Minutes: The One with the Giant Zucchini (08/08/2012)

President David Velarde called the meeting to order.

Invocation: Tim Marme
Pledge: Bill Boyd
Raffle: Connard Hogan brought place settings and a bottle of wine

Visiting Rotarians: Kathleen Blake, Nick Frankle

Guests: Maurice Moreno

Club Announcements:

• Pay and tell
• Don Bennett‘s band performs Sunday at 2 PM at Stow House.
• Steve Boehm has a reiki training coming up in Sept. ask him if you’re interested.
• Scott Burns received an email from someone in the Rotary Club of DC looking for $1,500 for a project. Watch your email for details. Whether or not you want to give, this reminds us we can ask for support from non-Rotarians for our projects, too.
• Tim Marme announced $17,500 presented to the Rotary Club of SB Sunrise Foundation. The money funds our charitable programs and grants.
• District Seminars last weekend: Sunrise was well represented at the Membership and PR seminar and the Foundation seminar
• Fiesta float: Some actual sailors joined the float. Saw a lot of support for our service officers. Float won President’s Award. Five of the eight Group 8 presidents were on the float along with District Governor Frank Ortiz.
• Club members who attended the seminars or helped decorate the Fiesta float were awarded coupons good for a free raffle ticket on a week of their choosing. More of these coupons may appear following other club and district activities.
• Rendezvous: Summer of Rock concert in the park at Chase Palm Park. Join on the pink blankets.
• Thank you to those who accepted club service positions:

1. Family of Rotary — support for members or their family members in need: Joanne Orenstein
2. Speaker recognition — provide plaques for dictionaries to speaker to sign: Susan Klein-Rothschild and Bill Ringer
3. Rendezvous coordinator — the person who picks the party place: Jeff Boehm

• 8/7: sea serpent day. 8/8: sneak some zucchini into your neighbor’s porch night. How will you celebrate?
• Raffle. David Velarde won.

Program: In honor of Rotary Membership month, Membership Chair David Vo invited Nick Frankle, Rotary Club of Westlake Village, and the executive assistant governor for District 5240, to present “Making a difference through membership.”

• Ignite is a new membership program from Ken Boyd, our RI director, aiming to reverse the 5-year downward membership trend in District 5240 and other districts of Zone 25 and 26.
• Ignite is a 2-year program.
• Every member has a role in membership. These can even be small tasks: greeters, mentors, someone who calls prospects and personally invites them, keep records, host someone at a meeting…
• Ideas to increase membership: proposal card, simultaneous inductees, former members, community projects, friends of the club president
• Every member needs a friend, a job and nourishment (ie Rotary information, internal satisfaction and recognition).
• Every avenue of service is a membership opportunity.
• New members need special attention: 50% of members leave within first three years.
• Veteran members need special attention, too.
• The district is keeping score with a form, which the membership chair will fill out. Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Sunrise aspires to be a premier club.
• At 70 members, Sunrise becomes a large club. David Velarde says OK.
• We donate 15 dictionaries in Nick’s name to third graders.