Page 8 - Voices 6.2017
P. 8
It’s always a struggle to grow the number of
Distinguished Clubs to meet our goals. While
we have many clubs that are Distinguished or
better year after year, we also have many clubs
that don’t come close. Either they don’t have
the membership numbers or they don’t earn
awards. For some clubs it is both because they
don’t participate in the Distinguished Club
Program. This is sad. Members aren’t taking
advantage of what the program has to offer.
These clubs are often self-isolated from the
rest of the District. They don’t participate in
TLI, conferences or contests.
Toastmasters has been around for 93 years
because the program works. Modified or
fragmented versions don’t. When members
realize they aren’t getting the bang for their It’s been a great year for starting new clubs.
buck they are gone. The numbers dwindle and We reinstituted online calls with our
the few remaining members give up. Directors this year. Area Directors are the link
between the District and the clubs. We wanted
them to be armed with all the information they
needed to help our clubs be successful. This is
one way we stayed connected with them.
Winter Webinars were held to provide
members with resources to help themselves
and their clubs. We held two conferences
and two TLIs. Contests were held all over the
District. Be Extraordinary pins were created.
Members were given the opportunity to nomi-
nate others who went above and beyond for
Toastmasters.
Voices! continued with monthly editions
from our editor Phyllis Harmon. My hat is off
to her for the hours and hours of work she puts
into each issue. When I look back at the first
issue and compare it with the latest I marvel
at the growth in Phyllis’ skills. Thank you to all
our contributing writers. Without you there
would be no magazine. It provides a wealth of
information at no cost to our members. By the
way, it is read by a worldwide audience.
L to R: Leanna Lindquist, Jim Kokochi, IPIP
Radio spots debuted in the Portland/
Lest you think our entire year has been one Vancouver area on June 5th. They will run for
of doom and gloom let me share our successes. 3 weeks. We have documentation that they are
To date we have chartered 10 clubs. Paperwork bringing potential new members to our clubs.
is going in for three more. Several clubs are As I write this, our numbers are not where I
edging closer to the charter number of 20. Four would like them to be. The good news is there
kick-off meetings for new clubs are scheduled. is still time to change that.
8 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 12 JUNE, 2017
