We were very pleased to welcome Kiwanis International Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Oatess as our special guest speaker this evening.
Jeff presented us with an overview of Kiwanis as it currently deals with the pandemic. Past International President and our EOT sage, Jim Rochford, had the privilege to introduce Jeff to meeting participants. He expressed his admiration for Jeff’s forthright, honest approach.
Since March 16th, KI staff have essentially worked from home and instituted a voluntary pay reduction during this time. A moratorium was put in place on unnecessary travel, a new member fee waver was initiated and the KI convention was cancelled. The cancellation was announced once penalties were waived saving our membership from any financial repercussions.
Elections will take place on July 25th with the Board and Governors to select the Board for 2020. Online training for Lieutenant Governor and CLE training has been virtual this year. Similarly, most clubs have been meeting online and have found that it allows for a variety of guest speakers, otherwise unavailable during an in-person meeting.
There are currently 37 internet clubs. We are pleased to report that we are now the number one club in membership. An internet club average member age is 54, ranging from 20 to 92 years. There are currently 10 Districts in the US that do not have an internet club. That provides opportunity for club growth.
What will post pandemic clubs look like? Will they be a combination of in-person and online meetings? Only time will tell.
We thank Jeff for his insightful presentation and hope he has recovered from his fierce feline zoom encounter…