Newsletter from August 23, 2016

Classification Talk from Jack Maxwell III

His favorite color is blue, he has five kids and he wants a motorcycle!

But there is a lot more to Jack than just those three things!   Jack works at American Family Insurance as a broker and he’s finding his niche in the community and in business.   He also is becoming very involved in the community and in addition to being a Rotarian is also on the board for Newberg Kiwanis.  He’s been at Tunes on Tuesday every week for American Family Insurance, but thank heavens, his booth is next to Rotary’s as he has helped put up and take down our booth each week.   That’s just who Jack is, a friendly, helpful, giving person.

But as Jack related, his path to where he is today was pretty bumpy.  His parents divorced and he didn’t see his dad for years, in fact, not until his mom went to prison and his dad took him in for a few years, that weren’t good years.  He ended up back with his mom but then as freshman in HS had a heart condition that took him out of school and got him addicted to pain pills.  He dropped out, got his GED and roamed around for awhile.   He ended up on drugs and three years ago found the way out.  He surrendered himself to God, the group Provoking Hope found him and Helping Hands supported him and even employed him as a house manager.  Ben Jaquith helped him and hired him in his office.

Jack gives back because people helped him.  He joined Rotary as Rotary has supported Helping Hands.  He coming on 2 years of sobriety.  He now lives his life under these words; Selflessness, Openness, Helpfulness.

Jack, thank you for sharing your story.  It’s a positive one and we’re glad to have you as a Rotarian.

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Briefs…

Guests included , Josh Moore (son of Denise Bacon), Julie Johnson and Mike Boock.  Welcome!

Marge O’Connell did the Reflection this week and reflected on the impact of women being Rotarians and not RotaryAnnes in the last 30 years.    Something to think about.

Saturday, September 19th is the Peace Conference.  Suzanne Miller has more info on this.

Jeff Lane received his third Paul Harris Fellow Pin for contributions to The Rotary Foundation (TRF).  Thanks for your support of Polio and other efforts of TRF including support for our own Nepal project,

Leah Griffith shared that the library’s summer reading program (supported by  Rotary) has been a big success with over 2,800 participants  There are a few of the t-shirts left over and are available for $5 with the funds going to the 2016 program.

Walter Want did the Duck and asked everyone to report on safety issues in honor of his almost drowning while cleaning the pond at the accounting office and of course Walter is a safety professional.   It was good for a few stories.

Strategic Plan Review:

Geoff Gilmore shared the update of the club’s strategic plan that was developed in 2012 and needed to be reviewed.   The board met a couple of weeks ago with Geoff and did the SWOT analysis of our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  We also worked on the activities for the next couple of years.  See the report following.  You’ll all be involved more as we move forward.

Club Strategic Plan Review

Newberg Noon Rotary Planning

August 2015

SWOT Analysis

1. Strengths
2. Great fundraising
3. Friendships
4. Strong reputation for ROTARY name
5. Strong leadership
6. Good balance of long-term members and new members
7. Active in the community

1. Weaknesses
2. Weak follow-through
3. Strong competitors and meeting time is an issue
4. Small size of club membership and resources
5. History of: “easier to write a check” vs. “going out and doing something” mentality
6. Cost of membership & scholarships

1. Opportunities
2. Develop a strong membership committee
3. Develop a stronger mentoring program
4. Work on developing student internships
5. Increase membership participation
6. Develop a stronger BRAND within the community

1. Threats
2. Failure to capture member’s passion
3. Failure to not continue succession planning
4. Aging of club members
5. Perception of club as “old fogies”

1. Maintenance Goals
   1. Auction/Pancake Breakfast goals
   2. Implementation of succession plan
   3. Having fun, interesting programs
   4. Continue recruiting
   5. Stay dedicated to mission
   6. Continue friendships and relationship building

III. Potential Stretch Goals (Ranked highest to lowest priority)

1. Improve branding within the community (6 votes)
2. Mentor program for new members (5 votes)
3. TRF and Rotary International Programs (4 votes)
4. Develop youth internship program (4 votes)
5. Engage membership to be more active on committees (1 vote)
6. Complete Rotary Centennial Park (1 vote)
7. Reduce reliance on membership scholarships (0 votes)
8. Build a strong culture that attracts members (0 votes)
9. Establish a young professional mentoring program (0 votes)
10. Review the time of day that projects are scheduled (0 votes)
11. Establish GFU Rotaract Club

1. Action Plan (SMART Goals…..who/what/when)

1. New member mentoring
   1. 1. Laura/Jim/Paula
   2. Increase the number of new members
   3. Improve member retention
   4. Assign new member mentors
   5. Begin work in August

1. Rotary Foundation and Rotary International
   1. Mike/Andrew/Marge
   2. Develop plan with targets
   3. Begin work in August

1. PR/Branding in Community
   1. Leah/Suzanne/Denise
   2. Website
   3. Shirts
   4. Face book
   5. Magnetic car signs
   6. ROW
   7. Business cards
   8. Start in August

1. Youth Internships
   1. Geoff
   2. Develop plan
   3. Start September