Remember Me!

I'm the guy who was asked to join this club. I'm the guy who paid 65 bucks to join, stood up in front of all of you and promised to be a loyal and faithful Optimist.

I'm the fellow who came to every meeting since that time, but no one paid any attention to me. I tried several times to be friendly to some other fellows but they all had their "buddies" who they had to talk and sit next to. I sat down along with some unfamiliar faces several times but they didn't pay much attention to me.

I hoped very much that somebody would have asked me to take charge of the last fundraising project but no one asked me. I wanted very much to do the job but no one saw my hand when I volunteered.

I missed my first meeting since joining because my wife was sick, but no one asked me at the next meeting where I had been. Gosh, I guess it didn't matter very much to the others whether I was there or not.

The next meeting I decided to stay home and watch a good program on television. The following week, I attended the club meeting and no one asked me where I was the week before.

You might say that I'm a good guy, a good family man; that I hold a responsible job and I love my community. You know who else I am? I'm the guy who never came back!

It amuses me when I think back on how the president and several members were discussing why the club was losing members. It amuses me now to think that they spent so much time looking for new members, when I was there all of the time.

All they needed to do was to make me feel NEEDED, WANTED AND WELCOME.

Membership retention is everyone's responsibility. Do not leave it up to your club president. Don't solely rely on your membership chair. If someone is missing from your next club meeting, take the time to find out why.

Otherwise, you just may hear "Remember Me?"