Rotary Rig for October 28, 2019 (Oct 28, 2019)

Minutes from October 21, 2019

The Casper Rotary Club

This week's meeting will be held:
Monday, October 28, 2019

at the Ramkota Hotel
800 N. Poplar
Casper, WY 82601

Greeters: Michelle Sorensen and Liz Roth

Inspiration: Eric Schlidt

Program: On Monday, October 28, the Rotary Club of Casper is pleased to welcome Chloe Moindron, this year’s Rotary exchange student from France, as presenter at its meeting at the Ramkota Inn.

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Rotary Club of Casper WY

Meeting Summary

10/21/2019

President John Griffith called the meeting to order promptly at 12:27, with the ring of the bell and welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.

Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:

Ben Winkler

Greeters:

Erin Morgan and Jim Gleason were our greeters today and Jim introduced the members who brought guests:

Barb Redder visiting Rotarian was with us today (Jackson Supper Club);
Dan Foote visiting Rotarian (5 Trails);
Ryan Stepp visiting Rotarian (5 Trails);
Kevin Murphy introduced former Rotarian Matt Grant;
Miamie Sleep introduced Laramie Cummings (WYO Central FCU);
Char Canada introduced Breanne Johnson (Home Instead Senior Care);
Eric Easton introduced Chris Tobin (Principal Midwest School);
Chloe Moindron our exchange student was also with us today;

Song and Merriment:

Gary Pehrson led us in singing Cowboy Joe;

Family of Rotary:

Bill Schilling advised us that his Brother Hank, who lives in Boston, is continuing to worsen with his health, he added that our prayers are appreciated.

Dave Bishop let us know that his 10^th Grandchild was born, another Grandson.

Rotarians of the Week:

Nothing Today

Announcements:

President John reminded us that we will see emails going out about the October 24^th Pints for Polio event fundraiser we are doing with the other local clubs.

Ryan Stepp let us know that they have received the cups for the Pints for Polio fundraiser this Thursday to fund the fight against Polio in the last two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are 7 providers of beer who will be participating by donating the beer.

President John announced that our club will be sponsoring RLI training the first part of November, anyone can attend who would like to learn more about Rotary.

Miamie Sleep announced on each table there is information about next year’s Duck Derby. There was a meeting last Tuesday. If anyone is interested in volunteering or learning more about the volunteer opportunities please contact her for more information. There is a signup sheet on the back of the sheet on the tables you can fill out or you can call her.

Barry Johnson announced that we will be having our Rotary Foundation dinner for anyone who wants to attend, November 21^st. An email will be forthcoming.

Membership:

Chloe Moindron, our exchange student received her club badge today.

Student of the Month:

Our SOM this week is from Midwest, Brandie Rudelman, she did a great job with her presentation. A great young lady with a bright future.

Program (Club Survey):

Our program today was the Club Survey that we all participated in a couple of weeks ago. President John Griffith, President Elect Lisa Scroggins, and Mike Lougee spoke with us today about what the survey is for. President John started and said we are concerned about the future of our club and the future of Rotary. He said that back in July our club was selected as one of six clubs in our zone to participate in a RI sponsored membership program. Service clubs as a whole have dwindled over the past few years and RI is trying to get ahead of the curve to see what can be done to maintain membership as well as grow. RI as a whole has been maintaining fairly well but in the U.S. our membership is declining. Our club is participating in this 12-18 month program to see what we need to do to keep Rotary relevant, to see if changes need to be made and if so what changes can be made in order to maintain and grow in the U.S. and the world. In 1995 Rotary had 400,000 members in the U.S. and now we are down to 330,000 members. Since 1980 the Elk’s Club is down 50%, since 1990 the Shriner’s Club has also declined 50% and in that same time frame the Kiwanis and the Masons are down 3 million members each. A Lot of that s due to service clubs not being as attractive to younger members coming up so RI is trying to make changes to help keep Rotary relative. This Survey is the start of the program to get a feel for what needs to change and what we can do to improve. He then turned the mic over to Mike Lougee to go over the survey results.

Mike said that we had 99 of the 200 club members respond. He said that the mixture of people that answered were pretty consistent with the mixture of members we have. We had 66 men and 33 women answer. Age wise the largest group was ages 64 and older making up 40% of the group, the next largest at 23% was the 55-64 age group. So 63% of the club is over 55 so in 40 years a lot of us will not be here. Longevity in the club, 45% have been here for 10 years or more. Question 4 was how satisfied are you with your membership in the Club? 75% are somewhat or very satisfied, however we do have about 15% at neutral or below. Question 5 Considering our Club’s culture members and meetings, is this a good use of our time, a vast majority say yes. Do we do a good job involving new members?, about 18% say no or are neutral. Does the club reflect the demographics of Casper?, again a large amount of neutral or no at about 47% and in the comments were things about different industries and business owners who are not represented. Gives me a good meaning of Rotary?, understanding the purpose of Rotary, huge yes almost 98% there. Do we do good in annual fundraising or too much? 80% do good about 20% neutral or no. DO we understand what our fundraising is for? 20% neutral or no, so we need to do a better job of explaining about the fundraisers and where the money goes. Rotary International updates, do we do a good job? About 60% were neutral to poor job, so need improvement. The length of our meetings? 65% say they are fine, neutral to too long 35% . Enough Social time? 30% not enough, Professional Networking time? 35%, not enough. Meeting location? About 73% ok 27% neutral or not ok. Meeting day and time? About 82% good 18% not good, sometimes Monday is hard to make it because things come up last minute. Quality of the meals, have improved but 52% are neutral or negative. Speakers and Topics 76% good 24% not pleased, comments were very helpful.

