Community Corner

Friendly Competition Spurs Record Rotary Growth

The Hatboro Rotary Club inducted six new members recently and expects to welcome two more this summer.

The Rotary Club of Hatboro, in its 70 years of existence, has never had a second-term, or repeat, president. But, if that trend were to continue, current President Jesse Brookreson said the club needed to succeed in one task: Enlisting new members.

In July, the start of the civic group’s new year, volunteers began looking ahead to determine whose shoes could fill the role of president moving forward.

“Just so you know, we’re running out of people,” was the message that Brookreson said was relayed to him, then the brand-new president.

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At the start of the group’s new year in July, Brookreson said the Rotary had 42 members. Since then, five have dropped out and one has died, he said. 

A membership drive was in order. But, how could the club do it - and more importantly – be successful?

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“Growth has always been the thing you talk about every year but you have a hard time putting it together,” Brookreson said. “The reality is it probably goes the other way.”

That is until Brookreson, led by the Hatboro Rotary Club’s membership committee, took a new approach. In essence, the club was broken into four teams and each was tasked with drawing the highest number of new members.

“I think every team has gotten at least one new member. It’s still a horse race,” Brookreson said, noting that the competition continues despite not having an end prize. “We don’t even know what the winners are going to get and the losers are going to lose.”

The strategy, so far, has netted six new members who were inducted earlier this month, as well as two more who are expected to be make their membership official this summer, Brookreson said.

“We lost six and got eight,” Brookreson said of the club’s impending jump to 46 members.

Bob Johnston, a agent in Hatboro, is one of four team captains.

“The Captains are responsible for encouraging our team members to bring a prospective member to our breakfast meetings. Our basic strategy is similar to car dealers in that if we get them in the car (come to a meeting) they will buy the car (join the club),” Johnston wrote in an e-mail to Patch. “Even though we called this a ‘contest’ it really was nothing more than a concerted effort by all Hatboro Rotarians to expand the club to keep it vibrant. All the winner will get is bragging rights at breakfast.” 

Bragging rights aside, Brookreson said the group’s fundraising for various Hatboro groups like the , the and the Hatboro-Horsham Educational Foundation, as well as its support of international water projects for orphanages in Africa and the Philippines, is what makes membership the most worthwhile.

“All that stuff feels good. It’s nice to talk about. It’s fun to talk about,” Brookreson said. “None of us do it for any other reason than it makes us feel good.”

How to get involved

For information about joining the Rotary Club of Hatboro, contact Jim Heilman at 215 672-2068 or Linda Lynd at 215 675-4000 or check out the club’s Web site at www.hatbororotary.org.

Breakfast meetings are held every Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. at Village Bistro in Hatboro.


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