Club Assembly Minutes February 26, 2405
Opening and Meals
After fourteen Rotarians participated in the opening rituals, President Caroline called on Tony to explain the catering situation. He had met with Taylor of Campo di Vino and learned that she no longer had the capacity to cater for our club. Tony has now secured the services of Gusto’s. Today’s meal came with no dessert and so Tony provided cannoli from Campo di Vino.
Nicole Announces
Nicole reiterated last week’s announcement. Community Grant applications due date is February 28th. A committee will decide the receipts of the awards at a meeting at the Barre Social Club on Tuesday, March 4th at 5:30 pm. Awards will be given out at the annual Pie For Brunch event on April 5th.
Request for a Contribution
Karl rose to explain the 143 Newbury Initiative. The effort so far has the unanimous endorsement by the BADC’s Board of Directors who have pledged $75,000 in donations. The purchase will require a public fundraising campaign. BADC has requested $400,000 from the City Council and will need to raise $625,000 from the business community and the public. The ultimate objective is to sell the property to a private developer or transfer it to the City for $1.00. The potential ultimate uses of the property might include building a hotel, retail/office space or housing.
Rotary supports local economic development.
After a few questions, one of the most serious focused on pollution under the building and the area surrounding it. Karl said that the city has dealt with adjacent areas, especially the rear parking lot, but cannot do anything about the pollution under the building itself.Karl moved and Nicole seconded that the Rotary Club of Barre contribute $5000 to the 143 Newbury Initiative. Call the vote: 14 yes/0 no. Motion carried unanimously.
Since Last We Met
Club Anniversary: Angelina Debeaupuis February 22, 2023 2 years
On this day in history: In 1951 American novelist
James Jones published From Here to Eternity, about the U.S. Army in Hawaii before the 1941
attack on Pearl Harbor; it was later adapted into an
Academy Award-winning movie with Frank Sintra and Donna Reed winning Best Supporting Actor and Actress.
On this day in history: Forced to abdicate as French emperor in 1814,
Napoleon escaped from exile on the island of
Elba this day in 1815.
President Caroline introduced the work session of our Club Assembly: Membership. She reminded us that membership recruitment and retention is a total club effort. If we don’t all participate in a rigorous effort to add new members to our club roster, the club may fold.
MEMBERSHIP CLUB ASSEMBLY
The following are notes taken from our group discussion about membership at the 02/26/25 Club Assembly. Two questions were posed to the group. The bullet points below represent many of the comments of our members. We also identified a few Action Steps toward enhancing our membership.
How is Your Membership Going?
Joined the Club due to the Barre Rotary Art Splash.
Like that in Rotary we focus on the positive.
It is important to invite guests to meetings based on a program that might appeal to them.
Enjoy volunteering.
Like that being in Rotary means that I interact with others who I would not ordinarily meet.
Feeling conflicted for the future of the Club.
Overwhelmed by current officer duties but still feel positive about the Club.
Feel like I am doing good things for the Club and that is satisfying.
Nice that we could update our payment system to accept all payment forms at concession. Feel like we are adapting.
Worried about Club & its future.
The Club could have a big role in promoting peace.
We are set in our ways. We need to change.
As get older, I want to be less involved in the Club but I still enjoy when I participate in service activities.
Feel welcome when attend meetings.
Would love re-classification talks so newer members can get to really know more senior members.
The meeting is fun & friendly.
As I age, not as much “hands on” participation but I have found a new niche in Club Service in other ways.
Not overly worried about Club.
Does not like to be asked to be on Committees.
Since joining in the past year, two members have left. Has anyone asked them why?
2. How Can We Enhance Membership?
Recognize why being a Rotarian is different from being a member of another organization.
For younger people, we need to promote engagement.
Personal invites to our meetings are very important.
We need more people at the meetings as we have good programs.
We need to promote more respect for other members. Why are they not here with us & is there a reason?
Fines can get out of hand.
We have no f/u at our big events, where we could capture interest in Rotary & potential membership.
We need to ensure that newer Rotarians have mentors. In the past, this has been the person who sponsored their membership.
We need to have our house in order before we invite new prospective members.
Would love more business professionals as members.
Should we identify the ideal member? Does the Four Way Test already do that?
We need a multi-faceted approach to gaining new members: Personal invites; service projects.
A series of events would be helpful to gain new members. Perhaps a service project.
The new members should become immediately involved in the operation of the Club, e.g. assisting Sergeant at Arms in welcoming members at the table; being a greeter, etc..
3. Action Steps for Enhancing Membership
Engagement: For every organized event, the chair should create a volunteer sign-up sheet to be circulated by members during the event, which encourages attendees to sign up to volunteer for the event the following year. This can also be complemented by a poster bearing a QR Code to sign up to volunteer or get to know Rotary better. (E.g. Breakfast, Pie for Brunch, Concession Stand, Coat Wrap, etc…)
Engagement: Organize a Peace Forum (or similar event that would bring a great speaker to panel to discuss one of Rotary’s Areas of Focus) to be held at a location like the Opera House.
Engagement: Invite every Speaker & every recipient of funds to join us at a future meeting to get to know our Club better. Remind them that it is important to support the community that supports them!
Engagement: Every Rotarian works on identifying one person they can invite to a program/service project that might appeal to them and commit to inviting at least one person over the next few months OR we schedule one big Meet & Greet with a great speaker for one of our meetings & our members concentrate their invites for that one meeting so that we have a critical mass of folks attending.
We would love to hear your feedback on these ideas & action steps! Please share with President Caroline at cse@earlefreemanlaw.com or call at
(802) 279-7973.
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