President Kevin Gould opened the meeting on time.
Ernst Oidtmann played piano while we sang R-O-T-A-R-Y and America, the Beautiful.
After the Pledge of Allegiance, Sergeant-at-arms Rick Dyment gave us this thought before eating: Remember during this run-up to the presidential election when our differences seem heightened, that the circle of our nation includes all of us.
Our generous buffet started with tomato basil soup, then went on to pork loin, kielbasa, and haddock accompanied by macaroni and cheese, mixed hot vegetables, rice, salad, and the usual cold cuts and desserts – what a great deal!
Announcements:
- October 24 is World Polio Day
- Our 37th Annual Auction items now total about $7,000 in retail worth
- Jean Wulpern told us that she was among those at DHMC laid off from their positions. She told us not to worry about her but to pray for her niece (not sure I have the relationship exactly) just diagnosed with a very short time to live.
Brags:
- Jennifer and Rob are heading to the state of Georgia for a long weekend/honeymoon
- Jamie Whyte urged us all to go see a benefit production but I missed the details – sorry!
Program: Club Assembly
President Kevin said that our efforts to increase membership need momentum. He suggested the entire club brainstorm ideas.
Paul Boucher: The board has discussed merging with Lebanon-Riverside.
John Yacavone: We need to have exciting and meaningful programs at our meetings and publicize them.
Steve Whitman: We need to have more members involved in committees and actually doing what they talk about doing. The youth service committee is working with Lebanon-Riverside’s youth committee on the Interact Club at Mascoma Valley Regional High School. We’d like to have a different Rotarian come to Interact meetings to see what’s going on.
Suellen Griffin: Instituting corporate membership may help. A corporation chooses up to 4 individuals who share membership in the club. It shares the attendance requirement burden.
Rich Wallace: What happened to our plan for contacting members who don’t come to a meeting?
Jean Wulpern: What about meeting at different times other than the middle of the day such as an early morning meeting at 5 or 5:30 AM somewhere?
The SPOKE isn’t getting members the right information about coming events, future programs, etc. We need to get it on Friday or Monday. Perhaps we should have one person do the SPOKE for 6 months.
Phil Rentz: The SPOKE looks backward – it’s minutes of our meeting. A regular e-mail blast, such as every 2 weeks with events 6 weeks into the future, would be read by everyone.
John Yacavone: I’ve been saying this for years – our public relations are terrible. The Hartford Club’s changeover had 4 columns in the Valley News. We got no coverage at all for what we’ve done at Baker’s Crossing.
We have a new City Manager. Perhaps we can have the City as a corporate member with the manager, police chief, fire chief, parks and recreation or some other department head being the designated members.
Suellen: Does everyone in the room have a Rotary club job to do besides just coming to lunch?
Ron Michaud: High quality programs are possible. For example, we used to invite someone from the city, the county, and the state to speak with us about current issues. Other times, we would have a theme for a month’s worth of programs.
Rich Wallace: Our next sponsored business after hours is in January; Rich thinks it’s the 18th.
Ron Michaud: We did an annual ethics award but it has lost steam.
Linda Copp: I’ve asked the Club for nominees and haven’t received any.
Rich Wallace: We should post more frequently on Facebook. Not just group activities, but “Here’s Rotarian XXX participating in a Northern Stage production.”
Jennifer Grant: When using e-mail, be sure to indicate in the subject line if the message is “informational” or “response required”
GOOD NEWS:
President Kevin announced that Catherine Schneider has agreed to replace Westin as vice-president, understanding that she would be president-elect next year, then serve as president after that.
We ended the meeting with a recitation of the 4-Way Test of the Things We Think, Say or Do.
