Club Meeting – March 9th, 2017

Our thanks goes to Ken England for this Rotary Recap!

“Red Badge to Blue Badge Ceremony”

At this meeting, Bob Pollard was the main presenter as he outlined the purpose of the Red Badge Program and how it creates an environment for learning more about Rotary, locally and Internationally.  Bob communicated to the club about the value that this program has to our club in creating a more informed, new class of Rotarians.  This committee was framed as one of the more fun committees as they had early mornings with coffee and food as well as a meeting at the Salem Library with presentations from the club members as to what our club does and these particular member’s participation.  After the introduction of the Red Badge program, Bob introduced Jeff Howard as the next speaker.

Jeff presented as to update the club of the New Generations Committees & Foundation which includes the International Youth Exchange, RYLA/Youth Speech, Interact, Rotaract, and the Rotary Club of Salem Foundation. Jeff spoke of the International Youth Exchange as personally understanding the Inbound Exchange program as he has hosted himself. A point of interest, Jeff explained that the inbound program is done in compliance with the U.S. State Department.  Jeff also presented the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program that develops youth leadership and character.  Jeff wrapped his presentation with a nod to Rotaract and the Rotary Club of Salem Foundation and their respective contributions.
 
After Jeff’s presentation he passed the podium to Barney Horrell as he spoke about the importance of outreach as we look to cultivate more members for and to our club.  Skip Lautenschlager also spoke about fundraising and how the club implements a procedure to thoughtfully distribute the assets back into the community and beyond.