Some heart felt  thoughts: As you know I have been thinking a lot about our clubs membership level, how many members we tragically lost when the July renewal time arrived, what’s the current composition of the club and what could I/we do to make the club stronger and more able to deliver on our 2016-17 motto “Rotary Serving Humanity,” We need to stay strong.
While 170 members on the books is not at all bad, when I joined the club in the mid-80s we were always near the 200 member range, sometimes over and sometimes slightly under. I just remember a certain “spark” that that membership range possessed. The Wednesday meetings always felt like a packed house and there was a vibrancy that seemed to ignite between the members as the meetings unfolded, lots of kidding and joking as well as serious talk. Moving forward in time, that spark was made even brighter when women joined the club, and when we started attracting young people that spark grew even brighter.
But there was something about the club’s size that communicated a certain vitality that was unmistakable in Salem and District 5100. I am not longing to go back there as today has many new strengths but I would love to see that “vitality” added to the “special sparkle” that currently characterizes the Rotary Club of Salem – that size brought a kind of value-added pop.
With new members joining our ranks with regularity I feel like we could combine the best of our past with what we are currently doing so well, having great Wednesday programs, strong committee activity and projects that count.
While certain club members seem to propose new members from time to time, others have done it once or never. That is how I thought through the idea of everyone stepping up at least once this year and leading a new member through the process and then making sure they develop a long lasting connection to our membership.
Linda Wooters is a member who has over the years consistently proposed new members and made sure they bonded to this collection of community leaders. I see something special in Linda’s commitment to bringing in new members as part of her overall commitment to being a member of our club. So, lets pick up on her special brand of belonging and see how it feels if we walk in her shoes when it comes to proposing new  members. We can do this.
As always, thank you…
This week’s meeting: Oregon Dairy Princess Sara Pierson.
Sara Pierson, a 5th generation dairy farmer and full time student at Oregon State University, was chosen as the 2016 Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassador earlier this year.  As Oregon Dairy Princess Ambassador, Sara and the First Alternate, Gina Atsma, a student at Chemeketa Community College, will spend their time educating children and adults about where their milk comes from and how much care is taken to ensure the health and well being of every animal in the herd.  The 2015 Dairy Ambassador spoke to more than 15,000 students in classrooms throughout the state.  To date, Sara and Gina have already spoken to upwards of 10,000 students.
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