Visiting Rotarians: Lawrence Furbish  (District Governor)  (Sanford-Springvale), Barbara Sutcliffe  (spouse of D.G.), Beth Abbott  (Asst. Distr. Gov.)  (Oxford Hills)

Members We Missed:  Blair, Dennis, Griffin, Hart, Mann, Murphy, Steven, Thrall, Whitney, Zinchuk

In the District Governor's presentation, he outlined the three essentials of Rotary's strategic plan:  Strengthen Clubs, Increase Humanitarian Service, and Enhance Public Awareness.  Strengthening clubs requires attention to both recruiting and retention.  A key element of recruiting is simply to ask people.  He noted that someone once asked him why he joined Rotary instead of Kiwanis (where he already had previous connections) and he replied "because nobody from Kiwanis asked him."  Regarding retention, it is important to put new members to work right away.  Increasing humanitarian service is important not only for the help is gives the recipients, but because working on humanitarian projects has proven to galvanize members and build club spirit.  He cited the playground construction project he was once involved with, as an example.  Enhancing public awareness of Rotary's activities should not be shied away from as "patting ourselves on the back," but as a way of getting the public's support for efforts such as polio eradication, and also of generating people's interest in joining the action as members.