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THIS
MONTH...........
NEW GENERATIONS IN ACTION
- RYTS Seminar
- Youth Activities card launced
- Short Term Exchange
VOCATIONAL SERVICE IN ACTION
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE IN ACTION
PARTNERS IN SERVICE
- Probus - new club
- Inner Wheel - changeover
WE
ALL REMEMBER OUR ROTARY SPONSOR
CLIFFORD L. DOCHTERMAN 1992-93
John Siegle was a special sort of man. His early career was on the vaudeville
curcuit as a performing musician. In later years, he became a producer of
commercial and documentary movies. From the day he joined the Rotary Club
of Berkeley, California, U. S.A., he had a love affair with Rotary.
My friendship with Johnny Siegle started in a very casual way when we worked
together on a documentary movie about the University of California in the
mid-1950s. He invited me to the Rotary Club of Berkeley on several occasions.
Many months later, I learned he had proposed my name for a Rotary club membership.
The club board turned down the proposal because my position as a young university
administrator didn't appear to be at the level expected by an old and venerable
club. After a few months, Johnny filed a membership recommendation again,
this time noting the increased level of duties and responsibilities of his
applicant. Again the response was negative, citing the large number of university
Rotary members in this typical college town. The third time, a university
colleague, Dick Erickson, joined to sponsor the young administrator as an
"additional active" member.
That was the way I entered Rotary. Fortunately, a few months before Johnny
Siegle died, I was able to call him to say that the fellow he had proposed
three times as a Rotarian had just been nominated to be the world President
of Rotary International. I certainly respect the intention of those Berkeley
Rotary club directors who seriously evaluated the proposals that came before
them. However, I often wonder, if our clubs occasionally overlook excellent
young men and women who are at the entry point of their executive leadership.
There are many young people holding "important positions with executive capacity"
in our communities who could be Rotarians. Rotary has no age requirements.
Paul Harris was 36 years old when he founded our organization. The other members
were all younger. Rotary was an organization of young people building their
business and professional lives. As we advance in years, we tend to forget
that a sponsor gave us a start in Rotary. We have a responsibility to share
Rotary with others and give them the opportunity to discover that, through
service, REAL HAPPINESS IS HELPING OTHERS.
DECEMBER 1992
It is our Asking, not our Silence, that frightens us.
Remember and Act
Cast your mind
back to your first contact with Rotary. Was it that you attended a Rotary
sponsored function? Was it that you were asked by someone you knew? Was it
that you expressed interest to a friend who spoke of their Rotary. Did you
respond to an advertisement?
Just as it is fun to reflect on your first memories as a child so it also
is with your first memories as a Rotarian and the person who invited you.
You recall with pride what you now know to be a very humble beginning.
As I travel the Clubs carrying out my leadership role of supporting the many facets of Rotary expressed by the members of our District Clubs I often have the privilege of frank conversation. Often the subject gets around to the future of Rotary and in particular the future of the Club. The Clubs survival is never in doubt but how it will happen is.
After some specific examples are shared the question is asked, how old were you when you were invited to Rotary Membership? The answer seems to be a shock to many. "A long time ago back when I was in my 30's wow!" "But times have changed" comes the reply, "they are not interested now".
Oh yes they are interested in the Service ethic but they are not interested in "raffles and some types of protocol". Recent Past Rotary International Presidents Herb Brown and Luis Giay entered Rotary in their early 20's, as did many Rotarians. They entered with a view to developing their skills and contacts which today is called networking.
As we age and retire and settle into a more relaxed lifestyle that for many of us includes busy service work our networking needs change and our focus shifts to grand parenting and history. We lose that vital contact with professional networking and so we find less opportunity to approach the prospective members who are now the age we were when we were invited to Rotary.
I recently asked PRIP Cliff Dochterman "What is a new Generations Club?" He smiled and gave a long story about Clubs telling him why every idea he offered could not work for them. Finally in that famous style of his he said, "How about forming a Club of younger members within your Club and watch them grow old…"
President Frank Devlyn has put Membership at the top of his list of 20 key interests because that is the simple fact. It affects our costs, our performance, our future, our networking, our friendships, and the very basis of our opportunity to express our service ethic. President Frank would like to see every Club achieve a net gain of 5 members and comments that he is surprised that every member does not introduce at least one new member every year. He goes on to say the facts are it does not happen but why should so many members never ever introduce a new member.
The Rotary International Board of Directors is concerned about Rotary's global membership trend, and has discussed this topic at great length. Global membership has declined for three consecutive years (1% in 1997-98, 0.7% in 1998-99 and 1% in 1999-2000). Although new clubs are being formed, membership is not being sustained in many of our existing clubs and evidence suggests that currently we are not as successful in attracting and retaining younger professional and business people as we have been in the past.
My message is simple. I believe membership is the responsibility of every member all the time and that all you need to do is be proud of your Rotary and ask.
Yes my friends, we are powerful beyond measure…. It is our asking not our silence that frightens us.
Your Rotary Friend Heather
Successful Safari takes in Award Winners
Thyrlene and
I returned from a very successful SME Qld Safari thanks to efforts of many
people particularly our driver Robert Pine of Summerland Coaches. We visited
a number of venues including Great Keppel Island, Fraser Island, Underwater
World and Dreamworld, the latter three receiving Tourism Awards in last night's
Tourism Industry Annual Award Program.
All appeared to enjoy the tourist venues and the accommodation arranged for
us. They certainly enjoyed one another's company including that of students
from D9600 and often late into the night.
