DEC 16 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

President’s Message for December 18, 2014

During his year as 7430 Immediate Past District Governor, Frank Romano chose to chair the District 7430 Membership Committee. Frank feels “membership” is the greatest challenge to perpetuate Rotary’s “Service Above Self” organization. Naturally, Rotary membership growth was Frank’s main topic in his presentation to Morning Star on December 11. Frank shared membership plans that changed the trajectory of declining clubs. He also shared a couple of plans that flopped – not for lack of effort - they did not resonate with the members and prospects. To create dynamic membership growth, Frank believes Rotarians must understand the communities we serve and actually ask our friends, family and associates to join our Rotary club. Many thanks to Frank for his wisdom and encouragement.

Speaking of Past District Governors, our own Tore Hartmann-Hansen was recognized for his service to the District and long-term support of the Rotary Foundation at last week’s meeting. Morning Star’s 2014 contribution to Shelter Box was given in honor of Tore. It was appropriate that PDG Frank present the award to Tore. Tore and Charlotte are unwavering Rotary supporters and we all admire them for that.

There was lots of big news from the December Board Meeting:

• MSR contributed $10,000 to Victory House from our Salute the Troops Concert proceeds. This is our biggest contribution ever. The real check was delivered after Thursday’s meeting and we will have the ceremonial presentation at a 2015 meeting.
• We formally approved Community Bike Works (CBW) as the recipient of the 2015 Golf Tournament proceeds.
• We also approved MSR’s contribution of $1,500 to the pending District Grant to purchase a van for CBW. The District Grant will be led by Bethlehem Rotary Club and MSR will be a participating donor.
• The official report on the Dictionary Project is that MSR distributed 792 dictionaries to 13 third grades; twenty-two Morning Starians took part in some phase of the project.
• Community Development Grants totaling $7,000 were approved. Thanks to Jean Searfoss and the Community Development Grant Committee for evaluating the applications and recommending the awards.

On Saturday December 13, many Mornng Star Rotarians rang the bell for Salvation Army in front of Christkindlmarkt. I learned at the noon shift changeover that a bell ringer in a kilt is no match for Santa Claus and a dog the size of a small reindeer. Mike Long will give us a report on our red bucket results when the numbers are all in.

Attendance Alert -- don’t miss the last meeting before our Christmas – New Year’s break. On this Thursday, December 18 our Annual Holiday Meeting will feature music by the Liberty High School A Capella Singers and Maestro Rick Santee on accordion.

Please put the following MSR events on your calendars and find more details on our MSR website:

• December 25: Christmas Day – no meeting
• January 1, 2015: New Year’s Day – no meeting
• MSR Holiday Party hosted by the Long’s: Saturday January 3 at 5:30 PM
• Four Way Speech Contest: Wednesday March 18 6PM at Bethlehem Town Hall
• MSR 25^th Anniversary Celebration: Saturday March 28 in the evening.

Please bring a friend to an upcoming meeting to do your part in our “Every Member Brings a Prospective Member” initiative. Janet Sipple did so on December 11, but I forgot the guest’s name, so I cannot recognize her here; Janet will just have to bring her back so I can learn her name!

If you are visiting Bethlehem or our website or want to learn more about Bethlehem Morning Star or Rotary International, please contact Tom Kolepp via email at tkolepp@gmail.com or via mobile phone at 484-241-1251.

Let's continue to "Light Up Rotary". Regards. President Tom