Looking back while looking forward….
Happy New Year Niles Rotary! By the time you are reading this, we will have kicked off 2021, and we are all hopeful that soon we will emerge from the pandemic that has sheltered us in place since March. I am optimistic that this new year will bring us back together meeting in person just as in the good ol days…and I am hopeful that I may actually get to preside over a live meeting or two. It is my hope that 2021 well see us all back together – yet, we will likely never be quite the same.
Speaking of those good ol’ days, I decided to kick off the year with a new opening to our meetertainment meetings. I wanted to pay tribute to Niles Rotarians through the years as a way of looking back, respecting those members who helped build our Rotary and those who have kept it Niles Strong through its 83 year history. I sincerely enjoyed reviewing the archives, downloading pictures of past and current Niles Rotarians, and them passing them on to the creative geniuses that make our meetings so enjoyable. Additionally, I asked past Rotary International President Richard King to kick off our first meeting of 2021 reflecting on Rotary’s past and where he feels its future will take us.
Speaking of the future, our membership committee has provided excellent feedback regarding proposed changes to membership requirements. President Elect Audrey and I have worked together closely with a shared vision regarding membership far beyond my time as President. It is with deep and abiding respect of our Niles Rotary past and a vision to the future that we contemplate the changes that need to be made to keep our club relevant into the future. As we move forward in our contemplations on membership, we want to consider each member and the time, treasure, and talent that each bring to our shared Rotary table. Additionally, we want to make sure that any changes are fair to all concern. The importance of such deliberation with the input from our Membership Development Committee has taken longer than I expected. Yet, any such changes need to be carefully thought out. Rest assured that once we arrive at a shared vision, we will bring it to the club for additional input.
Onward into 2021 we go…..and it is my sincere hope and prayer that we are all blessed with great health as we continue to virtually meet on zoom!
Keep on Blooming!
President Dirk
And the Beat Goes On
Happy holidays Rotarians. As we kick off the Christmas season, I look back on what has been the first half of my presidency and can’t believe how time has flown. I recall past president Rose telling me that after Christmas, the time goes by even faster and pretty soon it’s demotion time. Now that said, we’re lagging on our demotions for obvious reasons as well as pretty much every other fellowship event for which we’ve traditionally gathered. I think I speak for each and every Niles Rotarian when I say how much we’ve missed one another physically. Yet, I think we are very grateful for the good health that our physical distancing has afforded us. I pray that as we set our sights on a new year, we will have new treatments and vaccines that will get us to the point where we can physically be together once again.
As I reflect on the first half of my presidency, my overwhelming thought goes to how Niles Rotarians have continued to be generous with their support of community and Rotary International efforts worldwide. I must also express my gratitude towards the Rotarians behind the scenes that have made our weekly Rotary meetertainment meeting …. entertaining! Jeff Schinkel, Aziz Akbari, Paul Phipps, and many others have contributed to creating unique meetings that we hope keep you engaged to the degree possible during unprecedented times. By the time you read this, we will be having our December 3 meeting to elect a new president-elect-elect and 2 board members (P.E.E. …. In again, a most unusual way). My hope for president-elect Audrey is that she can begin her year in traditional Niles Rotary fashion – and that our new P.E.E. can count on meetings that are what we’ve experienced for over 80 years – in person fellowship and fun while serving others.
As our attention starts to turn to the new year, I am excited for our Spring Fling event. This will be a new experience for Niles Rotary in having a fundraising event that is virtual. I want to once again remind the club that this does not replace the Elimination Raffle, as that will return in 2022. As you well know, the Spring Fling theme is based on the Laugh In show. The zany brain trust that is Niles Rotary will certainly entertain us that evening. Therefore, the beat will go on, in the form of the traditional Niles Rotary generosity to our community. This year, we will focus on purchasing chrome books for select elementary schools in our district.
My hope is that our members who celebrated Diwali enjoyed family and friendship and great food! For those celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas under challenging times, my prayer is that you can lean into your faith and find the peace necessary to carry you through the holiday season and into a new year full of good health and prosperity.
Keep on Blooming
President Dirk
Leading change!
