Today was a face-to-face meeting where AW Rotarians had a breakfast together, and the food was good. We also had a Zoom meeting. There were 22 people at Brookside CC in Macungie shaking hands and hugging and we had 6 people on line that participated in the meeting remotely.
David Haight was our Greeter and he did an excellent job. And President Gail Micca was everywhere else looking after us. Mitch Huston handled registration and 50:50 tickets, and Happy Dollars. P-E John Scott made sure that the P.A. system and the Zoom signals worked for us.
GUESTS:
Nick Millward, our Peace Fellow winner out of the military and back in the Lehigh Valley; Whitman Scott, son of John.
OPENING:
Pres. Gail Micca welcomed Nick Millward to our meeting and praised his continued support of our many projects.
Bill Weber gave a very nice invocation . After some time to eat we recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the U.S.
AWRC HISTORY STORY:
Past President Len Salines told the history of the RI classifications for members. And he put in a plug for the Rotary Means Business networking efforts coming up.
CELEBRATIONS:
Pres. Gail displayed the list of August member events. To celebrate his 80th birthday we sang a good rendition of Happy Birthday to Bill Weber.
Pres. Gail led us in the recitation of the Four Way Test to which we added “Is it fun?”
CANCER SUPPORT GROUP:
Sharon Goldner described a local cancer support group and their fundraising event at Cedar Crest College in September. AWRC will have a root beer float stand there.
ROTARY MEANS BUSINESS:
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD CENTER:
Jean Masiko is looking for volunteers for Saturday.
PARKLAND C.A.R.E.S.:
Nick Millward helped out at their food pantry -- in the rain -- and said it was an awesome experience.
MEALS ON WHEELS PROJECT:
Kathy Ott said that we are trying to do our service on Tuesdays. And we will start at the Trinity Lutheran Church. The project still can use more volunteers.
MONGOLIAN YOUTH PROGRAM:
Nick Millward said that we are collecting baseball equipment – used -- to send to Mongolia to start a youth baseball program. Katrina Sundstrom’s daughter is collecting as well.
Nick will collect over the next few months, and then deliver them to Mongolia in January.
GAIL’S BIKING CHALLENGE:
As a fundraiser Gail is still seeking sponsors for her 60 miles a week biking as part of our 60 year celebration next May. She is approaching her $5,000 goal.
FUNDRAISER EVENT:
Chair, Len Salines said that the plan is to hold a Casino Night in January -- maybe February.
Then in May we will celebrate our 60 years of service with a party. The next committee meeting will be on Sunday August 22nd.
HAPPY DOLLARS & GAMBLING:
Nick Millward is happy to be here today.
S-a-A Mitch Huston had tickets drawn with winners:
Gail Micca won $31 of the 50:50 and gave it to the club.
Nick Millward won the $10 door prize and gave it to the club.
Herb Klotz and Ernie Boll each won some Josh Early candy.
Nick Millward had two more winning tickets and took home the corn items.
Ernie Boll is just happy.
Laurie Grube is happy to be celebrating their son’s birthday. And she thanks Gail Micca for our Garden Project.
Sharon Goldner is happy to be celebrating her Mother’s 100th birthday.
Sue Weber is happy to be celebrating Bill’s 80th birthday.
Bill Weber is happy to be 80.
Nick Millward is happy that he has winning tickets today.
Ralph Witcher is happy for Jean Masiko’s good works with Kingdom Life Food Center.
YOUR SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES:
Please take a look at this section on the left side of this bulletin.
STATUS OF MORNING MEETINGS:
There will be hybrid meetings twice a month, plus all-zoom meetings for two more Wednesdays each month.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday August 18, 2021 and it is a Zoom meeting starting at 7:30 a.m. Our program will be Edward Pullin, Cyber Security/Date Protection -- Fundamentals of Cryptography - Part 2.
PROGRAM:
Let’s Grow Rotary! Presented by PDG Herb Klotz, D7430, Allentown West Rotary Club, Zone 32 Coordinator.
Herb used a series of slides to tell this Membership Growth story. First he explained that the Session Topics covered are:
What is our Club’s Membership History?
Membership Team Plans for 2021-22
Approaches to Grow Your Club
Herb then said that our 2021-22 AWRC Membership Goal established by Pres. Gail is to grow from our current Membership of 57 to 65 as of June 30, 2022.
Herb showed a curve of our Active member counts since 2004.
Some statistics for 2017-21 are:
Club Average Attrition Rate = 19%
Global average = 14%
World Class = 8-10%
Club Average Attraction Rate = 13%
Zone 32 (NE USA) average = 12.5%
Herb discussed Attraction vs. Attrition with four quadrants on his slide. We fall into the 3rd one.
1- Growth Culture 129 Clubs (11%)
2 – Stable 296 Clubs (26%)
3 – High Turnover 404 Clubs (35%)
4 – Danger Zone 328 Clubs (28%)
We can keep up our Member Attraction Activities by:
Focus on Member Engagement
Club Culture
Meaningful Projects
Family Events
Flexibility
Alternate Experiences
Herb then presented the Top Reasons for Membership Growth:
Clear Membership Goals and Plan
Strong Public Image Campaign/Active Social Media
Membership Recruiting Events including Networking Mixers / Active Recruiting
Alternative Meeting or Satellite Club
Flexibility (Membership Types, Dues Structure, attendance, etc.
Allentown West RC Membership initiatives include:
Member Attraction
Prospective Member Attraction and Onboarding Process - Laurie
Rotary Means Business Networking Sessions – Tori, Murtaza, Brad, others
Each One, Bring One - Herb
Social Media Promotion - Marlene
Membership Video Clips - ?
Member Engagement
Engagement Subcommittee - ?
Member Surveys - ?
New Member Orientations – Barbara
Exit Interviews - Gwenn
Two Key Rotary International 2021-22 Membership Programs:
Top Priority Initiative by RI President Shekar Mehta
Goal is 1.3 Million members by June 30, 2022
Here is a list of Allentown West RC Committees. Getting involved with one or more committees is very important to our club and to you.
Community Service
International Service
Youth Programs
Fundraising
Membership
Public Image
Club Leadership & Support
Herb then asked members to have a Breakout Discussion ---- What is Your Role in Growing Membership in our Rotary club?
After 10 minutes each table had a member tell us their idea, including Marlene Heller who was on-line. Herb concluded by saying that our club is on the right path.
CLOSING:
Pres Gail led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.” And she rang a real bell.