Weekly bulletin, February 12, 2015

 
Laura Spear spoke to us about creating and maintaining a club "brand."
 
 
 
 
Guests
  • Gino Frattiloni
  • Caroline Reed
  • Cathy Miles
 
Birthdays
  • Richard Simon, February 29
 
Announcements
  • Our club hosted three events last month:
    • At the Power of Change event, we honored three humanitarians. All food at the after-event party was donated by Nancy McPherson; a check for $1,000 was given to support Razia Jan’s Ray of Hope school.
    • Despite the weather, about 30 people showed up at the Bolton Repair Café, to have things fixed at no charge.
    • Stop Hunger Now meal packaging: Our club was joined by 5 other clubs, plus kids from Nashoba high school and elsewhere, some 200 volunteers in all. We packaged 12,000 meals in one hour. The event was featured on the front page of the Stow Independent. The event also began the process of forming an Interact Club at the high school, which has the support of the principal.
  • February 24 marks our club’s birthday (3 years).
  • The club made a donation to Warm Hearts of Stow, which provides warm clothes, etc., to some 75 kids in Stow.
  • Foundation: Richard Simon received a Paul Harris +1 award. Our club has five Paul Harris Society members. $85/month means that one can become a member in one year.  Recipients from the Foundation fund include Domestic Vioence Services Network, Robert F. Kennedy center for a new ropes course, rainwater harvesting in Guatemala, and the mobile dental clinic in the Dominican Republic. Our contribution goal from the club is $125/person/year.
  • Membership: new member, transferring from Worcester, is Carl Gomes, a passionate Rotarian, who will serve as the Rotaract chair for the district, 2015-16. Carl then recounted his personal struggle, and his career as a probation officer and juvenile probation officer, then his real estate ventures, and his efforts to start a foundation.
  • We’ve applied for for a District grant for the Healing Garden. It receives referrals from the area’s top hospitals, and they need a new promotional video, which the district grant will pay for.
  • Gift of Life child: Gift of Life is an offshoot of Rotary. 10% of applicants get surgery for heart problems. Gabriel’s operation was successful; he’s out of the ICU, and should be out of the hospital next week; then a home stay for 2-3 weeks. Visitors are welcome.
  • RFK rope course: Construction should be finished by early April.
  • Public image seminar: Cost is $25 per person. Location is in Boxborough. If we sign up, we’ll accumulate points toward “best club.”
 
Happy/sad fines
  • Nancy Bishop: sad that the event at the Healing Garden had to be postponed due to snow, happy that it will be rescheduled.
  • Carol Toomey: her son is accepted at MIT.
  • Jim Stone: likes the snow!
  • Carl Gomes: happy that, as one door closes, another opens.
  • Fatima Simon: happy that her mom’s surgery went well, and for Gabriel’s surgery, happy to welcome Carl.
  • Mary Garcia: happy to welcome Carl into membership, happy to welcome Cathy & Caroline
  • Don MacPherson: happy that Laura came to the airport kickoff, happy about his new snowblower.
  • Gino Frattiloni: sad that there was no Westford meeting due to snow, and that a gentleman who had been a member for 41 years passed on.
  • Laura Spear: happy that Chris is back from Istanbul and Baku, no dog walking in snow; Fla on Sat.
  • Chris Spear: back from visiting his foreign exchange student “son” in Baku, and learned a lot about Islam.
  • Richard Simon: happy about Carl joining our club, and about Gabriel’s successful operation.
 
Non-club announcement
 
  • Sunday before Easter, join the Stow Lions Club for an Easter Bunny breakfast.
 
Speaker
 
Laura Spear, member of our club and the PR chairman of District 7910, speaking about building a brand identity.
 
In a past survey, only 57% of Rotary clubs had their own web site. This has changed, but there’s still room for growth. At Disney, every ‘cast member’ is trained in public relations, because everyone is a brand ambassador. Rotary can do that, too.
 
The club identity depends on:
 
  • Fellowship
  • Ethics
  • Diversity
  • Vocational expertise
  • Service
  • Leadership
 
Translating these qualities into a brand identity depends on:
 
  • Voice: Everything we say should be smart, compassionate, persevering, inspiring.
  • Master brand logo; The large Rotary wheel represents a ‘mark of excellence’; each club should then have its own club version.
  • Colors: official colors are Rotary azure, Rotary sky blue, Rotary royal blue, and Rotary gold.
  • Typography: primary type for headlines is Frutiger (a paid typeface), or arial narrow (free), and should be all capitals. Secondary typeface is sentinel (paid version), or Georgia (free) for subheads and body text.
  • Pictures: These should show candid shots of Rotarians in action
  • Communicate values; if we all do it, we’ll increase awareness.
  • Consistency and repetition are key; these strengthen our image and recognition, and elevate the Rotary experience.