Meeting – March 23, 2016
Attendance:
18 out of 25 members attended.
Schedule:
See the Upcoming Events section on the left side of the Crete Rotary home page. You may click on a specific event to get more details.
- March 30 – Highway cleanup (weather permitting)
- April 6 – Ian McKeithen, Doane’s new basketball coach
- April 13 – Doane students who comprise the Relay for Life Committee
- April 20 – Dr. Ramesh Laungani will describe grants from the National Science Foundation
- April 27 – Youth Cabin cleanup
To finish up the year, the program planners for May are Vicky Johnson and Max Kathol. Planners for June are Tom Parker and Cody Vance.
Old Business:
Alec announced that our RYLA students will be Anna Perez and Colin Maly.
Alec also noted that the Rotary scholarship applications are due in early April.
The CAMC Health Fair will be the week of April 4-8. We will need volunteers to help staff reception/registration during the week.
The Crete Elementary School carnival will be Friday, April 15. We need four volunteers each shift – 5:45-7:15pm and 7:00-8:30pm.
New Business:
Jim Fahrnbruch announced that new District Governor Gary Bren will visit on July 27.
Jim F. also stated that he would like to plan on having a Club Assembly in April or May to work on club goals and committee assignments. (Note: Programs a lined up for April so we will plan it in May.)
John described the District Training Assembly that will be held Saturday, April 2 at the Innovation Campus in Lincoln. It will include seminars on multiple tracks including Foundation, Membership, Club Building, New Generations, and Support. Among the sessions offered will be Grants Management which is required in order to receive a District Grant for 2016-17. The cost of attendance is $30. Jim F. made a motion that the Club pay the fee for up to four members. Tom Parker seconded the motion and it carried. Jim F will coordinate attendance.
John asked for a straw poll of the club about attending a Lincoln Saltdogs baseball game this summer. “Strike Out Polio” would be a fundraiser for the Rotary efforts to eradicate polio. A percentage (25%) each ticket sold will be given to the polio program and credited to the respective club. A number of members expressed interest in attending. It was generally agreed that weekdays would be preferred over weekends. John will forward the information to the event organizers.
By acclamation, John was designated to be Crete’s official delegate for the District 5650 annual meeting on May 12.
Cody Vance was asked by Theresa Vernon of the Saline County Fair Board if the Rotary Club would be willing to take over the organization of the annual fair parade. Jack Thompson will contact Theresa for more details.
New Member:
We inducted Janelle McGinnis as our newest member. Janelle is a graduate of Crete High School and Doane College. She is employed at Great Western Bank. Welcome Janelle!
Paul Harris Fellow:
Alec Engebretson was recognized as our newest Paul Harris Fellow. The Fellowship honors Rotary members who have made accumulated contributions of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. Congratulations Alec. Thank you for your generous support.
Officers for 2016-2017:
Jim Fahrnbruch announced the Club officers for 2016-17. They are:
President: Jim Fahrnbruch
President-Elect: Jack Thompson
Secretary: Craig Snyder
Treasurer: Jim Johnson
Thank you to the officers for serving our Club.
Club Assembly:
Instead of breaking into individual committees to discuss plans for the next quarter, we held an open forum on topics related to the committees.
The first topic was to identify a project to submit for a District Grant. The deadline for submitting proposals is May 31. Additionally, we must have at least two club members attend a Grants Management seminar during the current year. One suggestion was to help provide a new roof or new siding on the Youth Cabin. John will contact the Youth Cabin board to determine how much the Cabin is used by Crete citizens.
Public Relations:
- It would be good to have someone post updates from the Club on multiple forms of social media, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Since we are now members of the Crete Chamber of Commerce, we should advertise our events with the Chamber.
- We discussed advertising Rotary when we volunteer for various service opportunities. It was noted that the inflatable Rotary emblem is not good for some indoor venues given that it uses a fan to keep it inflated. John agreed to make a generic Rotary poster that could be used.
- We would like to investigate clothing options such as polo shirts, t-shirts, etc. The PR Committee will check out options.
- It would be good to have name tags with Rotary lanyards. John will investigate.
Service:
- Craig Snyder stated that Stephanie at Wal-Mart asked if we would be willing to pick up litter (primarily Wal-Mart shopping bags) along East 29th Street on the south side of the store once or twice a month. They would pay $50 each time. We will discuss further. Several things were noted:
- The initial cleanup won’t be easy but subsequent cleaning shouldn’t be difficult if we do it on a regular basis.
- $50 twice/month would be a significant boost to our fundraising.
- Maybe we could get other groups to help on an occasional basis, e.g., the high school National Honor Society, Doane sororities and fraternities, etc.
Fundraising:
- Keep the current Grocery Grab.
- Explore the road cleanup offer from Wal-Mart (see above).
- Host a pancake feed or hire the Waffleman.
Social:
- Bret offered to help host a BBQ-style social event.
Membership:
- Ask every member to bring a guest at least one per year.
- Provide an orientation for new members to help them understand expectations and responsibilities.
