Members in Attendance (10):  Dick Drumm, Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Kevin Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, Andy Leyhane, and Terry Brewer.

By Zoom (2):  Charlie Foote and Debbie Rodriguez.

Guests (0):

President Peter Brown called the meeting to order. 

Theme for the Year: “Building Community”

MEETING NOTES:

Iron Giraffe Bowl-a-Thon: The bowl-a-thon will be held on Sunday April 14 from 2 pm until 4 pm. The cost will be $13 per person for 50 bowlers. Per Phil Kellerman, he will ask for sponsors next week.

Water for Kenya: Tony Kasura, one Peter and Debbie Brown’s guides during their trip to Maasai Mara Kenya, and Edith Kenara of the Rotary Club of Enkare Karok talked about the different areas for the proposed well. They are now looking for a public school in need of a bore hole.

PETS Training: Roberto Martinez reported that the four free virtual pre-PETS trainings are scheduled for Monday, February 5th at 7 pm, Tuesday, February 13th at 7 pm, Wednesday, February 21st at 7 pm and Thursday, February 29th at 7 pm.

The Rotary District in-person PETS training will be held March 15th through 17th at the Double Tree in Syracuse. Mario Cesar Martins de Carmargo from Brazil, the RI President for 2025-26, will be attending. Register early to secure a hotel room. For further information go to http://www.RotaryEmpireMDPETS.org. Roberto proposed that the Club help cover the costs for some members to attend.

Next Meeting: Thursday, January 25th at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Also, you can join the by Zoom using the link on the websites calendar page. Our speaker Dr. Kumar will give an update on Polio Eradication.

Entree choices will be Chicken Rustica Salad, Chicken Marsala and Eggplant Parmesan.

Terry Brewer has served as the SRC Club’s Membership Chair many, many times and has facilitated many Club discussions on membership. He has also served on the Rotary District Membership Committee. Membership is what gives us the ability to carry out our activities. It is a difficult time to attract new members. Not only is our Club aging, but the circle of friends we can recruit from is now in their late sixties and early seventies. We have lost many of our connections with local businesses and many no longer support community-based organizations. Declining membership in our District over the years led to a District reorganization.

Terry asked several questions. What are we doing about membership? Do we need to re-emphasize what Rotary is? What type of members to we want? Do we want members on paper or members who actively participate? What do we do to bring in new members? Are we offering a local, national and/or international themed Club? Is our Club too expensive? Along with the yearly membership fee and participating in the dinners, many of our resources come from member donations.

When we bring in new members, what are we doing to support them? Do they know who to contact for issues and concerns? Can they navigate the website? What do we do to follow up with new members? What activities can we do to engage and sustain members? Are we listening to what our members need and want? Are we asking them what they want from this Club to support them?

Member discussion produced several suggestions such as coming up with a signature event. We also need to come up with goal(s) and plan how to meet these goals. We also need to be more visible and define our “hook”. We need to get people thinking.

Membership is an ongoing conversation.

Happy Birthday Debbie!