Charlotte-Shelburne Rotary - Newsletter

Coming meetings: 8/5 – United Way; 8:12 – Alec Hopkins (rescheduled from 7/29); 8/19 – Nancy Kerr, a Marketing Prof at Champlain College
Congratulations to the committees, all of whom are doing good work
Thank you notes received from KidSafe and the Charlie Nardozzi Children’s Park Project
We will be handling parking for the Harvest Festival on Sept. 19.
We will have a pancake breakfast on Labor Day Weekend in support of the SCS Wind Ensemble

Sergeant at Arms

Don Condon speculated that the reason Sharon Beal hasn’t been at a Rotary Meeting since John became President is that she has heard him rehearsing his presidential remarks at home and doesn’t want to listen to them again. John said that she actually has been to one meeting since he became president – but he didn’t contradict the theory entirely.

Don levied a fine on Linda Schiavone for closing the window shades next to her table on the first sunny morning we’ve had. He also fined Katie Camardo for having a very fancy pair of biking shoes.

Happy fines:

Don Condon – for having casual day at his office
Howard Seaver – for his visit to Yuroslavl, Burlington’s Sister City
Jim Spadaccini – for celebrating his wedding anniversary (an occasion that gave his wife Paula an opportunity to recall that they changed the date of their wedding by a week to allow Jim to participate in a golf tournament)
Michele Lash – all three daughters home
John Hammer – his whole family was home for a visit – and Saturday was one of the best Mozart concerts ever – and this Saturday will be especially wonderful with Julie Kennaugh singing in Haydn’s Creation.
Terry Kennaugh – Julie is singing in Saturday’s Mozart concert at Shelburne Farms (sound familiar?)
Ron VanMynen – an anniversary and a birthday
Katie Camardo – heading for Montreal by boat with a bunch of friends
Terry Kennaugh – summer is here
Kris Engstrom – adopted her fourth cat
Michael Lash – just happy
Fritz Horton – soloed in the glider
Joyce Errecart – went to see her grandson – heading on vacation with a group of high school friends
John Dupee – his son is arriving for a visit – saving his from a household of women

Lucky draw: David Gladstone drew Jimmy Fayette’s number, but Jimmy drew the wrong card and missed the $374.50 pot.

Guest Speaker

When guest speaker Alex Hopkins of CVU could not come this week because of a death in the family, President John Beal, realizing that the future of Rotary was in his hands (you’ll remember that was Guy Babb’s message last week), loaded the DVD of the speech by Rotary International Vice President Monty Audenart of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada into his computer and shared with the club the very inspiring speech Audenart gave at the PETS training in Nashua, NH in the spring.

Audenart said that three challenges facing Rotary Clubs were membership growth, membership retention and eradicating polio. He told the audience (all about to become presidents of their local Rotary clubs) that former presidents of Rotary had faced challenges, “but now you are at bat,” he said. “The future of Rotary is in your hands.”

He said that for a President to make a difference in a club or a district, they needed to understand where the club is and where we want to go. There needs to be a plan, a written plan.

“A leader is someone who helps others want to do what needs to be done,” he said.

On the subject of recruitment and retention of members, he said four factors were key:

Make them a friend
Give them an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution
Continue their Rotary education
Say thanks

He said that projects of the Rotary Foundation were a good opportunity for making members feel they were making a meaningful contribution and he spoke very movingly about international programs in which he, as a dentist, had been able to make a real difference, in Jamaica and in Eastern Europe.