I belong to ‘Toastmasters’ and my club is called ‘Yawn Patrol’ because we meet at 6:15am on Friday mornings. This is a very important factor in our clubs success as I will explain later in this article.

 Yawn Patrol is a very special club in the annals of Toastmasterdom because of our special distinction of being a “Presidents Distinguished Club” award recipient. In order to receive this award from Toastmasters International, the governing body of all of ‘Toastmasters’ clubs, you must complete nine out of the ten requirements for receiving this award. Every toastmasters club has the ability to receive this award but only a few have the tenacity to accomplish this feat.

 What makes ‘Yawn Patrol’ so special is that we have been awarded the “Presidents Distinguished Club” award for the last nine years in a row. Nine consecutive awards is quite an accomplishment for anything and we are very proud to announce that we are on track to get our tenth consecutive award this year. Ten “Presidents Distinguished Club” awards in ten years.

 So the current President of our club, Jill Whitmore, got in contact with Toastmasters International and asked them if they would be interested in an article for the “Toastmaster Magazine” about our club and what it takes to accomplish this feat. Of course, they were very excited about the prospect of our story so we are now in the process of creating an article to present to the magazine for all of our fellow Toastmasters around the world to read and learn from.

 We had a planning meeting last night at Jill’s house and did some brainstorming about what should be in the article and how we should structure it and all that. We talked about how we had great leadership and how we followed the guidelines of ‘Toastmasters’ and we talked about all the things required by the ten things you can do to earn the “Presidents Distinguished Club” award.

 Then we came to the conclusion that you can read about all of that stuff in the ‘Toastmasters’ manuals and magazine but what really makes our group special is the people and how we have all come together as an extended family that honors and respects each and every member. So we decided to shift the focus of the article to reflect the individual personalities of our members.

 We decided to have each member write a short paragraph about why ‘Yawn Patrol’ is so special to them and I would like to submit my paragraph right now. Here is why ‘Yawn Patrol’ is so special to me and why I believe that we have created this special Toastmasters experience.

Why Yawn Patrol is special to me: By Richard D. Blackstone

Fellow Toastmasters, my name is Richard Blackstone and I have been a member since August of 04’. Yawn Patrol is special to me because of one thing; LOVE. This group of diverse and exceptional people all came here with the intention of being better at public speaking, including myself, but once you become a member of Yawn Patrol you begin to realize that there is something going on in this special group of people that is way beyond the simple concept of learning the ART of public speaking. You have joined a family that honors and respects all its members. Yes, we all become better speakers, but during the course of this learning curve we all become better human beings. We have a very spiritual base in our club that demonstrates itself as Love, the kind of love that heals and grows and shares. I look forward to 6:15am on Friday mornings because I know that I am going to be immersed in a ‘feeling of love’ for an hour and a half and I can’t wait to get there and enjoy the company of these extraordinary people. Part of that love reveals itself in our mutual pride as a club that has been a “Presidents Distinguished Club” for nine years running and we are keeping it going. Yea, Yawn Patrol.

 I love ‘Yawn Patrol.’

 Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

Posted on October 10th, 2009 by Richard
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