Club Service
The mandate of Club Service is to maintain the vigor and health of the Club, while the other Avenues of Service are directed towards the community and the larger world in which we live.
Membership
The Membership Committee seeks out potential new members and recommends them to the club and the Board of Directors.
Members of Rotary are listed in a specific "Classification." Each member of a Classification is the sole member of that profession in the club. Exceptions can be made if the existing holder of a specific classification approves an "Auxiliary Classification Member." Certain groups, such as real estate agents or attorneys may get around the exclusive classification by naming an area of specialty, such as commercial real estate or corporate law.
As a potential new member, you are required to attend three meetings before being asked to join. This will give everyone a chance get to know you, and for you to learn more about Rotary, our club, and its members.
After the third meeting, you will be invited to an informal (usually breakfast, traditionally called "Oatmealing") meeting with the President, your sponsor, and any other interested club members to review and discuss club policies, rules and requirements. You will also have the opportunity to ask any questions that you may have. If all goes well, your membership will be proposed to the board and members of the club. As long as there are no objections, you will be inducted within two weeks and given an official Rotary pin and membership certificate.
You will be encouraged to get involved as soon as possible with one of our club projects or committees. We have learned over the years that this helps new members feel a sense of belonging to the club.
Although membership in service organizations has shown a decline nationally over the past decade, our club is proud to be experiencing a growth spurt. Several factors can be attributed to this fact. Our club has always tried to maintain a more casual and relaxed feeling than many other clubs do. We meet in the evening, after work, and many members take advantage of this time for fellowship and relaxation.
Programs and Speakers
We make an effort to bring in speakers and presenters from a wide array of occupations and experiences, and who are both informative and entertaining. Programs have included local political figures, the Chief of police, head of the local NAACP, authors, the head of the Weinberg Center for the Arts, the head of the county Economic Development, a Nobel Prize winner and many others.
Fundraising
"Is it Fun?" is one of the criteria we use when choosing our fundraising projects. We have discovered that the majority of our members don't like to sell tickets to raffles or other events. Our biggest fundraiser has been the Frederick Oktoberfest, in cooperation with the Carroll Creek Rotary. Other past fund-raisers have included concerts, working concession stands, Super Bowl Pool, and yard sales. We are always open to new ideas for fundraising. Our fundraising efforts have allowed us to support and donate to a wide variety of local and international projects over the years.
Public Relations
Another object of Club Service is Public Relations. It is important to help educate the public on the good work of Rotary, on a local, national and international level. Regular press releases to the local media about our club projects and programs helps to keep us in the public eye. This effort not only helps to educate the public on the good work we do, but it also helps attract potential members seeking a venue in which to give back to the community.
Club Communications
In the new era of cyberspace, our communication committee not only serves to inform our own members, but also the world community. It is with that concept that this web site was conceived and developed. We are also working on developing a presence on social networking sites. We also use more "old fashioned" methods such as emails and newsletters to keep our membership and the community up to date and involved in club happenings.