August is Membership Month, and building membership in 6650 is my priority for my 2017-2018. Why is membership so important? Because membership is like a good marriage. It requires constant attention and renewal. New members bring new ideas and new energy. New members replace members who leave. Every club, no matter how great and energetic, experiences significant attrition. In the United States, the average attrition rate is about  6% per year. So if your club has 50 members, you will likely lose 3 on average every year. Over a decade, that is half your club. If you have not been bringing in new members, your club will become increasingly less viable.

 

This year I have challenged every club to focus on membership and to bring new members into the club. Clubs who achieve the goal of a 10% net growth (minimum of 5 new members) will receive a Paul Harris Fellowship. I believe in incentives; hence the Paul Harris Fellowship for growth. However, I believe even more in natural incentives. Having new members reaffirms the prestige of being a member of your club, of being in the community group that has the vision and capability of moving your community forward.

 

I lived in Buffalo for 25 years. We had more of our share of football seasons that would make the Browns look like a dynasty by comparison. However, we did have a period when everything came together and we played in four straight Super Bowls. [Note that I have conveniently left off how we did in those Super Bowls.] I remember well a press conference in which a sports reporter asked Ralph Wilson, the owner of the Bills, how he planned to market the team in the coming year. Wilson looked puzzled as he replied, “You market a football team by winning.”

 

I do not believe that there is any special strategy to bring in new members. It is a combination of things that contribute to a club’s growth, starting with being the best club you can be. The 2017-2018 Presidential theme is Rotary: Making a Difference. If your club is improving the community, high quality members of your community will want to be a part of your club. But those potential members need to know about your achievements, so public relations is important. But even more important is to invite people to your club meetings on a regular basis. Do not try to read their mind about whether they want to be a Rotarian. Invite them to meet you and find out what you are doing as a club. I suspect that all will go away with a better appreciation for your club and will at least be more likely to support your club projects. However, many will want to learn more and may well want to join.

 

I have a button that reads “Get your ASK in Gear.” I got that button from John T. Capps, a Rotarians from North Carolina, who is a passionate speaker on behalf of Rotary. I am a Rotary member because someone invited me to a meeting and later invited me to join. I encourage you to ask people, but do not push too hard or too soon. That is a bit like proposing marriage on the first date. But invite people to meetings so that they can begin the Rotary dating process and, if the chemistry is right, will commit to membership!

 

I want to bring your attention to an incredible project within our district. It is called the Military Family Center (5495 Meese Road, Louisville, OH). This is an equine-therapy program for military vets and first responders suffering from PTSD. Research shows that working with horses has a very calming effect on people with PTSD, so our District wrote a grant to get equipment to provide physical rehabilitation to supplement such a program. What makes this grant particularly interesting is that a district in India contributed $20,000 to the program. In the past, we have contributed to numerous water programs in India.

 

I hope that all of you will consider visiting this program for the open house scheduled for September 23 from 10 AM until 1 PM. The program will be run by Pegasus Farm, a highly-regarded agency, which has provided similar treatment to children. Because it is probably not a good idea to have the children and PTSD patients in the same location, a beautiful horse farm was purchased in Louisville with funds raised through grants from Stark County foundations. In addition, Walsh University will be a partner providing physical and occupational therapy.

 

As great as this program is, the story behind it is even better. Our district submitted the original grant with another agency as a partner in 2014. Unfortunately, after we received the grant and purchased the equipment, an audit of the other agency found structural deficiencies in their buildings, which they could not afford to fix. Others might have returned the equipment and funds, but Rotarians do not give up easily. Led by PDG Meena Patel, Mike Pierce (Plain Twp), Ron Manse(Perry), Dan Fuline (Canton), PDG Phil Mariola and more than a dozen other Rotarians, they found another and even stronger partner agency (Pegasus Farm), they identified an incredible property for the program and raised money to lease the property so that it would not be sold to someone else, and then they worked with Pegasus and several Foundations to raise over one million dollars to purchase the farm and to run it for the next several years.

 

A theme of my talk to clubs is that Rotarians have a well-deserved reputation for getting things done. We see a problem, we find a solution, and we make it happen. In this case, we had to solve several unanticipated problems, but we did, and the result is a groundbreaking project to help our vets and first responders, which will serve as a model for program all over the country. This is just one of many reasons why I am proud to be a Rotarian and proud to call the many people who worked on this project friends and colleagues.