Ang Magiting - The Official Web Site of Rotary Club Makati North

With all your help, success is certain.

Every year of my brief six years as a member of RC Makati North, there is always a directive from Rotary International to recruit new members. Admittedly, I was skeptical and suspicious every time I heard that from the sitting club president. I was convinced that often, we were driven to boost our roster for the wrong reasons. I could not help shake that feeling that reigning presidents – and by extension, their clubs – are motivated to recruit merely for bragging rights, to qualify for an award or citation, to get that 15 minutes of fame. In other cases, our reason was obedience – recruit more, because the District Governor or the RI President said so.

That being said, I’m again asking your help to recruit new, quality members for Makati North. But I’m looking at this endeavor from a different perspective.

For 36 years in May, our club has been making positive contributions to society. Sure, some of those good deeds may have been realized because of some quest for personal glory. Very likely, some projects were done at the prodding of our leaders. But those probabilities do not diminish the impact our projects have had on individuals and communities that were in dire need. Given the often-irreverent nature of our members, one could suppose that some of our past activities were done in spite of what others think – so long as the purpose and benefit were clear.

The future, rather than old glories, deserves our focus at the tail end of this Rotary year. We need to look ahead, precisely because we have a long legacy of conducting worthwhile service projects and making generous contributions to the Rotary organization. And in looking ahead, we should see the need to make our club stronger – if we are to continue making a difference.

And to make our club strong, our priority should be to build up our numbers. As they say, a club is only as good as its members.

Today, our club is not strong relative to our membership size in the past. Certainly, our capabilities are limited by our lower head count. For sure, meetings and fellowships are more enjoyable when we have bigger attendance.

So I’m again appealing to all of you to make an extra push to recruit members. Let’s do this not because we are gunning for an award – which we are not anymore, since the evaluations for citations have passed – but because having more members helps us live our motto “Service Above Self.”

Indeed, I realize that recruiting members is not easy, nor is it cheap. But for more than three decades, our club has done some amazing, selfless things. I’m asking that we each recruit one – just one. Help the club do this, because doing so is good for all concerned.
Anniversary cabaret event

Related to recruiting, you may want to invite a friend and prospective members to the cabaret show that commemorates our anniversary on May 22. A ticket costs P2,500 (P2,000 for Rotarians), which are really donations that will benefit Operation Smile Philippines. The ticket gets people in to a wonderful show, dinner at a five-star hotel, and chances to win prizes.

We only have about 150 tickets left to sell – out of a total of 250. Thank you for all those who have pitched in. With all your help, success is certain.