|
As President-Elect, the club requested that I attend several training events and conventions. At those events there was a consistent message presented to the Presidents-Elect and other Rotarians present. Rotary is one of the largest and most effective private, non-political, and secular multi-national service organizations in the world. But Rotary as we know it is at a crossroads and needs to reconsider “the way we’ve always done it” (Paraphrased). Over the last hundred and eleven years, there have been significant changes in business operations (local to global), the workplace, personal lives, and mobility. To address those changes, many of the “rules” that were previously passed down by Rotary International and District(s) on the operational requirements and procedures of individual clubs have been dramatically changed, in some cases eliminated, to put more control in the club’s hands. Therein lies dilemmas, is change required, can our club grow and continue to provide service to others without change? These are some of the questions that have been added to the charter of some RERC committees that have been established for 2016-17 to review our methods. During 2016-17, the Strategic Plan will also be reassessed and updated as required to extend its coverage to 2018-19.
I thank the many RERC members who have volunteered to engage on those committees and participate in the evaluation and decision process. We are just a few members short of having 100% participation on the board or a committee, and for that I congratulate you. Attending weekly meetings is still something we all should endeavor to do, but attendance is not the primary definition of being an active member. The primary definition of active participation or full engagement is fulfilling the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self”. Simply put, we need all members to look ahead and make time to assist with the many hands on service projects; to help with planning by serving on at least one committee; most importantly, to determine for yourselves how you can serve others and RERC best in the spirit of Rotary.
The current Strategic Plan was completed on March 15, 2015 under President Kathy’s leadership. It resulted in a three-year plan to:
- Grow our club through membership retention, participation and recruitment;
- Engage a younger, more diverse demographic (gender & race) as we recruit new members. This doesn’t necessarily mean people young in age, but people who are young at heart, early in their retirement, new to our community; and
- Identify and implement a Signature Service Project that will be beneficial to our community, involves sweat equity, partnering with others outside our club and is sustainable for years to come. Effectively a legacy project of RERC.
To assure continuity, the RERC President, President-Elect, and Pres. Nominee teams for 2015-16 and 2016-17 each committed to the Strategic Plan’s basic elements. That will continue to be one of the key elements of “approving” any updates to the plan.
The Board and Committee Chairs will work hard on communication so that everyone in our club is fully aware of the opportunities to serve. There will be many ways to be involved and we encourage you to offer up new ideas as well. It is a two way street of sharing and learning … all ideas welcome.
 This year’s theme for Rotary International as announced by President John Germ is “Rotary Serving Humanity.” Let’s start by every member of RERC actively serving a role in our club. Doing so will likely lead to services and projects we never thought could be undertaken, happening right here in our own backyard. My goal for this next year is to maintain, nurture, strengthen, and build continuity from administration to administration for what we, RERC, have been doing so well for the past thirty years, but in doing so, to institute … New initiatives that lead to New opportunities and New opportunities to serve, resulting in New blood (members) joining our ranks. New horizons await us, let’s find them together.
Bill Zeigler
President RERC 2016-17
|
