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.

 

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.

 

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. 

 

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.

  

 

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!

 

 

Dr. Steve Jones won the weekly raffle. The meeting was adjourned.