Fellow Rotarians,
 
If you missed last week's meeting, you missed a most impressive, enthusiastic and inspiring young woman share experiences from her time in Panama.  Myriah Smith was our Global Grant recipient last year and taught English to elementary students in Panama.  Her enthusiasm was contagious.  
 
This week we will have our monthly Foundation Moment and Myriah is a perfect example of the positive impact our Rotary Foundation has on many lives.   Our support of The Rotary Foundation continues to make experiences like Myriah's possible.  Speaking of supporting our Foundation, Larry Erpelding introduced our latest Paul Harris Fellow Don Boggs.  Congratulations Don and thank you for your contributions and service.  Don is our club's 16th Paul Harris Fellow since July 1, 2014. 
 
Due to a change in RI billing procedures, the Board of Directors has determined our membership dues will need to be billed much earlier than in years past.  RI will now send our club an invoice July 1 for the number of members in our database as of July 1.  There will be no corrections or refunds from the July 1 membership number and we will be required to pay RI and District 5710 dues for all members at that time.  Given this, the board has decided to make all membership dues due on June 1st.  This will allow the board a few weeks in June to contact members who have not paid and confirm their desire to renew.  In years past, we have had some time and flexibility to update membership numbers prior to submitting payment to RI.   Based on this new procedure, we will be forced to remove those members from our rolls who are not paid as of June 30 so that we are not billed for members who potentially may not renew.  We will have the opportunity to reinstate memberships if we have removed anyone who wishes to remain a member.  For these reasons, we have decided to begin sending membership renewal notices toward the end of April with a June 1 deadline for payment.  This should give everyone plenty of time to pay membership dues prior to the June 1 deadline.  Please assist the Board of Directors by sending in your dues on or before the deadline.  By doing so, you will save the board from making the difficult decision of terminating members who have not paid.  There will be several more reminders in the coming weeks of these changes.  Our board will officially vote on the dues for next year at our March meeting, but I don't anticipate a change in dues for next year. 
 
A reminder that our club will hold a club assembly/work session during our normal meeting on March 12th. This is an opportunity for all committees to meet and accomplish work specific to each group.  We will also have our March Board meeting immediately following the work session. 
 
This week our speaker is Rotarian Phil Mattox who will update us on the Manhattan Circles Program.  I hope to see you for lunch this Thursday! 
 
Scott Emley
 
 
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