It is important for all of us to continue to attract new members to join SIR.  I heard our area representative make a statement about who we are that made me view SIR from a different perspective.  I have primarily thought of us as a social group that has meaningful monthly lunch plus a variety of activities. We are a social group that has a variety of activities of which lunch is just one of those activities.  So, as we meet potential new members, we need to emphasize all of our activities, not just our lunch meeting.

   During our last lunch meeting I heard from several of you that one of the main dishes ran out, so we were limited to one selection.  I have mentioned this to our caterer so that in the future this does not happen again.  I do appreciate hearing from you when something does not go as we expect because to keep this organization going, we need to improve in areas where our members’ expectations are not met. 

   We are still falling short of the number of members attending our lunch as we have set the number of lunches that we have negotiated with the caterer and when we run short of attendees, we need to make up the difference in costs from our bank account.  I encourage all of you to please follow up with members that are not attending our lunches, reminding them to join us.  It is best if you can do this one-to-one with fellow members you know very well.  We need your support.

   There was a meeting for Area 18 SIR branches on May 21.  We discussed the issues all branches are having attracting new members and possibly advertising in local newspapers or publications.  A prototype ad has been produced and we are in the process of researching the cost in a variety of publications.  A QR code was produced for each branch that we can insert into our web site as well as add it or SIR business cards, which would it easier for potential members to click on it instead of having to remember our internet address.  We will continue to have this Area 18 meeting in the future, and I will report on our progress.    

        Big Sir Fernando Gonzalez Branch 144