Meeting Notes - August 15, 2012

Posted by Jay Pompar 
on Aug 15, 2012
 

Charlotte Shelburne Rotary
Wednesday, August 15, 2012, 7a.m.
Trinity Episcopal Church Community Room

Welcome

President Adam Bartsch opened the meeting with the Pledge and called on Kris Engstrom to give the devotional.

Guests were introduced: Sr. Abraham Ennabe and his wife, Claudia – Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Tela, Honduras; Ms. Gail Feitelberg, wife of Rotarian Sam; and Mr. Norman Robinson, a member of the Hands to Honduras Directing Committee.

Announcements

Upcoming:

  • August 16: Meeting of the Board of Directors.
  • August 22: Dave Coates speaking on Vermont Unfunded Liabilities
  • August 24:  The club will serve and clear for the Charlotte Senior Center annual BBQ.  Activities start at 5:00 p.m.  John Hammer will be coordinating.
  • August 29: Vermont Mobile Pac
  • September 5: Ann Irwin will speak on VNA Initiatives
  • September 15: Steve Dates discussed the Golf Ball Drop.  The goal is 3,000 balls sold at $10 each.  Turn in cash to John Dupee or Steve Dates.
  • October 24: Zack Clemmons
  • November 4: Bowlathon (a Sunday afternoon 3-5:30).

The Hands to Honduras Group will hold a Latin Dance Party on the evening of September 7th at the Shelburne Farms Coach Barn.  There will be a silent auction and Victoria Moore of the Salsa Linda Dance Studio will give dance classes again.  Tickets are available from Linda Gilbert and John Hammer.

The Golf Ball Drop tickets are still on sale and members were urged to keep up their sales efforts.

The SBPA will sponsor a Youth Day at the Shelburne Farmers’ Market on September 1.  This will be an opportunity for young people to sell their homemade or home grown products.

Paul Harris Fellows

Terrell Titus stepped forward and awarded a first Paul Harris Fellowship to Alan Hathaway for his yeoman work on almost every project Terrell has served in.  He has a passion for kids and scholarship and has served as the Scholarship committee Chair for several years. Besides, he shares the same birthday with Terrell.

Then Kris Engstrom presented Denny Bowen with his sapphire Paul Harris Award pin for his multiple annual contributions to the Rotary International Foundation.

Ric Flood announced that this year’s Bowlathon will be held at 3 to 5:30 PM on Sunday, November 4th.

Denny Bowen announced that since he did not like to solicit for golf ball drop tickets, he bought a number of them and gave them to friends in a letter suggesting that they buy more tickets to better their chances of winning.  He has met with great success.  Great idea!

Sr. Abraham Ennabe and his wife, Claudia, both Rotarian members of the Tela, Honduras Club, exchanged banners with President Bartsch.

The District Conference next May will take place on a seven-day cruise from Boston to Bermuda and back. Information is on the District Website at: http://www.rotary7850.org/

Steve Dates announced that the District is looking for people who might be interested in another international project – this one in Rwanda - supporting a team of plastic surgeons who intend to repair war injuries in that country.

There was an animated discussion regarding how the monies contributed to the virtual auction held several weeks ago should be spent.  It was proposed that each individual who had contributed to the auction be presented with a golf ball drop ticket for each $10 given. Over $700 was raised and now resides in the Club’s treasury.  After much debate, a vote was taken and each individual who did contribute will be given a chance to either take each $10 value in a ticket form or they may leave their contribution in the Club treasury.

Sergeant at Arms

Richard Fox stepped up and quickly went to work.  There being a very limited time, Fox made a flying collection – too fast to take note of all the happiness around.  Whew!

Our visitors, the Ennabes, drew the ticket which was one of those pooled at the first table on the right, upon entering.  The 8 of Clubs was drawn – Rollover.

Visioning Process

Adam and Kris made a quick presentation of the results of the Club Visioning Process held on July 24. It was a brainstorming process which attempted a first look at what the club would look like in five years.  It took into account the 37 responses to the survey and the 18 persons present at the meeting.

The first thing on the agenda was to discuss the Elevator Speech, a one-minute speech which exemplifies what Rotary means to you.  Kris worked with David Cranmer to come up with two examples.  In a way they could be considered mission statements for our club and Rotary.

The two given were:

David’s:  “We have an active presence wherever help is needed – in our communities of Hinesburg, Charlotte, and Shelburne – as well as in the world at large.  We use our skills, our resources and our knowledge to improve the lives of others, through education, health, friendship and goodwill.”

Kris’s:  “We are an active presence in our communities of Hinesburg, Charlotte, and Shelburne  - as well as in the world at large wherever help is needed.  We believe in working hand to hand to promote the betterment of humanity, through education, health, friendship and goodwill.  We use our skills, our resources and our knowledge in combination with other club members across the globe to improve the lives of others.”

The results of the survey revealed many more positive feelings than negative.  The results were too numerous to mention here.  (An attempt will be made to get a resumé developed for the web site). The general feelings expressed were that we have a good club and we ought not mess it up.  The outshot was that the five-year plan should not change the club radically.

As for the meeting itself, every one of the eighteen participants was heavily involved and was not shy in their inputs.  Many ideas were floated in an effective and fun format.  Elaine Dates formulated a matrix which summed up the whole visioning process that involved posting of ideas on sheets spread around the walls. Each member had a set number of colored adhesive dots to indicate desirability of items noted thereon. (An attempt will be made to get the matrix posted on the web site).

Finally Adam reported the establishment of a Presidential Development Team consisting of the Past President, Current President, the Vice President, President Elect and three other at large members.  The Past President will chair the team and they will prioritize the ideas developed at the July 24th meeting. Then they will set short-term goals to be met, followed by long-term goals.  Every effort will be made to keep the details as transparent as possible.

Key Characteristics of our Future Club in five years as coming out of the July 24th meeting were as follows:

  • We see ourselves as “Doers” who are maintaining an active stewardship in all three of our towns (Hinesburg, Charlotte, and Shelburne) and at the same participating more actively outside our club level.
  • We are at a membership size of 65-75, with a diversity of age of 33% under 40, 33% 40-60, and 33% over 60.  We also show a wide diversity of professions and skills that represent the diversity of our three communities. We keep the strong desire for doing the right thing within our three communities.
  • Each new member will be assigned a role in a committee with defined responsibilities and have a mentor assigned to them.  Each committee head will sign on for a 3-year term and have a progression plan.
  • We are sponsoring business awards using the three-way test.  We are inviting local businesspersons to share their business knowledge. The community service award is alive and well.
  • We are inviting CVU students to meetings several times a year and matching a Rotarian with a young person for a project.  We are sponsoring literacy programs on several fronts.
  • Co-sponsor a service project with another service organization. Offer the “sweat equity” option to requests for financial support. Create a Rotary learning center that teaches life skills like First Aid, checkbook keeping, etc.
  • Our golf ball drop nets $30,000
  • We choose another international project with another club, and partner with another organization on an overseas project. We choose a yearly project to support as a charity internationally.
  • We continue a strong club education program on the TRF future vision.  We define our post polio goal.  Our EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) goal is 100% participation.
  • We have more presence in the local paper as a weekly column.  We sponsor speakers that are open to the public.  We improve our website so that it is accessible and navigable.