Bob Keely presents plan Dr. Bill Ellis on membership development Randy Lucas and West Virginia Governor Manchin Putnam President Don Broyles (right) accepts award from District Governor John Beckett for "Outstanding Web Site"

April 29, 2005

In an era of corporate change when businesses merge, relocate, and change direction quickly and often without warning, civic leadership and community service tend to suffer.

Local Rotary Clubs which once evolved over months and years of stable membership numbers now often struggle to keep pace.

Rotary International's District 7550 serving 1,600 members in 32 clubs in the southern part of West Virginia decided to act.

The task fell to Putnam's "Paul Harris Fellows" Mary and Bob Keely who agreed a year ago to co-chair a district committee to develop a strategic and tactical plan.

Says Bob, "We held several meetings with past Rotary district governors, the current governor, governor elect and other district leaders. With their input we developed a draft of the plans and returned them to our 'team' for review and comment.

"Parallel to our district planning process Rotary International was doing the same thing, of course on a global scale," he said.

"When we received the Rotary International plan we were amazed how close we were in our major goals," added Mary Keely, the other half of Putnam's "Dynamic Duo."

This morning, in the second day of the annual district conference at Pipestem Resort, Bob Keely presented the new plan. A copy is posted on the District 7550 official website.

A major thrust of the project is leadership continuity from year to year. "The players may change, but the plan will help ease the shock of transition," he said. Local clubs are encouraged to develop local plans, and help "refine" the master plan for the district.

In the months to come, Bob will chair the district planning committee while Mary Keely heads groups to plan the next annual conference and organize annual giving.

Another Putnam Rotarian starred on the program this morning. Dr. William C. "Bill" Ellis, an award-winning syndicated columnist, gave pointers on local membership development.

Randy Lucas, another Paul Harris Fellow from the Putnam Club, chatted with West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, whose wife, Gayle, heads the Vandalia Rotary Club this year. Lucas was installed this evening as Assistant District Governor.

Putnam Club President Don Broyles accepted an award from District Governor John Beckett for "Outstanding Web Site" by a local club. "Our webmaster was unable to be here to accept the award," Broyles apologized. "We kept him at home to work on web pages."