Well, here we are half-way through the year already. So, it seems timely to provide members with a 6-month update of where our Probus Club stands.

From a programming perspective, we have had a full series of very interesting – and very different – speakers at our monthly meetings, who have given us lots to think about and reflect upon. We have had a series of special events already –the Dim Sum Dinner for Chinese New Year, the February Fashion Show, a tour of a local Truffle Farm, a visit to the Deep Bay Marine Field Station, a tour of the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges site in Nanoose Bay, and anther wonderful trip to Powell River for the Sail to the Symphony event which was held in mid-June. In addition, our Special Interest Groups (SIG) have been very active with a series of monthly events as we eat out at various local restaurants, test out new wines and scotches, play a little golf, share opinions about a variety of books and explore some very interesting topics to satisfy curious minds. Whew … that’s a lot of activity and a lot of variety!!!

With one month left in our New Membership Contest, we are pleased to report that:

• at least six members have accepted the challenge to “Just talk to a neighbour or friend about Probus” and invite them to a meeting;
• ten people have been approached and invited to attend a meeting as a guest;
• to date, we have had four new members join our club.

So, our efforts to strengthen our membership base are beginning to show some positive results.

I continue to be surprised by the number of people that I meet who have never heard of Probus. It seems to be a well-kept secret, so – it’s time to change that!! You can still get involved by approaching some of your acquaintances – and pick up some valuable points for the prizes that are to be awarded at our Summer Picnic in August. Check out the details outlined in another section of this newsletter.

One of our concerns about membership is that it is the members that enable the club to thrive. The membership fees, the monthly meeting fees and the monthly 50/50 draw are our only forms of financial support. To date, each of these three revenue sources are below our anticipated budget – so – in order to live within our means, we may need to consider ways to cut back on any remaining expenditures – or we could work more to raise those three revenue sources. It’s up to us to decide what we want to do. Attendance at our monthly meetings is typically less than 50% of our current membership, which begs the question: “What is it that members get out of their Probus Membership?” It’s clear that some join for the social activities, some join for the SIG activities, some join for the socialization and information at our monthly meetings and some join for all three reasons. Hopefully, each member is getting what they want from our club and hopefully, they may want to consider becoming more actively involved too.

The strength of our club is the product of the individual engagement of each of our members.

“Membership has its privileges – and for every privilege, there is a related responsibility.”

Jim McKinlay
President