Rotary Club of Vermilion
Meeting Minutes, November 8, 2018
Call to order
O Canada
Rotary Grace
Four Way Test
Introduction of Guests-no guests
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Scott & Bernie Webb (Nov 9th)
Volunteer Hours Binder being passed around - Fill out your September/October hours.
Trivia game for breakfast based on information from volunteer binder hours.
Announcements
Thank you to Team 2 for Breakfast
Signup sheeting being circulated
-Festival of Trees
-Museum Social
-Off-site Meeting
Foundation Month: As an incentive to encourage our club members to donate to the Rotary Foundation, we have a matching project set up for the months of October and November. If you donate up to $100 to the foundation in the months of October or November, the club will match the donation, dollar for dollar, in your name. If you donate more than $100, you may qualify for a proportionate match for the amount over $100 if not everyone takes advantage of the matching program. We have budgeted $3000 for this project and it will all be used to match donations. Cheque or receipt needs to be in to Eugene by December 6th to qualify. Regular monthly donations qualify but you must give Eugene the receipt to confirm the amount.
On November 22nd, Wayne and Vicky from the district will be coming to our club to present.
Youth exchange - As a result of the youth exchange survey, the executive believes there is enough club support for youth exchange. So if we have a student successfully apply, we will be hosting a student next year.
District Conference 2019 next year will be held in Grande Prairie on October 3rd-5th. Registration is now open (https://conference5370-2019.ca/) and the early bird registration deadline is November 30th. If you haven’t attended a district conference before, or if you haven’t attended one in a while, and you’re able to attend, we really encourage you to consider going.
Casino Dates - Casino Dates are May 17 & 18. The good news, for our club, is that the casino does not fall on the same weekend as garage sale. The bad news is that the dates are the Friday and Saturday of the May long weekend. Craig has that it be put to the club if there are people who think they can be available to let Craig or Rebekah know because he wants to make sure we have enough volunteers to take the date. We need 6 per day if people work double shifts, and 9 if single shifts are worked. If we don’t have enough volunteers, we have to decline the dates and will go back on the list for 2-3 years from now.
Membership - One of the discussions we have had over the last several months at the executive level has focused on membership and the basic challenge facing most clubs - how to attract quality community members and bring them into Rotary. To tackle that, we’ve been discussing different forms of membership. We have had some discussions about how to attract younger club members, and recognize that sometimes the cost of joining the club is prohibitive or a factor that might discourage younger people from joining.
With that in mind, the executive is suggesting that we lower our fees for new, first time members under the age of 30, and offer a membership rate of $150 per year for up to the first two years of membership, or until the year they turn 31, whichever is less time. We selected up to two years to recognize most members join partway through the year and their membership fee is pro-rated for the first year, so this would give them one full year at the membership rate, and we picked up to the age of 30 as 30 is the last year an individual can be a member of a Roteract club. Eugene picked $150 because it is a nice clean number to remember, and it almost covers the cost of all the dues our club pays to our Rotary District and Rotary International, Rotary International dues are of course subject to the US exchange rate.
Motion by Laurel, seconded by Erwin
That the Rotary Club of Vermilion offer a reduced membership fee of $150 per year to new, first time members who are under the age of 30. The reduced rate shall be in effect for up to two years, or until the year the member turns 31, whichever is less, after which time they will be required to pay the full membership rate.
Discussion: If the member chooses to be a part of the breakfast program, then that cost would be in addition to the $150. We would be subsidizing these members in an effort to attract members. Discussion lead to member experiences-which was very informative. Our promotional material, media, and website are outdated. We do not have relevant material available. There were several that said that they had to approach the club, mainly Brenda, about joining. They didn’t have information on how to join or what Rotary was all about. Suggestions included making a new pamphlets, work on website design, social media, having good current information available at our events, such as having a pin or something that says “Ask me about Rotary ” “ Get Involved” At this time the motion was tabled for another meeting.
Seniors Centre Community Oven Funding Request - Keri Pullyblank presented on the community oven landscaping project last week. We discussed the request at the executive level, and it raised a number of questions that the executive felt like they wanted answered before a recommendation was made. The executive has therefore tabled the matter to the December executive meeting. Please talk to an executive with questions regarding this proposal.
Annual General Meeting is next week. At the AGM we need to review and approve the audited financial statements, and we need to appoint next year’s auditor. Financial statements have been circulated by e-mail. Please speak to Eugene or Rebekah if you have any questions about the statements before next week.
Upcoming Events
Nov 15 - AGM & Shawn’s project review
Nov 22 - Foundation Presentation from district
Nov 29 - Off-site meeting (AHC) - Bring a spouse or a guest
Dec 6 - District Conference speakers
Dec 13 - Business Meeting/Executive Elections
December 20 - Christmas meeting - bring a spouse or a guest
Sargent Report: You are fined, if you are not wearing a poppy.
Meeting Adjourned