August is Membership and Extensions month. A perfect month theme for us given that we have our Rotary Education & Action for Leadership event in the middle of the month, on August 17th in Chillicothe. Part of the event entails having our club Membership Chairs work with Zone and District trained facilitators to develop customized membership plans for their clubs.
A perfect month for your club to consider an extension of itself like an Interact Club, a Community based Rotaract Club or a Satellite club. Rotary President Mark Maloney’s number one goal is for us to “Grow Rotary”. All of these Rotary International programs accomplish that goal and will help your club earn a Rotary Citation this year. We have extremely competent District leaders to help you with those programs. Contact PDG Julie McCoy on membership efforts, PDG Jeff Romine for help starting an Interact Club and PDG Rick Simon for help with Community based or College based Rotaract clubs.
I hope to see your Club Presidents, Presidents Elect, Foundation Chairs and Membership Chairs in Chillicothe on August 17th. If you have an interest in future Rotary leadership or are on the membership or foundation committee in your club you are welcome to attend as well.
We are also pleased to announce that our District Peace and Conflict Resolution Ambassador, Stephen Youngblood will be addressing the Rotary World Peace conference in Ontario, California on January 17th and 18th, 2020. See the article on that event in this newsletter for more information if you are interested in attending.
The Rotary Club of Independence won the top prize in the 2018-2019 membership drive for large clubs. Frank Dixon presented the check to Doug Cowan Immediate Past President.
Unionville Rotary won the top prize of $1,250 in the 2018-19 membership drive for small clubs. They increased their members from 22-30 in one year! Congratulations to Past President Tom Keedy and the Unionville Rotary Club.
Secrets to Increased Membership
by Mary Comstock
The significant increase in membership of Unionville Rotary is due to several factors. First, existing members are enthused about our club. They are proud to bring visitors to a meeting. We have achieved this by: holding meetings at a convenient place and time, offering a tasty and low-cost meal, keeping our dues low, allowing time for fun conversation at each meeting, keeping the business portion short, and providing interesting and timely programs.
Second, our recent projects have been very visible in the community. We have worked toward a renovation of our public library, placed and maintained flower planters around the square, and are planning a pocket park and mural. Through publicity and word of mouth, the local community has now heard of Unionville Rotary and has a very favorable opinion of our club.
Finally, new members don’t just drop in – they have to be approached, invited, and encouraged.
The Rotary Club of Eastern Independence is hosting their 6th annual Independence Uncorked wine festival on September 14, 2019. Each year the club raises over $70,000 to put back into the Independence Community. Talk about Rotarians of Action! You can learn more on their Facebook page @IndependenceUncorked
The District 6040 Foundation Dinner is always one of the highlights of the Rotary year. This year’s Dinner will be one of the great events of the decade. You won’t want to miss it. Join us in celebration of all things Rotary on November 2, 2019, at Arrowhead Stadium. Our featured speaker, the president of Rotary International, Mark Maloney. The Foundation Dinner will celebrate the contributions of District 6040 to the Rotary Foundation, including recognition of our 2018-19 District Grant Projects, culminating in the presentation of the People of Action Awards for small, medium and large clubs in the District.
In celebration of our Rotary 2019-20 theme, Rotary Connects the World – a new raffle will be held, with a prize of dinner anywhere in the world. (The prize will include travel and expenses for a trip for two – including that special dinner – anywhere in the world, with a travel voucher valued at $5,000.00. For this special event, one-thousand raffle tickets will be sold, priced at $25.00 each – with proceeds going to the Polio Fund. Tickets can be purchased online at https://tinyurl.com/RotaryDinnerAnywhere
Back by popular demand: a replay (and enhancement) of last year's raffle. Your single $100 raffle ticket will put you in the three drawings for these fabulous prizes. (Why stop at one ticket? You deserve more chances to win!)
A week at a Daytona, Florida ocean-side condo, donated by immediate PDG Julie and Rolfe McCoy of the Chillicothe club
A one-of-a-kind Rotary pendant (or tie-tac) hand crafted by Trisha Kennedy
Five nights Copper Mountain, Colorado, condominium, donated by Mark Comfort of the Parkville club – to be used between May 1 and Oct. 31, 2020.
Note: any Rotarian who buys a $100.00 raffle ticket will get credit for the donation to the Rotary Foundation. Proceeds will go to the Annual Fund.
I have been a Missouri Rotarian for many years, and I have always been proud of my relevant Rotary district, which is now District 6040. And in thinking about the achievements of District 6040, just prior to Marc Horner’s installation as district governor, I jotted down some accomplishments that are clearly unique and important.
One of the clubs in our district, Kansas City, was one of the first 16 Rotary clubs in the world, and it participated in the first Rotary convention during August of 1910 in Chicago. That convention formed the National Association of Rotary Clubs, which ultimately became Rotary International, and due to the good work of the new association, Rotary has become the large and significant organization we know and enjoy today. There is no way to overstate the importance of the first convention, and the Kansas City club was a leader in that significant event!
It is our intent in 2019-2020 to have a multi-level District effort to raise awareness and monies for Rotary’s polio eradication efforts. For each club in the District to have a Polio Awareness and Fund Raising Event. No matter how big or how small to let people know that even though “we are this close”, Polio is still claiming the lives and limbs of children in the world today and we need to eradicate it forever.
The Rotary International Convention in Honolulu next summer ends on Wednesday June 10, 2020. In case you want to do something else while you are 3,896 miles from Kansas City we have a deal for you. In fact if you are not going to the convention we still have the same deal. A Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise leaves Honolulu on Saturday June 13, 2020 to take you all around the Hawaiian islands. It is a nice cruise.
Want to make plans to get away this winter? Why not consider The Rotary World Peace Conference in California this coming January. The Rotary World Peace Conference is taking place January 17-18, 2020 in Ontario, California (about an hour east of LA). The mission of the World Peace Conference 2020 is to bring together experts with solutions to major issues that are occurring in our personal lives, homes, schools, businesses, and communities, not just in Southern California, but, also, around the world.
In introducing this year's theme, R.I. President Mark Maloney said, "Rotary allows us to connect with each other in deep and meaningful ways, across our differences. Through Rotary, we connect to the incredible diversity of humanity on a truly unique footing, forging deep and lasting ties in pursuit of a common goal. In this ever more divided world, Rotary connects us all." He urged us to identify segments of our communities not represented in our clubs by creating a membership committee with diverse members.
.jpg)
.png?_=637001832949188478)
