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Message from Membership Development Committee Chairman
PP Peter Ho
Dreams of a Big and Happy FamilyWhen it comes to membership development for our district, there are many dreams.
RI President DK Lee dreams that we grow at least 10%, a net growth of about 170 members. DG Albert dreams that we have a net growth of 250, a tall order by any measure. The Regional RI Membership Coordinator, our very own PDG Alexander, dreams that we grow by about 300 and reach 2,008 members, a seemingly fitting target for year 2008 but is nearly an impossible one. Considering that we grew by only about 70 members in last Rotary year, are they serious?In last Rotary year, we started out with 1,636 members and ended with 1,705. This is a delightful development after losing members for most of the past ten years. It was also a hard fought result. We lost a club but we gained back two. We lost over 150 members but we gained more than 220. All these could not have been achieved if it were not because of the strong efforts made by all the Rotarians in our district as well as the capable leadership of IPDG Peter Wong. As such, for the sake of the continuing development of our own clubs, we should carry the enthusiasm from last year into this one and start earnestly making our membership goals into reality.
Drawing from the experience of last Rotary year, the MDC has planned a few things this Rotary year to help the District to work towards these goals. On September 13, 2008, we will hold a District Membership Seminar at the Renaissance Kowloon Hotel at the New World Centre. Eight teams of club membership chairs from the eight areas in Hong Kong and Macao will present a membership topic each and will show us how to take actions to address and resolve eight important membership issues. I hope that by going through these exercises, all clubs in the district will be able to find some effective action plans most suited for their membership development and see their membership figures leapfrogged in unprecedented ways.We are also planning two New Member Orientation Seminars. A similar one was held last December. Although attendance was small, all the participants came out very positively of what they have learned from the sessions in the seminar. Too often, new members fall out of the Rotary family because they don’t have a good knowledge of what Rotary is and all the good service programs that Rotary performs. By letting them know more about Rotary, these new members can appreciate all the efforts made by past and present Rotarians and can learn how to become involved in them and to be identified with them.
I am also delighted to report that welcome packages for new members are almost ready for clubs to purchase at the RIC as well. Coupled with our committee website soon to be affixed as a permanent feature at the district website, I hope my capable committee members and I will be able to serve all the clubs in the district better this Rotary year and that all our membership dreams can be fulfilled before long. With your help, let’s make Rotary into one big and happy family.
PP Peter Ho
Chairman
Membership Development Committee
2008-09