Sara Sanderson, Marketing Coordinator for the Madison Central chapter, is pictured here addressing members and visitors at their March 1 reopening. Ask Sara what it takes to rebuild a chapter, and she'll tell you what some of you already know: Commitment, structure, education, and more commitment.
Madison Central decided to close its doors in mid-January to regroup. The knew they had work to do. They had to get the right people on the bus. They had to get the wrong people off the bus. Most importantly, they had to look in the mirror and admit that whatever it was they were doing before simply wasn't working. They went from about 15 members to 9 members in a matter of weeks as people started jumping ship. Rather than join another chapter, President Kendra Ellis persuaded the group to dig in and rebuild with the existing members.
They reopened March 1 with a new attitude, a new leadership team, and a targeted approach to inviting visitors that could net as many as six new members...not a bad way to get the ball rolling! I am convinced that one of the reasons they were successful was because when the meeting was finished, an existing member approached each visitor, went over the application line by line, and answered any questions they had at that time.
Their goal is to be 25-member chapter by the end of the summer. I wouldn't bet against them. Congratulations to Kendra Ellis and the whole Madison Central team for working together and making some tough decisions, the most important being the decision to take responsibility for their own success and taking the action to turn things around for the better.
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