Dave Weller and his wife meet International President Wilfrid Wilkinson and his wife. Dave gave an excellent talk that started by asking "What would the world be like without Rotary?"He gave specific illustrations of the contributions that Rotary makes in both educational and humanitarian realms. Dave thought that more people may know about Rotary through the work of the Foundation than through the work and members of local clubs. On a more somber note he said that membership in the USA & Canada has been in a steady decline as has the numbers in all service organizations. Our numbers have dropped from 435,000 in 2002 to a current membership of 412,000. Because of this Dave said we need a renewed emphasis in recruiting new members. Each club is challenged to have a net gain of one this year.
On a brighter note the Rotary campaign to eradicate polio is going well. This year to date there have been 285 new cases world wide as compared to about 1500 cases at this time last year.
Finally Dave said his Stretch Goal for his administration is to raise $300,000. He left a Mason Jar for us to put our loose change in as we sign in each week. We passed it around the room and collected $ 200. Dave suggested we take each $1000 collected and give a Paul Harris Fellow to some worthy individual perhaps a local hero.
