April 2002

From the President...

A Message from National President Al Gordon

Greetings All!

Hope not too many of you fell for those corny April Fool's jokes. If you did, how about sharing it with all of us in the next Progression? Get your story to Progression Editor, Brenda!

Over the past couple of months, your National Board has been busy putting pen to paper on the new restructuring of our National Board. It is a big job and we want it to be acceptable to everyone, so we are spending lots of time defining it. Please discuss it with your local club members and seek clarification from your Zone Governors and Regional VPs.

During February I was able to visit most of the clubs in southern Saskatchewan and in March, most of the clubs in Ontario and Quebec.

It is great to see how each club operates uniquely, all with their own individual differences, which make them special. Every club has a different way of doing things, yet we all operate in a similar manner. Some neat procedures I've noticed are: Sherwood Park club members are fined if they don't have a Progress Club brochure with them to give to a prospective new member; at St. Catherine's all major money motions must be presented at two meetings before being passed, in an effort to ensure that due process has happened and everyone has had time to reconsider the motion; at Regina Centre, they have a custom of each member "thanking" another member who may have helped them in some way since the last meeting, be it a business lead or going over to help paint the kitchen, whatever; at Miramichi, they meet at 7:00 am for a breakfast meeting in order to get their club business done before going to work. We all have different things that work for our individual clubs across the country and that is what helps make the Canadian Progress Club the best service club in Canada.

With reference to the Club Mentoring Program, I ask that each club call your linked club again, to see how their year is going and if your club can offer any suggestions or encouragement. This responsibility belongs to your club President. Please ask him/her to report to your club on the latest conversation. The communication between clubs will be rewarding and it will provide a nice introduction for your members to know someone when they join us at the National Convention in Canmore in September.

Lastly, stop reading this for a moment and think of someone who you have been meaning to ask out as a guest to your meeting. Put the Progression down and phone this person right NOW; ask them to join you at your next meeting. If you think you will do it tomorrow or the next day, get that out of your mind, you must do it NOW. It is important to your club and to Progress nationally. If you haven't called yet and you are still reading, please go back to the beginning of this paragraph and start over. For those who have made a call: thank you! You are the people who are keeping our club strong.

Yours for Progress,
Al Gordon

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