T. Les Gattis, an AG in District 5730 has been chosen (by a drawing) to ride on the Rotary Float in the Rose Bowl Parade! Les has been a Rotarian since 2001 and implements Rotary into his everyday life as a crop insurance salesman, father and husband. Les has served in every capacity in the Plainview Texas Rotary Club and brings to Rotary an infectious smile and personality that lights-up the room. Please give him a wave on New Year's Day, as he will be waving at you first!!!
As First lady Kim and I near the end of our club visits, one thing has become very apparent to us and that is the importance of Public Image. Clubs with a strong, vibrant and current public image in social media such as Facebook are seeing positive results. On three separate occasions when she and I were visiting clubs and inducting new members, I had some most surprising conversations. Purely at random at the end of a few meetings, I simply asked one of the new Rotarians who had asked them to join Rotary. All three, from three different clubs and on three different days all said the same thing: "Nobody." What? I asked!. All three of them coming to Rotary had a common thread; They wanted to become more involved in their respective communities and had done some "Googling" to see where they could volunteer in local service work. Search engines led all three of them to their local Rotary Club's Facebook page. They liked what they saw and simply showed up to a meeting to learn more. I had this same experience with a young engineering professional that came to my home club in Midland. After being transferred to Midland from Houston with an oil company, he wanted to get involved in the community. He liked the Club's Facebook page, joined the club and now is over all of the club's service projects.
Take advantage of Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter etc. to let the World and especially your community know what your Rotary Club is doing.