Plans continue for auction
Contributed photo/Nate BodenstabHOULTON — The Houlton Rotary Club had its luncheon meeting on Monday, Oct. 3 with important announcements made to inform members of the upcoming Auction meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at TD Bank at noon.
In addition, fuel oil lottery tickets were handed out to those who had not yet received them. Jane Torres announced the progress on Dawn Degenhardt’s “Senior Center” that is coming to Houlton. President Matthew Nightingale encouraged members to fill out the club survey either online or on the paper copy Linda Faucher assisted with.
Nightingale introduced the speaker of the day, Rotarian Diane Hines, whose topic was public relations. Hines explored the Rotary International (RI) website to find words of wisdom about what public relations should look like.
Key points were knowing the local media, maintaining a good relationship with the media, sharing stories about the club’s projects, fundraising events and Youth Exchange program. Rotary International also recommends periodic use of cable and public TV, letters to the editor, and other op-ed articles. Regular Facebook postings, website postings and even YouTube videos were advised.
The RI website also stressed continued effort on eradicating polio in the world and advertising individual club’s efforts. There is a link to www.endpolio.org to help clubs with this activity.
Hines also shared what Rotary International suggested for Public Relations committees and then she turned to what the Houlton Rotary Club is doing in all of the areas mentioned.
First, the Houlton Rotary website is alive and well. Fred Grant hosts the site and make updates and insures functionality. He is also responsible for the Rotary Auction video streaming and online advertising. Grant has given the club a well arranged website. Some members add to this on a regular basis and some members add to this for special events such as the upcoming Rotary Auction.
Next there is the Houlton Rotary Facebook page. Linda Faucher is responsible for adding the weekly meetings notice and any other meetings of the week she posts. After each meeting the photo of the presenter and the article about the meeting are sent to Linda. Linda then edits this for the Facebook page. And when there are special events Scott White and Any Mooers also post on Facebook.
Composing the weekly article for the Houlton Pioneer Times and making sure that photos are sent to the Houlton Pioneer Times is Hines’ responsibility. Hines said the newspaper is to be commended for all of the publicity and a good working relationship with the Houlton Rotary Club.
She thanked Jane Torres for her assistance in note taking for Hines over the last year. Nate Bodenstab is responsible for the weekly photographs and if he is not able to attend Fred Grant usually is present and obliges with photos.
President Matt Nightingale and the Vice President Julie Delano make sure that special events are well advertised in the Houlton Pioneer Times. Also, committees working on various projects tend to send articles or advertisements to the local paper. The advertisements for the E-Waste day was hugely successful as what was predicted to be a four hour event turned into an eight hour event.
Hines gives the Houlton Rotary Club high marks for spreading the word about upcoming events. It will be hard to improve what the club does. But with the social media and the use of computers in our communications, there could be room for more creativity.
She asked the group for comments and suggestions. Feedback from the group centered on inner group communications. Photos of events are welcomed via email to Hines and it was suggested that we have articles in the District Governor’s newsletter. Of course, another goal is to have an article in the Rotary International magazine.
