Rotarian interview

Today I spoke with Ryan Hyland of the Rotarian. He called to interview me about what our club is doing to help the community after the recent fires. We talked for several minutes about my feelings about Rotary (very positive), what we did (helped both Rotarians and non-Rotarians clean up), what others are doing (San Diego North Chamber of Commerce has a re-building effort in place, Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo has a foundation), and I guided him to speak with Jim Roth (member of our club, head of Rotarians at Work project, Chair of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce), Paul Sullivan, Jay Riordan, Kendra Jeffcoat and Mike Miller (all of whom lost their houses in the fire).

Rotational Rotary Breakfast

This week's meeting was a bit different than typical Rotary meetings. This week we did a small group of Rotarians meeting at one member's office. In this case, Rex Teets, Dick Kurtz, Martin Sheps, and I showed up at the office of San Diego Digital Solutions. There, hosts Barry Wolfert and Jan Wolfert told us about their business (copiers, digital printers, and basically any type of machinery needed to handle paper), hosted a delicious breakfast (I'll take their quiche over the runny eggs and greasy sausage we typically get at a Rotary breakfast ANY day) and then we discussed ways to bring in more members and to better maintain the members we've got.

Ideas that came out included getting members involved earlier, having each member provide an annual budget of fines they're comfortable paying (instead of having to pay something each week), and possibly limiting the size of the group (though as the group's publicist, I have a problem with that one). It'll be interesting to see which of these recommendations (if any) get adopted by the club's leadership.

making publishers happy

For the past three years I've been the publicity chair for my Rotary club, and it seems the job is getting harder by the week. Since I've been training other clubs about how to do PR for their club (and they're doing what I tell them), there's less space for my stories. Other groups (non-Rotary) are picking up on what Rotary is doing, providing even more competition among service clubs. And editors are increasingly demanding more interesting photos that have to be hi-resolution or they can't use them. Trouble is, when you're getting photos from a variety of sources, you can't always guarantee the shot will be interesting or hi-resolution...let alone both.

Am I becoming a victim of my own success?

The great RB Thanksgiving Luncheon

I just came from my first Thanksgiving luncheon held in Rancho Bernardo.

Imagine 700 of your closest friends sitting in the same room, catching up, sharing a few laughs, and checking in on each other after the disaster we all just lived through - the Witch Creek fires.

It was an exhilirating experience, this luncheon. There were the usual politicians and local celebrities, of course, and they were all doing their speeches.

But to walk through the room and see all the people I know, through Rotary and other organizations, was a real hoot. I met some new people, and they all latched on to the Rotary pin as a point of commonality. While Rotary isn't always the way to make new connections, it's definitely a good way to strengthen them.

Welcome to RB Sunrise Rotary

I recently asked a new member of my Rotary Club - the Sunrise Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo, CA - to keep a blog of his activities as a Red Badge Rotarian. His postings will be found at www.redbadgerotarian.blogspot.com.

As a red badge Rotarian, Paul is going through all the first steps necessary to become a full-fledged Rotarian. The red badge is kind of like training wheels as he gets to know the ways of the world of Rotary International.

However, it strikes me that it's not really fair for me to ask him to go through this project unless I'm willing to do the same thing. Therefore, I have resolved to keep a blog of a year (or perhaps more) as a Rotarian, and all that this implies.

My hope is to help others see why belonging to Rotary is a worthwhile goal and to help them appreciate why I get up for a 7am meeting every week. I'm also WIDE open to comments, suggestions, and ideas on how to make this blog better. Please feel free to participate in this experiment.