President Alexander gave the mid-year State of the Club report. He noted that the organization is committee driven, and the committees are getting the work done. It is important to sign up for a committee that you truly will find interesting. Those committee choices make the club successful when people pick things they are going to enjoy doing.
Jim talked about his former decision to retire, and how he wound up continuing to work. He said it is important to get out of your comfort zone. He said it is important to stay pertinent to the membership. RI wants us to make sure we are making an impact, that we have the service projects that we can participate. We need to expand our outreach. We want to enhance participation and engagement. People join to serve, and that word means different things to different people. RCK tries to stay on top of the relevance issue by sending a survey on occasion. Finally, we must increase our ability to adapt. These are the principles that drove President Alexander as he planned his year.
We now have 151 active members. 46% of those members answered the survey recently sent. Most of the respondents were very satisfied with their experience with the club. We apparently are doing a good job of welcoming new members and getting them involved with the work of the club.
Members caring about each other also was rated high on the survey. On the question of diversity of the community, we have made a lot of progress and need to make more. Membership is asked to recruit from a diverse population for new members. Membership involvement matches up well with the interests of the membership, and our members think we have good relationships. Some members feel they are not free to express their thinking.
Most members are proud to belong to the RCK. Our club is highly respected in the district and nationally. The results of the survey will be shared with members.
We are getting younger, and that’s an excellent development. 70% male, 30% female. Longevity is strong. New members list is strong. Tap into the new people who are coming to Knoxville. Growth is good, and can be better.
Service projects: Purple Pinkie. This one has grown tremendously and could use some help. Thanksgiving Meals, Mobile Meals. Salvation Army Bell Ringers. Feeding school kids during their breaks from school.
The board set goals for the year, and President Alexander reviewed those and the review shows us in good standing on all of them. Social outings have been strong so far this year. Our international influence is good. Gave Stanford Africa as an example. There were pictures shared of our service involvement internationally.