When thinking about our service projects, Understand the local projects? 86% good or great, 14% not so much. International project understanding 62% yes 38% neutral or no. Do we get input on projects? 42% yes 58% not so much. Well organized on projects? 80% yes. Do they make a difference in Casper? 96% yes. In the world? About 70% yes. Do you want more local projects? About 50% say yes. More US projects? 41% yes, more international projects 32%. More small projects? 65% yes, more large projects? 43% yes.

When you think about communication and responsiveness do we, Listen to members? 66% yes, have good communication? 73% yes. Do we seek ideas from the members? 65% yes, Does the club listen to your input? 65% yes.

Question 9 Value of membership, do you feel welcome? 91% yes. Are there opportunities for connections? 84% yes. Is it worth the money? 78% yes. Worth the time? 80% yes. Does your family see value in Rotary? 63% yes. Do your friends see a value in Rotary? 61%. Do friends and family see you making a difference in Casper and in the World through Rotary? Casper 82% yes, World 63% yes.

Question 10 Club Engagement, I invite friends? 56% yes, I invite prospective members 56% yes. I participate in club events, 75% yes. Do we need more social events? 47% yes, more interaction with other clubs? 54%

More with other clubs in the district? 29% yes, more opportunities for District events? About 23% yes, rest neutral or no.

Rate the following as it pertains to your cost, Club dues just right to slightly high to too high 22%, 72% just right. Meal cost 35% too high 61% just right. Requests for donations to projects? 14% too high, Donations for RI general initiatives? 13% too much. Rotary Foundation? 13% too much.

Question 12 Rotary experience, Mike said that some of these ideas have to do with ideas on changes that would improve people’s engagement in Rotary not just being a member but being engaged. Would you like to see tiers of membership?, 32% yes 36% neutral 30% no.

Corporate membership? 26% yes 46% neutral rest no. Satellite clubs? 50% neutral 13% yes, rest no. Would you be interested in going to a monthly billing instead of quarterly, 49% neutral, 14% yes 37% no, so mixed reactions there. Was this Survey fun? 57% neutral, 34% yes 9% no. He did some breakdown and saw that the longer you have been a member of the club the less dissatisfied you are with the speakers, the shorter time in the club the more satisfied you are with the meals. After being with the club for five years your satisfaction with the cost goes up. Longer tenured members feel their friends see more value in Rotary. The longer you have been a member the less you want opportunities to engage with other clubs. Longer tenured members are more interested in tiered membership levels. Most dissatisfied comments came from members over the age of 45. The longer you have been in the club the more satisfied with the length of the meetings. Overall it appears we are happy and it was a good survey to see what we need to change and what we are doing well.

Mike then turned the mic over to Lisa Scroggins who told us that our goal is to be a thriving club and have happy members going forward. She shared some of the comments with us both negative and positive. Three main things we saw were things like we need to communicate better, which they are going to work on. We need to appeal to a larger demographic of people in the community so we better represent our community. We need more hands-on service opportunities in the community. More social time, announcements take too long, lots of fundraising, need more fundraising were some of the comments. Another was that the Duck Derby needs to be reinvigorated, which as we are seeing from Miamie she is already on top of this gearing up for next year already. Another, the members need more transparency on projects and funds. There are some things the club leadership can doo to make these changes, in communication they are sending out emails, will be doing a new web page and we are doing more on our Facebook page. There will be some streamlining of our meeting structure, they have a committee that is going through this 18-month process and they would like more people to be involved so if you are interested please let them know and they would appreciate your participation. She then opened it for questions, one was can we compare our survey results with the other clubs in the project, yes, we hope to do that. She said that they will be sending out the survey results to all of the members.

President John added that the six clubs in our zone that are doing this are a mix and they are going to take all of this information and on a larger level make some changes to help keep RI relevant in the world. John also reminded us that when we bring a guest that is interested in becoming a member that as soon as their application is turned in then the club will begin paying for their meal until they become a member rather than you having to continue to pay for them as a guest. He also said that they are thinking about doing an evening meeting for Q&A so that members can be better informed on all things Rotary.

