Page 30 - Voices-2021-05

GLEANINGS FROM THE GROVE

response to that incessant tapping?We have not recruiting new members for Toastmasters, and
just been socially distant but have had some reaching out to those who have fallen by the
of our personal goals put on hold as well. It is wayside of Covid-19 regulations. I invite you to

the same with Toastmasters. Educational goals join me on that band wagon of possibility, of
in Pathways, the Distinguished Toastmaster sustainability, and of durability for a program
award, even leadership plans, objectives, and needed now more than ever.
goals have all been put on the back burner as we Yes, I believe in science fiction! For it may

embraced the “new normalcy” of our meeting not be as fictitious as we think, but instead the
style and structure. I had a potential new club search for a working reality. I look to return
that scheduled a kick-off meeting in late March “back to the future,” taking the lessons of the
2020. That meeting never came about as the past, applying what we know of this present, and

sponsoring body closed its doors due to the creating a glorious and successful future in all
pandemic and is only now considering opening that we do, especially the Toastmasters program.
some of their classrooms and halls for public Dig out your com badge from your youth, get
gatherings. That may all change soon. That will your tricorder ready, and prepare to beam up.

assist me to achieve another DTM in the near Okay, okay. Bring that phaser with you if you
future. As I look at it, the “back to the future” must. Let us go boldly where no one has gone
that I was engaged in. before, back…to the future!
I was privileged to mentor a club pre-2020.

Sadly, due to downsizing and office closings, etc.,
that club has folded. The great and dynamic
meetings they held during their weekly lunch-
hour club meeting will never be duplicated in

the “new normal.” They no longer meet as teams
or as a corporate body in the immediate area.
Everything is being run out of a small office miles
away. They went from 250 employees and staff

down to six or seven. I was called two weeks ago
and told that a group of former members may
be interested in developing a new club, going
“back to the future” after this summer.

I am excited about the possibilities of our
return. I can envision what could be. I embrace
the
need for our clubs back in full operation,

30 ONE COMMUNITY