Minutes of March 3, 2014 Meeting

• March 10 meeting will be a presentation by the DeafBlind Society of York Region. Our Club has donated funds to them for the annual Achilles Run which will allow them to enter a team of participants along with their guides.  The run will be on St. Patrick's Day and they will be displaying Rotary Club of R'Hill logos on their website, banners and T-shirts as their sponsors.  Please make sure you attend next week to hear what the DeafBlind Society does in York Region along with our cheque presentation.
• Thank you to everyone who has donated thus far to the Richmond Hill Out of the Cold Program helping our area's homeless in need.  Tonight will be the last pickup as the program wraps up at the end of March.  They told Susan they have enough for the rest of the month without carrying any surplus into the fall.  Next year we will participate earlier in the season and throughout the winter.

• This year's TV Auction will be December 6 and 7.  Jason passed around a letter of thanks received from one of the partner charities, Eva's Initiatives.  EI was a first-time charity partner with us in 2013 and their participation in the Auction helps support their programs that "create positive change in the lives of homeless and at-risk youth".  

Ted

• Plans for the Progressive Dinner are ready and envelopes were passed out to participants.  Anyone not at tonights meeting can pick up their envelope at Ted's home or office.  Please contact Ted directly.

SPEAKER - MIKE PHELAN

Mike is a Past District Governor (2008/2009) and is currently a member of the Toronto East Rotary Club, and Co-chair on the Membership Enhancement Committee. Mike says there are three aspects of the committee (1) Development (ie recruitment), (2) Retention, and (3) Extension.  He is involved in the "Extension" aspect of the committee, or in other words, expansion of membership.

Mike says the Richmond Hill Club would not exist today if 62 years ago someone had not stood up and said "I want to share Rotary in Richmond Hill".  And in fact, he says Richmond Hill itself would be a different place today if it wasn't for the Rotary Club.  According to Mike, "Rotary is the greatest gift to give and it should be shared".

He says that 62 years ago when the R'Hill Club was first formed, there was a membership of about 20-25 people and now that the population of the town has exploded, we still only have a few more than 30 members.  So the ratios have changed and the same thing is happening around the world -- so maybe Rotary has to change the way we look at attracting and maintaining members. 

One thing the committee is looking at are Satellite Clubs.  There have been some pilot projects with these Satellite Clubs and they have worked very well.  A preconceived notion is that a satellite club would detract from the regular established club, but they have found with the pilots that in fact the opposite happened.  The original club remained with a healthy membership and more members joined the satellite club who would not have considered joining Rotary at all.  The satellite club would function in a more flexible way, ie perhaps meeting for drinks or no meal at all, or at a different time of day, or different day of the week.  The satellite club members would belong to the "main club" and the board would govern both (or there could be a mini board at the satellite level that reports back to the main club board).  Each club would determine what form their satellite club would take, but the main point is that today's generation is different from years ago and by allowing alternative membership, Rotary can continue to grow and flourish. 

Thank you Mike for coming this evening.

Next meeting:  March 10 - DeafBlind Society Presentation, Sheraton Centre