Westlake Village Sunrise Rotary President Jim Wisdom reached out to Husam early in his year as President to gain some ideas about how to grow membership. While Husam and Jim talked at length about membership early in this Rotary year, and Westlake Sunrise attempted to incorporate some ideas to increase membership, our club had challenges in maintaining and increasing membership- in part due to challenges with COVID. We found that about a third of our members were not showing up on a regular basis to our meetings (either on zoom or in-person, because we have hybrid meetings).
So, we reached out to Husam again, and he spoke to our club on Friday 5/13/22 to inspire us with ways to not only attract new members, but to engage existing members. Husam reminded us that there is a reason all of us get up early in the morning to attend our Rotary meetings. It changes our lives in a positive way. And, he reminded us to share the gift of Rotary with others so they could also experience Rotary. Finally, he reminded us that a Rotary Club is like an athletic team. You need new members, and you need to also bring in younger members, if you are going to continue to grow and thrive as a club.
We are hoping to incorporate some of Husam’s ideas as soon as possible to start off President- Elect Michelle Ramsey’s year with a bang.