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Rotary Club Develops Strategic Planning

The Bridgeton Rotary Club began putting together its strategic plan for the next three years at a club assembly held at Gia's Catering Hall in Bridgeton on July 23. About thirty members, led by the club's president Gil Walter and president-elect Tony Stanzione, assessed the clubs strengths, weaknesses and opportunities and work in groups to develop goals and objectives to improve the club in its mission of community and world service. In September 2009, the Board and the Club Membership approved the new plan.

The facilitators included the club's board of directors Steven Linn, MD, Lynn Williams, Carolyn Heckman, Tony Buono, Ann Shimp and Ted Ritter and public relations committee chairperson Diane Kolman.  They led small group discussions that focused on developing goals for five key areas of the club.  They include public relations, community and club service, international foundation and service, membership attraction and retention and finances and club administration.

Tony Stanzione opened the planning session by saying, "we join together today to come up with goals and suggestions for making our club stronger in numbers and in mission and service, building on the strong foundation that hundreds of Bridgeton Rotarians have built over our nearly 90-year history as in September we will complete our 88th year and begin our 89th.


He added, "this means we come with new goals and ideas by respecting what others have done and valuing the opinions and ideas of each other. By putting together a good plan with input from our members and working together to implement the plan and reach the goals over the coming years, we will be a stronger Rotary Club this year and as we celebrate our 90th anniversary in 2011.
 

Club members helped develop and prioritize the proposed goals.  The proposed goals follow and will be further discussed and defined by the committees, board and members in the weeks ahead.

Finance & Administration – (Chris Jespersen), Tony Buono, (Marlene Urban), Tobi Olusa,
Jim Owens, Dave Kolman, Austin Gould, Ted Ritter.

•Need to reduce the average age in our club from 61 ½ yrs (more younger members to join, more new members will help our revenue, engage in more community projects which will increase Rotary’s Good Will in the community and attract new members)
•Increase our weekly average attendance from 60% to at least 75%
•Increase Fundraising (i.e. a mini-golf tournament)
 

Membership – Ann Shimp, Michele Torchia, Randy Clour, Carola Hartley, Roy Spoltore:

• Net gain of 20 members during this fiscal year (would require at least 30 new members to offset any attrition)
•Create a Retention/Engagement Strategy to keep Rotarians interested (have more high profile events that grabs the attention of prospective members)
•Asks Rotarians to commit to 6 hours/quarter of service to some community activity other than just attending weekly Rotary Club meetings (will enhance Rotary’s image in the community)
•Have more Club Assemblies during the year to report on activities of each of the committees.
 

Public Relations – Diane Kolman, Alan Woodruff, Ches Peterson, Steve Carnahan, Greg Facemyer,Tom Lane, Bill Lomberk, Tony Stanzione:

• Never – ever miss an opportunity for PR (encourage each Rotary Club committee to be responsible for getting news items and photos to the PR community for publication) Develop a PR package that can be distributed to local media, prospective new members, etc.
• Paid media - have a monthly Rotary column or ad in local paper
• PR Committee to provide bulletin (publish newsletter in some public venues, require each
• PR committee member to be assigned to a month to be responsible for collecting PR items from the club
   

Rotary International Foundation & International Service – Steven Linn, Carolyn Heckman, Gladwyn Baptist:

•Increase club fundraising to enable club to give out more grants and to participate in the matching grant program (reinstitute Int’l Night, Progressive Dinner, possibly increase dues)
•Every Rotarian Every Year – encourage and educate club on RI foundation so that we can get to 100% of the club giving a minimum of $100 each year to RI Fdn.
•Polio Plus - $1000 goal for this fiscal year. (pass around bin weekly rather than monthly)
•Group Study Exchange – not only host the incoming GSE team but to try to find someone from our area to participate in the group going to another country in this program.
 

Community & Club Service – Lynn Williams, Jack Neff, Sidna Prickett, James Edwards,
Dale Johnston, David Wilson:

•Hug-a-bear, RYLA, Toys for Tots, Food Drive are all a given- continue good efforts on these
•Increase club participation in Community
a. Form a co-op relationship with area HS Juniors (concentrate on helping senior citizens in the area and implement the Adopt-a-Road program with both high students and Rotarians)
b. Establish the HS Interact Clubs and get approval from both Boards of Ed
c. Rejuvenate Vocational programs at local high schools (James Edwards to spearhead this)
• Develop a Survey to assess community needs (consult with Bridgeton Main Street, Tri-County Community Action and Salvation Army).
• Partner with BMSA on downtown project (i.e. area art, flower project, park benches, etc)

For information on how you can join Rotary and help them achieve their goals and serve our community, call membership chairperson Ann Shimp or visit www.bridgetonrotary.com.
 

CLUB 2009-2010 BOARD AND OFFICERS TAKE OFFICE

AND MANY ARE THANKED

Top Photo: Bill Lomberk, left, is thanked by Ted Ritter for his nearly two decades as service to the club as a director and Treasurer. Thanks Bill!

Middle Photo: Rotary Club Directors for 2009-2010, front row, l-r, Carolyn Heckman, Secretary, Tony Stanzione, President-Elect, Ted Ritter, Immediate Past President. Standing, l-r, Anna Shimp, Director, Marlene Urban, Assistant Treasurer, Chris Jesperson, Director, Dr. Steven Linn, Vice President, Gil Walter, President and Lynn Williams, Director.

Bottom Photo: Gil Walter, right, takes over as the new Rotary Club President for July 2009 to June 2010. Gil is congratulated by Immediate Past President Ted Ritter. Thanks to Ted for outstanding leadership!

Media Coverage

Click on article name to find story quickly.

• Girl, 7, gives presents to Hug-A-BearTitle, News of Cumberland County, Feb. 2, 2009

Girl, 7, gives presents to Hug-A-Bear
 

Monday, February 02, 2009 By JOE GREEN jgreen@sjnewsco.com
 

UPPER DEERFIELD TWP. - From time to time, adults are blown away by the things children do or say. We wonder where that comment, that question, that little altruistic deed could have come from. Perhaps adulthood corrupts simple goodness over time. Whatever the reason for our bewilderment, many here were impressed by Alyson Lupton's birthday wish.

Alyson, a township resident and student at Bridgeton Christian School, on Central Avenue, recently turned 7. Her mother, Janice Lupton, asked her if she wanted to receive gifts from her friends for her birthday or have them given to a charity. Janice said she went over some organizations with her daughter, as possible recipients.

Alyson decided to forego the gifts and have party guests on Saturday give to the Bridgeton Rotary Club's Hug-A-Bear Program. "Giving is good," was Alyson's reasoning, Janice said. Although very shy at first, Alyson eventually explained her choice.  "When kids are in the hospital, the bears give them a hug," she said quietly.

The program gives stuffed bears to children caught up in trauma or tragedy, often by way of emergency response professionals, hospital emergency rooms, the American Red Cross, county surrogates, and child advocate offices, among others.  The idea is to provide some comfort and sense of security in a time rough enough for adults, let alone kids.

The program has two adult-sized mascots, the male Hug-A-Bear and female Honey-A-Bear, who often visit kids themselves at events. The duo came to Alyson's party Saturday at Skate 2000, on Burlington Road.

Children stopped skating and lined the low brick wall around the rink, leaning over it to get a good look at them.
Others who were off the rink crowded around to meet the locally-famous pair.
 

Phyllis Stively, center, is thanked by Club President Ted Ritter, left, and Vice President Gil Walter for her service as secretary.