President Michael Desplaines turned the podium over to Jeff Wells who introduced the Rotarian of the Day, Tom Ambler. Of note, Tom enjoyed a forty-year career with Norfolk Southern in various cities. He retired in 2018 and enjoys living in Norfolk. (Tom also serves as the Parliamentarian for our Board of Directors, a valuable service to our club.) Tom then introduced our program: President-Elect Laurie Harrison and Dave Duncan presented the need for a strategic planning process to guide our club operations for the next five years.
Laurie provided background information on our club and the rationale for conducting the planning process before the start of our next fiscal year on July 1st. She introduced Dave Duncan, a noted expert in strategic planning for the healthcare community.
Dave explained that Rotary International has a well-defined process for clubs and districts to conduct strategic planning. From the top-down, Dave reviewed the Values, Vision, Mission, Goals, and Objectives of Rotary International. But before analyzing or selecting our values, etc., we must “determine our status.”
There are several components in this step. First, we should understand the make-up of our club. Laurie provided data showing that 50% of our members are over 70. She indicated that 25% are between 60 and 69 years old. That leaves another 25% under age 60.
Laurie also shared that we are historically a generous club; over the 108 years of our club history, there have been 350 Paul Harris Fellows. Our Endowment with the Hampton Roads Foundation has grown to $816,078. This year alone we will have over $28K in monies to give out in grants to local charities.
Finally, we need input from our members to determine in which direction we want to head. To that end, a survey will be emailed out soon. We should all think about what we value in our club, what we don’t, and where we think the club needs to focus. Laurie and Dave exhorted us to seriously participate in this important first step in our strategic planning.
The Meeting
President Michael, back from his jaunt to Arizona and Hawaii, turned to Sigur Whitaker for our singing. “When you’re happy and you know it” was followed by “You’re a Grand Ole Flag.” Following the pledge of allegiance and the Four-Way Test, Jim Sell stepped up with an impromptu but trenchant invocation.
Visitation/Introduction of Visitors
Brian McGuire had no report—good news!
Al Carmichael introduced Laura Beth DeHority, a local woman who is moving back to the area, and who is interested in membership.
Club Business
President Michael announced that Ocean View Elementary was the School of the Week.
The first meeting of the month—and the first in-person meeting of the year—led to a long list of birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Collins Gooch Jan 02 Stephen Kirkland Jan 08 Greg Bockheim Jan 09 Donald Dohmann Jan 11 Ann Baldwin Jan 18 Paul Sykes Jan 19 Deborah Davis Jan 20 February Birthdays Bill Lehew Feb 01 Amanda Workman Feb 07 Bill Eisenbeiss . Feb 08 Kay Kemper Feb 13 Fred Walker Feb 13 John Cameron Feb 22 Stephen M. Jones Feb 22 Rick Coradi Feb 24 | February Anniversaries 3 years, Brian & Kyra McGuire Feb. 02, 2019 6 years, Dr. Steve & Wanda Jones Feb. 29, 2016 | February Rotary Anniversaries 47 years, Joe New Feb. 01, 1975 20 years, Collins Gooch Feb. 11, 2002 5 years, Marilyn Gowen Feb. 14, 2017 12 years, Bernie Cohen Feb. 16, 2010 2 years, Bob Batcher Feb. 19, 2020 |
To emphasize the generosity of club members, Sigur announced that thirteen club members had reached new milestones as Paul Harris Fellows.
-Rob Sult, one of our newest members, became a Paul Harris Fellow.
-Tom Ambler and Diane Wallach plus 1
-Chris Bugg and Michelle Nettles plus 2
-Marty Raiss plus 3
-Alan Nelson and Chick Robison plus 4
-Al Carmichael and Michael Desplaines plus 5
-Jim Kitz and Joey Rothgery plus 6
Congratulations to all!
Happy Bucks & Fines
- Gus Stuhlreyer has been a longtime fan of the Cincinnati Bengals so he was happy to donate a large sum in celebration of their victory.
- Chris Bugg and Sigur Whitaker are betting on an important game involving Sigur’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina. Sigur was not particularly optimistic about the outcome but she pointed out how many achievements she had witnessed and remains hopeful.
- Michelle Nettles received a “Best of House” award.
- Michael Desplaines contributed because he had been in the relative warmth of Arizona and Hawaii for four weeks.
- Brian McGuire donated via Venmo to celebrate 3 years of marriage.
Dr. Steve Jones won the weekly raffle. The meeting was adjourned.