From the President's Desk

By Wolfgang Juchem
National President
  

We are almost halfway through our annual Progress year, and this is a great opportunity for me to report on the results of our National Board Meeting at the end of January.

The Brampton Club and the Central Region hosted your National Board for two full days and on behalf of the board I would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for their hospitality.  We billeted with the members from the Central Region and I would be very remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the hard work and effort that Renate Thompson put into making sure that all of our needs were taken care of.

The Central Region also held their Annual Presidents Ball during our two days in Brampton and it was great to see the wonderful attendance and spirit that is alive and well in our Ontario Clubs.  I look forward to attending their Annual Regional Convention in June.

There were a lot of business items to attend to at the meeting.  Reports on last year’s convention in Sherbrooke and plans for this year’s convention in Edmonton were high on our priority list.  I am pleased to report that the gang in Edmonton is well on their way to hosting a great event and the registration numbers are very encouraging.  If you haven’t registered by this time, I encourage you to do it early.  The rooms at the Fantasyland Hotel are going fast.

We reviewed the status of the National Website and our Contact Management Program.  We have been required to change service providers over that past three months and this led to some disruptions in access to our sites.  These issues should now be behind us and we encourage all of the clubs to input their information as soon as possible.  Our annual census is due at the end of April and we were really hoping to have all of our membership information input before this date.

After reviewing all of the other administrative issues and accounting and housekeeping items, we spent a considerable time dealing with club strength and membership.  Like all other Service Clubs across the country membership is key to our ongoing vitality and to ensure that we can continue to serve and assist the charities in our communities.  I had invited members from Kin Canada (formerly Kinsmen and Kinette Clubs of Canada) to share with us some of the strategies that they are employing to grow their membership and provide better contact and service to their members.  Because of their relative size and available resources, we learned and shared some very good ideas that we could incorporate into our normal practices.  I think that what probably impressed us the most was their pride in being a member of their club.  That pride maybe one of the most important tools that we have in growing our membership.  If you are proud to be a Progressian, share that pride.  Wear your Progress Pin often and tell people that you are proud to be a member of your club.  If you are proud of your membership, then you should be proud to invite a friend or acquaintance to come out to a meeting.  If they like what they see and hear, they will join.

As a board that is trying to be proactive, rather than reactive, we have decided to change the format of our June meeting.  This year’s meeting will be in Edmonton, so that we can review final preparations with the host clubs of our convention.  We will try and conduct all of our normal business on the afternoon and evening of the Friday.  We will then use all of Saturday and Sunday to formulate and draft a strategic plan for our organisation, with membership being the key.  Tony Mancini has graciously accepted our request for help by leading us through the planning process.  Tony is a great resource for us due to high planning background and his thorough knowledge of Progress.  I will communicate further on this initiative as we proceed.

Not all of the tasks required of the national President are considered work.  At the beginning of February I had the great honour of attending the 32nd Annual Canadian Progress Club Halilfax Sports Celebrity Dinner.  What a great event it was.  Kermit Phillips and the Halifax boys out did themselves this year.  The head table line-up of Marcel Dionne, Phil “Knucksie” Niekro, Grant Fuhr, Mike “Pinball” Clemons, and Catriona LeMay Doan were spectacular.  Rod Black, the emcee of the evening and voice of CTV Sports confided in me that this is considered to be the best event of it’s kind anywhere in Canada.  I know that everyone in the audience that night would have agreed. Again, congratulations to the Halifax Club on a job well done.

I look forward to sharing tales of other events with you through the rest of the year.  I wish each and everyone of you success in your fundraising and membership drives over the next few months.

Remember:
Be proud to be a Progressian.  Share that pride and ask others to join.