Governor's Update
2nd Quarter: The most important thing that needs to be worked on is increasing the membership, which lies solely in the hands of the clubs. Governor Maureen left the district with 51 more members than she started with, which is phenomenal! But the months that followed brought a quick decline of 25 members, and as of today, we are still a -25 members. I’m urging all clubs to try to be an honor club, meaning they will add 2 members to their roster [net] as quickly as they can! Ready, set, go! Another way to bring in more members is to build a new club. Hopefully a few new areas are being looked at to start a club there soon!
It’s time to look forward as we enter a new decade, 2020, and to “look at the sunny side of everything, and make our optimism come true!” Imagine, with me, 110 more members in the SWIS District, that’s 2 more per club, holding the best oratorical, essay and CCDHH contests ever, serving 3,850 more kids in new and exciting ways and getting most of the members in each club engaged in their activities to make that happen. Now that’s Optimism!
1st Quarter: Wow! The Governor-elect year flew by! And here I am, Christine Dieckhoff, stepping into a new pair of shoes, following an awesome Governor Maureen Crombie! I have climbed the ladder of roles one must play, with my hiking boots on as club secretary, vice president, president and a plethora of chairmanships, Lt. Governor for 2 years, and then Governor elect. My husband, Wayne has been by my side, working with me and supporting me in my efforts, and now I must step up and into my new role with a whole district of people to join me in one of most important challenges I have ever encountered.When my fitness instructor tells us to do the pony step: “step, ball, change, step, ball, change,” she is helping us to stay fit. The operative word in that phrase is change. In order to stay fit, you have to change your direction every so often. It’s the same in any great organization, in order to stay healthy and grow you need to change directions every so often. In my year as governor, I am embracing change to keep the SWIS District as healthy as possible.
Following President Adrian’s theme, to imagine a new Optimist International focused solely on the clubs, I have chosen the motto “Imagine: Serving children in a changing world”. After all, that’s what every club is about!
So, here’s what to expect! We hope to see many more club presidents and members coming to the district conferences for fun loving, informative and interactive experiences! We will socialize, share ideas on a variety of topics, develop better ways to help ourselves to be better clubs, brainstorm to develop new and better ways to serve our communities, and to find new projects for technically proficient kids. We will also strive to grow as we flourish, stay financially stable and feel good about ourselves. When clubs are happy and productive, they attract others to join them, and therein lies the growth!
So how, you ask, are we going to achieve these lofty goals? With my amazing team of Lt. Governors, absolutely awesome team chairs, past Governors and leaders on board, we can’t miss! Go ahead, register and come to the first conference on October 18/19, 2019 at the Fitchburg/Madison Wyndham Garden Hotel and see what you think about changing as you make yourself heard!
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