This Week at Rotary
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Lunch Buffet
11:30 AM START
At
Kitchi Gammi Club
Allen Anway
Keen Observer, Extraordinary Photographer
“So, You Want to Be a Photographer?”
Get ready to see photograph images captured by the keen eye and magical lens of Allen Anway! Allen Anway promises to dazzle Club 25 with a selection of photographs that will have you looking at the world with fresh wonder. Who knew the earth was so beautiful?
Upcoming Club #25 Events & Meetings:
Auction Committee
Kitchi Gammi Club
February 6
1:00 p.m.
Club #25 Outing: The One Act Play that Goes Wrong
Duluth Playhouse
February 6
7:30 p.m.
Fellowship Breakfast
Kitchi Gammi Club
February 14
7:30 a.m.
Highlights from Last Week’s Meeting
By Patra Sevastiades
The room of cheerful Rotarians was called to order by President Elizabeth Simonson, who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Rotary Four-Way Test.
Past President and Past Assistant District Governor Phil Strom offered the Reflection. He noted the rapid clip of technological breakthroughs. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has further quickened the speed of information sharing and is an engine of wealth creation. Along with its promise is the risk of AI going rogue. “There’s no way to keep the genie in the bottle, and it will be interesting to see what develops in the future,” he said.
Past President and Past Assistant District Governor Phil Strom
President Elizabeth welcomed our guests, Judith Sage, wife of Allen Anway, and speaker Ted Schick, who will share the results of Club 25’s recent survey.
Past President and Past Assistant District Governor
Al Makynen announced that there will be an Auction-and-Gala Committee meeting today right after the lunch meeting. Our annual fundraiser will be held on Thursday, May 8, at the Kitchi Gammi Club. Please add it to your calendar!
Greg Hansen and
Al Makynen are co-chairs. If you are interested in being involved, let
Greg Hansen know (
GHansen@hansenhouseco.com).
The Auction-and-Gala Committee in action!
Geiger Yount made a request. A Harborside International School Junior Rotarian is interested in learning about Bennington College (Vermont). Do you know of anyone with connections to the college? If so, please let
Geiger Yount know (
geigman@aol.com).
Geiger Yount
Assistant District Governor and Past President
Dean Casperson self-reported and fined himself. That very morning, he sent out an email requesting donations for the Rotary Club 25 scholarship program, and he misspelled “scholarship”! Want to help with this worthy cause? Let
Dean Casperson know (
deancasperson1@gmail.com) or make out a check to the Rotary Club of Duluth Foundation.
Mea Culpa: Assistant District Governor and Past President Dean Casperson
President
Elizabeth Simonson announced that on Thursday, February 6, Rotarians are invited to attend the Playhouse’s upcoming production, “
The One Act Play that Goes Wrong” (7:30p.m., NorShor Theatre).
Renee Burns has graciously booked a block of twenty seats at $50. Please respond by 1/24 (
renee@trinitycreekllc.com)
Join President Elizabeth Simonson invites all to join her at the Playhouse on February 6th
Ted’s favorite audience members: Allen Anway and his wife, Judith Sage
It quickly became clear that Ted has done stand-up comedy; as he took the mic, he asked that everyone turn their phones to “off” or “stun.” Ted served in the US Navy for 20 years, first as a diesel mechanic and later as a surface warfare officer. He was a teacher in ISD 709. This is his sixteenth year as a corporate trainer.
It's not his first time at Club 25, however: twelve years ago, he spoke on the topic, “Where Is Your Inner Rotarian?” Ted was a Rotarian in Cloquet for twelve years and taught at
Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) each year.
He launched into today’s topic, “Recruitment, Retention, and Engagement.”
Change involves three things, Ted said:
It takes time to change.
You must involve the people who will be affected by change.
It’s all in the details.
You need concepts (“We should recruit more young people!”) and tactics (“How will we do that?”)
He noted that service organizations across the board are struggling. What it means to be a Rotarian has changed. Originally, Rotary was a networking group that did good. Now we must ask the question, “What does it mean to be a Rotarian?” He went over the results of our survey.
_________________________________________________________
What keeps people coming to Rotary? We like each other!
How satisfied are we with Club 25? 8 or 9 (on a scale of 1 to 10).
What gets people to meetings?
Quality programs.
- Fellowship.
- Having a responsibility at the meeting.
- Mandatory meeting attendance is no longer viable. Ideas came up:
- Committee membership could be mandatory for new members, e.g., they could immediately become part of the Club Service Committee (serving as greeter, etc.).
- Establish a minimum number of meetings required to attend in the first 90 days.
- Re-establish mentoring norms.
- Use texting, etc., to communicate.
How shall we make a difference?
- Help the youth of our area.
- Help Second Harvest Northland.
_____________________________________________________________
Overall, Ted said, the two takeaway messages from the survey were:
Every new member is gold: we must engage them.
Every Thursday is a show: we must offer outstanding programs to attract and retain new members.
Ted’s challenge is that we each ask ourselves, “Could I do more?”
Speaker Ted Schick challenged us to ask ourselves, “Could I do more?”
Geiger invited Ted to become a Rotarian. Ted thanked us for listening.
President Elizabeth thanked Ted, then described the next step: Ted will meet with the Strategic Planning Committee to discuss survey results and formulate tactics. She thanked our guests.
Tim Mowbray won the 50/50 drawing of $36.
Next week, Allen Anway will present his not-to-be-missed Annual Photography Presentation!
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