Editor’s comments:  Spring Festival we need a Draw?  Why
 we have a Draw we don’t use properly
Our Draw the Westborough Spring Festival,
 we need to make it the  place to be.
The Fishing Challenge and  Doggie Spa are four star events they have great planning, excitement, Interaction, prizes and a full enthusiastic volunteer staff both in the planning and execution stages.
Let’s use them as a template for our Events that have grown stale.

We do have great Member participation at the execution stage but that’s not enough.  In order to make the Spring Festival the place to be (the Draw) we need everybody’s help. We need member commitment at the Planning stage.

One Festival Committee meeting a month doesn’t work.  You can’t run a major fund raiser trying to discuss how to run all the events in a 2 hour meeting (Sure you can plan Vanilla) Well Vanilla won’t draw.

Our major events the Pancake brunch, the 5k race, The Food Tasting and the Car show need Separate committees (not of one) to make them exciting, Interactive their own draw.

We need a Public Relations committee one person can’t do it all. You have News print, cable TV, Signage, word of mouth, Handouts and whatever the committee can to come up with to create the Draw we need. You think free Pancakes, Hot Dogs soda for Kids under  12 would be a draw? Might cost $ 1,000 but if it brought in a extra 300-400 people talk about draw.

We need a Sponsor committee again it’s not just a matter of getting sponsors. We need to show our sponsor’s what they’re getting for their money . More minds could come up with new and innovative Ideas to create a draw. The Sponsors pay for the Festival they want to be shown in the best light to be able to give back to their community and customers. Let’s get the Sponsors involved

We need an Other Events committee to explore new and exciting events. More youth involvement example: a Hoops, football, track, youth art show or swimming contest. Remember with youth comes adults. Maybe a Tag sale. Just think what a good committee can come up with.

The Club Does needs a major fund Raiser. We now have 44 active members. The Spring Festival is a major undertaking. Can we do it right (the place to be)?  Yes but only if we get full participation in the Planning an execution Stages. You all know we have a hard core of  10 or 11 members that participate in everything.  They have been doing the planning stages of the Festival and with your help in the execution got it done.

Are we getting good results?  No! What should we do?

All statements good or bad are made by Larry McLeod nobody else was consulted or responsible for content.

Please email your comments to Peter Gardner pgardner@curryprinting.com

 Tuesday Feb 23 when you dine in or take out meals at participating Uno Chicago Grills, and Rotary International- Polio Plus will receive a donation of up to 20% of your bill! Any order is eligible but you must present the attached donation ticket.

There are lots of ways to participate:
- Come into Uno Chicago Grill on Feb 23rd and enjoy a delicious meal and support the cause

- Organize a group Take-Out order for a meeting

- Meet some friends at the bar for some light snacks and drinks - all meals and bar receipts are included in program

- Email a copy of the donation ticket to friends & colleagues for even greater participation (click here for ticket)

Help us end Polio by dining at Uno's Tuesday Feb 23 2010

Historic Moments -- Rotary's 105th anniversary
The first four Rotarians: (left to right) Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele, Hiram Shorey, and Paul Harris. Rotary Images

During the first Rotary club meeting on 23 February 1905 in Chicago, Paul Harris, Gustavus Loehr, Hiram Shorey, and Silvester Schiele met to talk about their personal experiences. Harris then unfolded his general plan for their club meetings.

This was the simple beginning of the world’s first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago. It was created because of Harris’ wish to capture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The Rotary name derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members’ offices.

Rotarians continue to take pride in their history. In honor of that first club, Rotarians have preserved its original meeting place, Room 711 in Chicago’s Unity Building, by re-creating the office as it existed in 1905. For several years, the Paul Harris 711 Club maintained the room as a shrine for visiting Rotarians. In 1989, when the building was scheduled to be demolished, the club carefully dismantled the office and salvaged the interior, including doors and radiators. In 1993, the RI Board of Directors set aside a permanent home for the restored Room 711 at RI World Headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Evanston.

ShelterBox and Rotary
Starting as the brainchild of one Rotarian with the support of his Rotary club in year 2000 – ShelterBox has grown to become the largest Rotary Club project in the 100 year history of the organization (click here).

ShelterBox News, created by social entrepreneur Tom Henderson, provides temporary shelter and disaster relief for thousands of homeless earthquake survivors in Haiti. Shelter Box Video from Time (click here)

Remember the Vote on Club Sports Authority
 Wed Feb 24, 2010