It goes without saying that the pandemic of 2020 has taught us a new way to be Rotarians. It is very possible that I will be the first all-virtual (zoom) president in Niles Rotary history, never having the opportunity to stand before the entire club as president! (I certainly hope not!) Therefore, I don’t have to remind you that if there ever was a year where change ruled our lives, this year is that year! But I have to ask….Is our club ready for more change? Assessing our members’ readiness for change is a very important step in managing that change. To manage it well, your club leadership needs to address the personal and emotional changes that members experience when they need to adapt to new ways of thinking or acting. The desire to make changes must be shared by more than just myself or club leadership. Progress happens only when our club members at all levels agree that they want change and are ready to change how we do things. This in part explains our recent club survey.
In assessing our readiness…we need to ask each of ourselves these questions:
What results are we hoping for after we’ve made changes? What makes change successful? Some may raise objections or make negative comments about change, even threaten to leave the club. Why?
Most importantly, we need to focus on member involvement! As we look forward to someday meeting in person once again, the lasting effects of the new technologies we’ve embraced, as well as the convenience of zooming, are here to stay. We as a club need to also realize the effects this has had on being members and attracting new members. As we’ve seen some of our Rotary family leave the area, we need to not lose sight of the fact that they are family…and we need to have a membership that allows them to remain part of the Niles Rotary family. Therefore, as I wrote in last month’s Pinion, your club leadership will consider the new memberships and associated dues in the coming month….a remote membership as well as a digital membership. A committee has been meeting with Don Cole to assess the financial impact these new memberships will have on club finances. The zoom poll we’ve taken (more than once!) has further allowed us to gauge how YOU feel about live meetings, once or when we can resume, as well as livestream meetings. As we craft what these new memberships will look like and assess the needed dues to run our club, I want to touch on what these potential new member categories will look like. A Niles Rotary remote membership is one that considers those who have moved away or cannot physically attend a meeting due to one’s physical circumstances. It will encourage involvement in meetings when the eligible Rotarian is in town as well as encourage participation in the Elimination Raffle and community service projects if and when able. We would also like the club to consider a Niles Rotary digital membership. This membership would allow members to watch our meetings once live meetings resume, via livestream. Different than that of an eClub, this membership could include a requirement to attend a live meeting once a month, a social event as well as the elimination raffle, and the opportunity to attend our demotions as well as travel with Niles Rotarians attending the international convention.
While we consider such new memberships, we are also very aware of the need to socialize face to face. After all, which one of us does not miss seeing our fellow Rotarians at a lunch meeting or social / community services event. As we embrace the flexibility that Rotary International President Holger Knaack encourages, we continue to value the face-to-face fellowship that binds us and keeps us “Niles Strong.”
As we continue to zoom, please continue to Bloom!
President Dirk
Mentoring our “membership”
As I prepared to speak at the mentoring meeting in September, I reflected on what we are working to accomplish with that program. Obviously, we desire to improve retention of the new member or protégée, and integrate them into the club, moving them from red badge to blue quickly. We also want to support the protégée in the initial years of membership helping them find their passion in Rotary. To accomplish this we have a support system that is administered via our Membership Development Committee.
This said….one could say that we are working to make our new members Bloom in their Niles Rotary experience!
Would you not agree that one of the hallmarks of any Rotary experience is getting to know the clubs members? The relationships formed over time last a lifetime. I can’t help but to think back on my Rotary experience with another club in the 1980s. I am hard pressed to tell you the details of any one of the projects we did back then, although there were many. What I can tell you is of the relationships that were formed 35 years ago and the friendships that remain today. I have quoted time and again Past President Chuck who accurately states that there is nothing quite like “the energy in the room” when we all come together at a Niles Rotary meeting or fellowship event. (Personal note…if you have never stood back at a Niles rotary event and looked at the expression on any Rotarian’s face during that event, do so as you can see them Blooming in the experience of being with fellow Rotarians and absorbing that energy in the room).
With this being the case, why in the world should we as a club want to change the way we do Rotary? Well….in this time of Covid and at the suggestion of Rotary International President Holger Knaack, we need to focus on the opportunities of being flexible with regard to membership so that we can grow. To do so, we must “mentor our membership …. categories”. Just as we focus on moving the new member from red badge to blue, we as a club have to focus on moving the way we do Rotary from what it has been to what it needs to be to include a new generation of future Rotarians. To accomplish this, I am proposing two new membership categories:
As we move through the process of vetting the various requirements for both these new membership categories, please know that neither of these memberships is intended to detract from the benefits of our Traditional Niles Rotary Membership (TNRM) as both include components that incorporate some of the fellowship opportunities that create the “energy in the room” that we as Niles Rotarians value. What these membership are meant to accomplish is to open opportunities for potential members to make Mankind their Business …. Blooming in Rotary’s motto of Service above Self. For if we as Niles Rotarians truly believe that our mission in the Rotary experience is about service, then why would we not consider creating new ways for people to serve? Both myself and President Elect Audrey are passionate about growing our club in new ways and have been working closely on a multi-year vision that achieves these goals. Our challenge as a club over the next few years is to grow our club with the vision of service yet provide face to face opportunities to develop those Niles Rotary relationships that add so much to richness to the Rotary experience.