President John Griffith concluded the meeting at 1:28 letting us know that next week we will be back at the Ramkota and we will have our very own exchange student Chloe Moindron present on her country and family.

“Use Rotary to connect your world”

Rotary Tidbits

From the Rotarian

The price of polio
Meet five Rotarians who understand the disease’s long-term consequences
as told to Vanessa Glavinskas photography by Frank Ishman

When you go to your Rotary club meeting this week, look around at your fellow members and think about this: In North America, anyone younger than 70 likely doesn’t remember a time before the polio vaccine. Those under 40 were born after polio was no longer endemic in the United States. And among your club’s youngest members, the very word “polio” probably conjures a bygone age when children regularly died of diseases like measles, smallpox, or whooping cough. Now, however, we know that measles is staging a comeback. Tuberculosis, which might bring to mind 19th-century sanitariums, is gaining greater resistance to treatment. Until a disease is really gone, eradicated, extirpated from the planet, it will always be looking for ways to come back, for breaches in our defenses.
We’ve come very far in the 64 years since the introduction of Jonas Salk’s vaccine — and especially in the 40 years since Rotary decided to take on polio. Every day it gets easier to forget why it’s so critical that we eradicate this disease. Most of us don’t see polio in our daily lives. Whole generations have never experienced its terrifying power.

We let our guard down when we think that polio is a disease that happens only in faraway places, or that almost eradicated is good enough. But if we stop and remember what it was like when polio was everywhere and people felt powerless against it, we know that if we don’t finish the fight, we’ll soon be back where we started.

In the following segments, five Rotarians share their experiences with polio. Thanks to their willingness to recount painful memories, we know that we must keep fighting until polio is gone forever.

50 Things Every Rotarian Should Know About Rotary

(by Steve Garret, District Governor 1994-1995)

Click here for full article or stay tuned to future Rotary Tidbits for more!

17 - VOCATIONAL SERVICE
Vocational Service is the "Second Avenue of Service." No aspect of Rotary is more closely related to each member than a personal commitment to represent one's vocation or occupation to fellow Rotarians and to exemplify the characteristics of high ethical standards and the dignity of work. Programs of vocational service are those which seek to improve business relations while improving the quality of trades, industry, commerce and the professions. Rotarians understand that each person makes a valuable contribution to a better society through daily activities in a business or profession.

Vocational Service is frequently demonstrated by offering young people career guidance, occupational information and assistance in making vocational choices. Some clubs sponsor high school career conferences. Many recognize the dignity of employment by honoring exemplary service of individuals working in their communities. The 4 -Way Test and other ethical and laudable business philosophies are often promoted among young people entering the world of work. Vocational talks and discussion of business issues are also typical vocational service programs at most clubs.

Regardless of the ways that Vocational Service is expressed, it is the banner by which Rotarians "recognize the worthiness of all useful occupations" and demonstrate a commitment to "high ethical standards in all businesses and professions." That's why the Second Avenue of Service is fundamental to every Rotary club.

18 - ROTARY ANNS / ROTARY PARTNERS
In many Rotary clubs throughout the world, wives of male members are affectionately called "Rotary Anns". This designation was never one of disparagement, but rather grew out of an interesting historical occasion.

The year was 1914 when San Francisco Rotarians boarded a special train to attend the Rotary convention being held in Houston. In those days few wives attended Rotary events, and until the train stopped in Los Angeles, the only woman aboard was the wife of Rotarian Bru Brunnier. As the train picked up additional convention-bound delegates, Mrs. Ann Brunnier was introduced as the Rotarian's Ann. This title soon became "Rotary Ann." Since the clubs of the West were inviting the Rotarians to hold their next convention in San Francisco, a number of songs and stunts were organized which would be performed in Houston. One of the Rotarians wrote a "Rotary Ann" chant. On the train's arrival at the Houston depot, a delegation greeted the West Coast Rotarians. One of the greeters was Guy Gundaker of Philadelphia, whose wife was also named Ann. During the rousing demonstration, someone started the Rotary Ann chant. The two petite ladies, Ann Brunnier and Ann Gundaker, were hoisted to the men's shoulders and paraded about the hall. The group loved the title given to the two women named Ann. Immediately the same term of endearment was used for all of the wives in attendance, and the name "Rotary Ann" was here to stay. Guy Gundaker became president of Rotary International in 1923 and Bru Brunnier was elected president in 1952. Thus, each of the two original Rotary Anns became the "first ladies of Rotary International."
Very few clubs have Rotary Anns, but many have Partners organizations, some are stilled called “Inner Wheel.” The word Rotary Ann can be heard on a rare occasion, and now you know where it came from.

19 - A BRIEF ROTARY HISTORY
The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to recapture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The name "Rotary" derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.

Rotary's popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade that followed; clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents, and the organization adopted the name Rotary International a year later.

As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving the professional and social interests of club members. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto: Service Above Self. Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called The 4-Way Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages.