Nine committed Rotarians met this week for lunch and began a dynamic discussion and enjoyed an incredible presentation by Acting President John. 

 

Caroline raised a pre-meeting conversation that she and Tony had begun about the Club and its direction.  She urged the Club to consider its “why” and how it would continue to provide a value proposition for members.  Ideas began to fly and the conversation became quite dynamic.  Various opinions were expressed:  Liane – We need to provide flexibility for 30-50 somethings who are incredibly busy and can’t come to lunch meetings and don’t really want to come to these meetings; Bob – he never would have met many Rotarians without coming to meetings and he feels there is value in the weekly meetings; Tony – he asks individuals and tries to pitch the Club person by person; Kristin – asking individuals is not going to get it done and we need a more focused membership effort; John – we should be focusing on getting speakers to join; Caroline observed that we have tried that again and again but speakers have not joined; John – perhaps Rotary being in the Halloween parade; Liane – we have tried and parades haven’t worked well; Caroline – we could do something for World Polio Day next Thursday – purple pinkie day is a great Rotary idea – raise money when people donate for getting their pinkies painted purple – all it takes is a few bottles of nail polish, a small table, a few volunteers and a big jar for donations.  Caroline observed that this discussion is so rich and important – she urged the Club to schedule some designated time to talk about the “why” of Barre Rotary and how to focus on membership in the coming year.

 

Bruce gave the Secretary’s Report in his inimitable fashion (“Since last we met….) and Ted reported that all members have paid their dues, except one, and that we have been in the red for the past three lunches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rotarians were next treated to an amazing presentation by Acting President John on his extraordinary hobby of building military models.  John showed a Power point that presented pictures of the many, many models that hehas designed, created and built over the years.   He started when he was a young man and grew into this focus out of his love for WWII history.  He derives his inspiration from historical photos depicting the war.  He has been published in numerous model magazines and shared some of these articles with us.  John is truly gifted in this endeavor and his passion shines with each micro-representation of the last World War.

 

 

Caroline won the raffle but chose to donate back the $5 given the deficit for the lunches as of late.