Rotary Hold Orientation Then Inducts New Members
August 30, 2009
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Cherri Burzynski and Rob Clark
August is Membership Month for Rotary. Three years ago the Bay City club developed a new membership development program that resulted in 17 new members that year. The following year the club inducted nine new members.
For several years the Rotary Club has held orientation sessions for prospective new members. These lunch meetings explain the meaning and mission of Rotary and outline the Club's expectations for members.
The program last Tuesday focused on the meaning of Rotary membership. Membership co-chairs Cherri Burzynski and Rob Clark went through the highlights of the orientation for the entire club. At the end of the meeting two new members were inducted.
Rob began the program by asking some basic questions about Rotary and the Bay City Club. Rotary was founded in Chicago by Paul Harris and several business friends in 1905. The club meeting rotated among member's places of business, thus the name Rotary.
The Bay City Club was organized in 1914 and chartered in 1915 making it one of the first 150 clubs in the world where today there are some 33,000 clubs and more than 1.2 million members worldwide.
Rotarians follow the motto Service Above Self. We are guided by the four way test in all the things we do and say: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all?
Founded as a business club, Rotary very soon became a service club. The first service project was famously the construction of public toilets in downtown Chicago. (The Bay City Club honors that tradition by providing Mutt Mitts in distribution boxes on the River Walk.)
The Bay City club has a long history of service to our local community as well as international service. Each year the club hosts as many as 180 high school students who job shadow with members then come to a special luncheon. The club sponsors two gardens in the River Walk Arboretum, gives dictionaries to every third grader in Bay County and gives a thesaurus to every fourth grader.
The annual Community Grants program funds up to $12,000 worth of community programs in amounts of $500 to $2000. The club raises or grants other funds to international Rotary projects.
Rotary International spearheaded the international battle against the crippling disease polio some years ago. Today the disease is found in only a few countries and is anticipated to be defeated soon. This past year the Bay City Club was challenged to raise $12,000 and more than doubled that goal.
Every five years the club adopts a major project with a fund raising goal of $50,000 per year. The first major project funded the Bay County Library's Youth Outreach Librarian for five years. The second project build historic pocket parks in the community and supported the Pere Marquette Depot Restoration Project. The project for the next five years will support the city's Way-finding signage project, the new YMCA building project, and the Bay City Players.
The club's largest single fund raiser is International Night, which is scheduled for Thursday, October 15, 2009. The one night will raise on the order of $30,000 toward the major project. The second largest fund raiser is the annual golf outing which can raise over $10,000.
Following the orientation overview, the club was pleased to welcome Stephanie Ker and Bob Chadwick as new members. Stephanie is new to Rotary where Bob has a long history of service and was the District Governor last year.
CLUB NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
DATES TO REMEMBER
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