At Lincoln South Rotary Club on October 2, 2020, John Herdman and Tami Lambie engaged us in conversation about healthy club membership.
Impact starts with our members - people like you who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.
It may seem obvious - but we have ask before someone will join Rotary. Ask co-workers, colleagues, customers, friends, people we know from church, our doctors . . . anyone. You might find out what interests them - community service, fellowship, business connections. Perhaps they are interested in helping those in need, serving youth, public health, or providing clean water or planting trees.
Then share the Rotary stories.
- Tell the story of how we have 20% of our members that deliver Meals on Wheels and provide other volunteer services to Tabitha.
- Talk about our connection with Rotaract and support of RYLA.
- Tell them the Polio story - how Rotary is the main reason we have nearly eradicated polio; we started in 1986 with a goal of raising money through The Rotary Foundation; we are down to only 2 endemic countries - Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is largely due to the resources provided by Rotarians - funds and volunteers.
- Talk about The Rotary Foundation Global Grants that help provide clean water - new wells and storage tanks.
- Tell them how every club in Rotary was challenged to plant trees and how our club provided seedlings as well as trees for a Habitat for Humanity home.
- Talk about how Rotarians become our friends.
- Tell them how you look to Rotary first when you need a service or professional - we know they have a high level of ethics.
Through all of this - together - we connect people.
Once a person joins Rotary, to get the most out of it and for Rotary to benefit, we need to engage them.
- Make them feel welcome and part of the group.
- Welcome their ideas.
- Remember what they said interested them, and connect them with that committee or activity.
Rotary offers weekly opportunities to learn about our community and our world. Lincoln South Rotary Club has a rich history of providing dynamic speakers about important organizations and activities. Our most recent speakers is such an example:
- We recently heard the story of Dr. Casey Bowen who swam the English Channel.
- We learned about Nebraska Wesleyan University from Dr. Darrin Good; we were surprised to learn about some of the very effective programs.
- Roger Lempke provided us with the story about how Nebraska was affected by the events of 911.
We were asked if we liked the Zoom format - there were mixed results.
Then we were asked if the Zoom format would actually provide more membership opportunities - for people who can give up some time but not over an hour for lunch.
We were asked to share what keeps us interested in Rotary and that ranged from service projects, meeting our community leaders that are our speakers, and building friendships among our membership.
We can all do our part to make sure that Lincoln South Rotary Club thrives by recruiting and retaining members.
We had a visitor from another club and welcomed his comments from his experiences - thank you Roger.
Through all of this - together - we connect people.