Keep on Blooming in Niles Rotary,
President Dirk
“You can’t always make the assumption that what’s obvious to you is obvious to everybody else!”
In a recent edition of the Rotarian magazine, an article with this title caught my attention. Aside from the implications this has to social media posts we see daily, I started thinking about how I’ve come to realize what may be obvious to our club’s leadership isn’t always as obvious to our members. As I recall, since joining Niles Rotary in 2012, each of our club presidents has worked to convey to our members how our club maintains fiscal viability and stewardship of the money YOU donate. Where does the club “make money” to allow us to meet our obligations to Rotary International, Washington Hospital (when we meet), as well as our local and international service projects? We have our meeting fees, when we actually attend meetings at Washington West. We also have a variety of recognitions in addition to how each member chooses how they wish to financially celebrate their birthday, wedding or rotary anniversary. How about the Happy Cup? When we were able to have it, what was done with 50% of the black ball marble proceeds? (the lucky person who draws the black marble gets to keep the other 50%). What is the impact of each member’s choice as to where they wish their donation to be directed? I don’t want to assume that everyone knows – therefore, I want to touch on these items in this and future articles as well as share my vision for the balance of my year as President of Niles Rotary.
Recall that in Past President Bruce’s year, he took time to prepare a PowerPoint that showed club dues and where that money is directed. Each member’s yearly dues during his year were $160.00. Of that, $88.15 went to Rotary International and $56.00 to our Rotary District 5170. This left $15.85 per member for Niles Rotary. It is obvious that $15.85 per member is not sufficient to operate our club and do the phenomenal work we do to make Niles Rotary Bloom! Also, these dues do not include our meeting fee of which approximately 3/4th of the $20 collected goes to pay for the food and use of our meeting room at Washington West (when we meet); nor do they include the required purchase (or sale) of an elimination raffle ticket or participation fees for Niles Rotary events throughout the year. I can’t fail to mention your donations to the Rotary Foundation via Every Rotarian Every Year (some of which our club makes on your behalf) nor contributions you make via a double sustainer for instance.
I am also reminded of how Past President Bruce wanted to have a social gathering for the second part of his Club Assembly to gain your input on dues and any other issue our members would like to discuss. I pledged to follow up with such a meeting, yet COVID-19 continues to rule the day in keeping us apart. Finding new ways to conduct our Rotary business is a challenge we are all embracing. With this in mind, I’d like to share my thoughts on meeting fees and fundraising.
When we started zooming, Past President Bruce desired to make the $20 meeting fee optional as he and your board recognized that COVID was impacting each member differently. I carried on the optional nature of paying this fee for the first quarter of my year as your president. For the second quarter, I have recommended that we suspend the option of paying a meeting fee altogether. Of course, should you desire to financially support our club over and above, there is always the Happy Cup!
With regard to fundraising, you have now heard that the Elimination Raffle will celebrate its 25th year in grand style in the spring of 2022. So…. what do we do in the Spring of 2021? All Niles Rotarians share a passion for education and assisting our youth and teachers. I proposed a Welcome Teacher Day event that would supply the necessary educational tools and supplies to assure success this school year. Yet once again, COVID has kept us from doing this as planned. Therefore, the Elimination Raffle committee has met and continues to meet to discuss how we can conduct a spring fundraiser to provide much needed supplies to our students and teachers. More on that in the months to come, yet I can assure you it will be a fun and entertaining event.
In this article I wanted to convey how our club leadership values each member and deeply cares for the club finances you charge us to oversee. With the above, I hope I provided information to validate how your club leadership works to make sure club finances are fair to all concerned and how our actions are meant to continue to Make US Bloom!
President Dirk
We meet Thursdays at 12:00 p.m.
Washington Hospital West
2500 Mowry Avenue
Conrad Anderson Auditorium
Fremont, CA 94538-1605
Map & Directions
Tune in to the Niles Rotary “meetertainment” meeting at 12 noon on Thursdays via Zoom for speakers and events.
