Recently 50% of the new members have not had a sponsor, so they have been asked for two references. They get assigned a sponsor and a mentor with a brief interview/info share. Your name gets circulated then the members can voice their concerns. Classification talks are expected in the first year = 30 minutes. Morning is similar, but the vote goes to the board. Can take four weeks. The morning clubs offers a full breakfast. Guests get free breakfast. Some people come in after the breakfast and skip the fee. The morning club has discussed skipping the fee if you do not want to eat but as the Queens Inn rents the space for free. Rotaractors like the twice a month, because only attending one is feasible. Rotaract is not established yet (community traditions). Rotaract doesn’t have as many committees, only a few run year around so it’s less time committed throughout the year. Volunteering is supposed to be fun, when you are obligated to take on extra you can have volunteer burnout. Rotaract fits the eb and flow of life. Tech pieces coming in with some of the clubs. Skyping might make it easier for members to attend from a different location. Committee vs Club – Rebecca fears losing out on knowing what is happening among the club, with 47 committees it would be hard to keep up on what is happening as a whole. Diane shared that Mitchell has that transparency and functions similar to Rotaracts format (Committees all have time to share). Mismatched in volunteering is a concern. Dave shared that he is more likely to join something that he would like or have fun with. People consider: What are you going to do? Big gestures vs weekly bite sized commitments. How are you filling your service needs? How are these pieces being communicated? We tend to be drawn to something you know you will like. Rotary has a different speaker every week, you can network by always sitting with different people. You will find something you are passionate about if you take the time to look. Diane is noting that it is important to include family, partners and children. Children shouldn’t be a reason to not come. They can come into the meeting if it makes the difference of attending or not. Main notes: time of meeting, cost, and number of meetings. We have something good in Rotaract, but don’t be afraid to try something new. Nick and Rebecca are happy to go with you to any meeting you are interested in. Scooting is a thing for the lunch club if you have to leave. If we enjoy what we have, we don’t need to feel obligated to change it. Linda’s email is: lindabathe@gmail.com Barriers Cost is a factor. The membership fee is a challenge, but the food fee is. Could food be skipped? Timing is a factor. Diane shared that satellite clubs (sponsored by a Rotary club, fees would be subsidized) would be an option to combat this. Previously discussed should Rotaract switch to a Satellite club. Our fees would increase as we have to pay RI and district fees. Expectation is that it would eventually spin off into its own club. Some interest in returning to this topic. Do we have keeners that want to take this on? Do we create a Satellite club AND have Rotaract? Linda is concerned that the barrier to joining Rotary might be the old age. Linda joined in her 30’s, but is not seeing as many 30 y/o’s in the club. If the club does not “re-populate”, people may not be as interested in joining the club. Sarah feels that the Rotary meetings are very formal. Sarah wants to be less professional/Mom and more “Sarah” (which fits with Rotaract) Traditions include prayer/thanks, singing the national anthem, paying respects to the queen, and reading the four-way test Wish Lists Club profiles and succinct info Joint projects engaging all three Sharing member info Updated websites/Elevator pitches Whatsapp right to our phones? Instagram/Facebook? How do we get meeting info out there?	Laurie and Rebecca
3. Adoption of Agenda	Rebecca
3. Previous Minutes	Rebecca
4. Standing Items 4.1 Club Kudos – Geoff to Laurie for driving Geoff home from dueling pianos -Sarah to Diane, Linda and Wendy. Thank you for asking our opinions and caring about what we think! - Nick to Laurie for training us -Nick to Trivia – 21 teams and $350 -Sarah to Dueling pianos night for such a great night. It was received very well. -Kelly to the board for coming together during the transition, and to everyone for interest in the board. -Rebecca to Kelly for helping out so much after her transition. 4.2 Book Drive – Last day is April 21^st. MTE is still the drop off as well as Nesbitt financial. April to circulate information about the pick-up date. Erin has $50 of work from Goodwill as a donation. Dave is helping with Mitchell and Library as well. 4.3 Dueling Pianos - $2766.76, they were so excited to receive it. Their speech at the beginning of the event was very moving. The proceeds go to the music therapy program. The therapists will tape the heart beat and perform the child’s song or their favorite song and give it to the family. It was very fun. They want to use the group for something else, they want to do a cheque presentation. Amanda to circulate as this comes forward. 4.4 Social Media Committee – Needs members 4.5 Dairy Expo via Christy Bertrand: Dairy Expo asked us to help out on April 3 & 4th but we are shy a few volunteers. It's a difficult time to work if you work but I wanted to quickly check in with Rotaract if they were interested. They pay the volunteers roughly $20/hour to the club and we can make sure that is to your club for any Rotaractors that are able to fill: 10am - 2pm Kitchen Cashier 2:30pm - 6:30pm Drink Ticket Sales 2:30pm - 7:00pm Assist with CheeseFEST food coordination. Webinar to Instagram or not to Instagram – Nick to send out St Thomas Interact $25 joint meeting.
5. Business Arising 5.1 Club Direction - Nick wants to get our membership up to 30. What are our ideas? How do we want to grow and change? What speakers do we want? Who do you want to hear from? (Mike Masse, Opioid, Marijuana talks?) How can we do more community service ex. Visitors at the Rotary Hospice, Community Meals? Community clean up? Nick has done a Whatsapp for the board. He will send out an invite to the club. Members that do not join the group will not miss out on club info. 5.2 Mentor Mixer – Wendy asked what’s next. Rebecca shared that we might be attempting to run a social for the three clubs as opposed to another mentor program leading into the summer months. Rebecca and Laurie to contact Wendy for next steps. Wendy has planned a trip to the races and Social Committee is to meet. Would we like to have a Rotaract Rep? There is a potential Clubrunner workshop for all clubs in the works.	Nick
6. New Business & Idea Sharing 6.1 New Member Inductions – Dave Fitzsimmons
7. Next Meeting and Location Wednesday April, 2019 @ 6:30 – MTE
8. Meeting Adjourned
9. Parking Lot - Clubrunner tutorial (for all three?) -Pulse Check: Meeting Locations & times - Update Website -Why I joined Rotaract? -Rotary Field trips?