I provided the following review of the May 12 Club Assembly on Membership via a ClubRunner Email to all Members:
- An active Rotarian from ND will be moving to Chatham in June and will attend a meeting. Please be sure to welcome her.
- Please review the list of members who joined since 2019 and left. If you have any relationship with them, let me know and contact them.
- Roger Randolph has contacted several. Nate Clemmers has not stated he will rejoin but he has volunteered to help with our flag project. That is a positive outcome.
- Bonnie will be contacting most of the women who were member of the Chatham Satellite Club.
- Our teams are struggling. We need to get back on track. The Social Media Team will have a new leader as Allie has asked for someone to take her place in that role. Bob Stuart stated the Club Meeting Team needs to begin contacting potential alternate meeting places to determine if any viable alternatives exist.
- The June Assembly will not deal with membership. John Webb will be leading a discussion for his plans as President for Rotary Year 2025 – 2026.
Barry Tobias spoke for several minutes on an important topic related to membership and club health. He pointed out that Rotary is successful because it is nonpolitical and non-denominational. He expressed concern that our club members need to be more aware of this. All the guests and Speakers should see Rotary in the light of the four-way test. In this case “is it fair to all concerned” and “will it build goodwill and better friendships” are the important touchstones. Barry cited two examples of Rotary meetings where he was invited to speak, and the club asked to see his presentation in advance to ensure it was not political motivated.
An open discussion followed where several members made suggestions to the teams present.