The Rotary Club of Ankeny is now 3 months from completing 50 years of service to the Ankeny Community and will be celebrating with a gala on Saturday, January 21, 2023, at the FFA Enrichment Center. Here is a moment from the Rotary Club of Ankeny:
Attendance at Rotary meetings was very important when the club was first chartered. At a Board meeting on December 15, 1975, the Board adopted a policy to strictly enforce the following two attendance rules: "Membership will be terminated if a member has four consecutive unexcused absences which are not made up." and "Membership will be terminated if attendance, including make-ups and excused absences, falls below 60% for any 6-month period." Any member who missed three consecutive meetings were to receive a letter or telephone call reminding them of the four-meeting rule. The Board was also concerned about too many "early birds" - members not staying for the whole meeting. They raised the fine for leaving a meeting early, not staying for at least 2/3 of the meeting, from 25 cents to $1.00 and agreed to a limit of one early bird per member per month.
Another sign of the significance the Club put on attendance was in each weekly newsletter the percentage of members attending meetings year to date was published as well as a section called "We Missed You!" that named the members that were not at the previous week's meeting and another section that listed the members with "100% Attendance" for the year.
