Club Meeting – September 17, 2015
Visit from District Governor Alex Wilkins
The Rotary Club of Salem hosted the official visit of District 7570 Governor Alex Wilkins to the Area 8 clubs. After receiving checks for Rotary’s “Stop Hunger Now” program from several clubs, Gov. Alex told the audience that each person in the room is a person of influence. He encouraged us to use our influence in three ways:
1. Become the public image of Rotary. Wear our Rotary pins figuratively or literally and promote Rotary in any way we can. He offered to pay for Rotary license plates this year for the first 25 members who document their purchase to him.
2. Use our influence to increase Rotary membership. He reminded us that every Rotarian remembers his/her sponsor, and he dared each of us to ask someone to join our club. He shared how his Rotarian wife Janice convinced him over two years that he had time to be a Rotarian, despite his job as an international pilot for Federal Express.
3. Use our influence to increase support for the Rotary International Foundation. Whether they be “sweat or thought or tithes,” our donations are valuable. He told us that our district received $101,000 this year in district grants from the Foundation. He encouraged us to think globally and to act locally. Potential club members relate more easily to local projects than to international ones like the polio eradication campaign. Although –
Alex finished by confirming that Nigeria has been officially removed from the list of countries with new polio cases! As Alex and Rotary International President K.R. Ravindran say, each of us must continue to Be a Gift to the World in 2015-16.
