District Governor’s Message

Koby Rickertsen
District Governor 2014-2015

Well I have survived the first month as District Governor. In the last month I visited 9 clubs,
spent a week with the Rotary International President, had a blast at RYLA and attended some great training at the Zone Institute. I am now going to take a few days off and head to Sturgis, SD on my Harley with my beautiful wife and some great friends.

As you may know Rotary International has themes for almost every month of the year, August is Membership month. As District Governor one of my jobs is to encourage our clubs and members to increase membership throughout our district. I have mentioned before that I do not believe in growth for the sake of growth but as a part of a strategic plan to do more in our communities and in our world.  With more members we can accomplish even more awesomeness when ever and where ever we decide to put forth the effort.

I am asked by Rotarians all of the time about how we can find and keep members in our clubs. It seems to some that the weekly meeting is fast becoming a hurdle to prospective new members. We are living in the “now” generation where we all want to leave our options open and don’t want to commit to attending a meeting every week. Though there is some truth to this, most people just want to know there is value in the way they spend their time. It is important that our meetings are fun, informative and meaningful. This is not just the responsibility of the President of our clubs but all Rotarians everywhere. We need great programs and fun events. I love the fellowship that my Rotary Club has to offer and
the avenue to serve others is a bonus as well. Prospective new members need to see that
our organization is must have in their lives.

I believe that we need to take away the excuses not to join Rotary. One great example of  this is allowing small children to attend your
meetings weekly. Young parents may not be able to afford child care so they can attend meetings. If you make it so that childcare is available during the meeting or give these kids something to do during that hour you might see a big increase in the younger members. Use Facebook and other social media to advertise programs and special events. Not only do you remind your members of the meeting but some of the folks that normally would skip a meeting might see an interesting program coming up and stop in. 

The bottom line is that we can make even more amazing things happen with more members!! We need to constantly be asking our friends, neighbors, co-workers and perfect strangers to join with us in our attempt to make the world a much better place. So, as you go
through this month ask those you know well or barely know if they would like to hang out with you for a hour, letting them know that
joining us and our awesome organization will be the best decision they will ever make!

So go forth, find great new members and invite them to be apart of our AWESOMENESS!!!

Yours in Service.
Koby
Governor 2014-2015
dg5630.2014@gmail.com