2017 Club Assembly
Club President Sue Emberson presided over the annual Club Assembly at the February 8th meeting, and laid out goals which the Rotary Club set forth during its visioning process last September.
She outlined five goals that the Club should strive to reach by 2020:
- Become the premium service club in Sycamore, with a membership of 100
- Become actively engaged in meaningful leadership projects
- Have $50,000 in funds available annually to support special projects
- Have 100% of the members be Paul Harris Fellows
- Hold an annual community service project
Membership is of concern for our Rotary Club; just a few years after being recognized by District 6420 for increasing our membership to 90, we have since suffered the second-highest drop in membership…as our roster has fallen to just 70 members.
Rotarians are being asked to actively seek out new members, and sponsors should work to find ways to get them immediately involved…as well as working on a cause they care about. The Club will strive to have new members work with their sponsor in identifying a project they would to work on; the Board would authorize up to $300 towards the project, and a description of that project should be part of the new member’s classification speech.
One project brought to us by a new member involves the construction of a playground, specifically for children with physical and developmental challenges. Marijo Schwartz is the early childhood coordinator for Sycamore District 427; she is currently working on development of an 80’ x 80’ enclosed playground, to be installed at South Prairie Elementary. She is reaching out to multiple community partners, including service clubs and community donors; she hopes to complete the initial phase during the 2017/2018 school year.
Funds from the weekly water project raffle could be redirected towards this effort; the Sycamore Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Chimoio are finishing up their commitment to the water project, and a new use for those funds is being sought.
And Rotarians indicated that they want to see a renewed effort to publicize our events and projects; while these get thorough coverage on our various club platforms, more public information will be released via the Daily Chronicle and other public sources.