By the time you read this a number of important events will have taken place and the results will be etched into history.
Our gallant, brave, selfless, hardworking troops will be home from Samoa after having built and handed over our Samoa School Project. Richmond has won the AFL Premiership (against all odds) beating Adelaide, who were the top team all year and I hope, The Melbourne Storm have won the NRL Premiership, beating the Cowboys who finished in 8th place.
Although I follow The Storm, it’s The Cowboys I would like to comment on. Grit, self belief and a wonderful team ethic/culture have allowed them to overcome almost insurmountable odds to play in the Grand Final.
They have shown what can be done if you ‘believe’. They lost their best player in the middle of the season. The pundits promptly wrote them off as having no chance to make the Finals, let alone the Grand Final. They lost a couple of ‘soft games’ along the way. Again, no chance. Problem is, the Pundits forgot to tell the Cowboys. Others in the team stepped up and covered for the injured player and the team played even harder for each other, their Mates, their club.
How the hell does this relate to Rotary I hear you ask. Well, our club is not too dissimilar to a football club like the Cowboys. We are a team, we have goals, we have leaders and we have talent that lies dormant until called upon to shine. Rotary, by its ideal of rotation of duties and tasks, promotes each and every member to engage, shine and believe in self. No one member is bigger, better or more important than the other ……………………. just sayin.
Welcome home troops from Samoa. looking forward to hearing all about it.
Barry Rassin, of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International for 2018-19. He will be declared the president-elect on 1 September if no challenging candidates have been suggested.
Rassin’s nomination follows Sam F. Owori’s death in July, just two weeks into his term as Rotary International president-elect.
This coming Wednesday morning, 2nd August, Tanya Twyford (yes, Mark's better half!) will give us a presentation of her work as a Complex Project Coordinator at the Wesley Mission. See you there!
Hang on! Before you panic: no, not at all - the project is still very much on track! But now we are in the final stage before shipping and on-site erection in Apia, Samoa: Under the careful supervision of Project Chief Des La Rance, the school is being disassembled panel by panel, beam by beam and stacked into a container ready for shipping. Last Saturday saw quite a number of our members on site at The Shed, helping to bring this largest of our club's projects in several years to fruition. Picture above (by Al Sirovs): Secretary Mark Twyford and District Treasurer Doug Lipp loading panels. Also present were Al Sirovs, Ray Higgs and several of the regular volunteers at The Shed.
District Governor Darrell Brown, on his "official" visit to his own club Surfers Sunrise, outlined his priorities. Not only is it a special year for us to have one of our members at the helm of District 9640, but we also have an Australian, Ian Riseley, in the top job as Rotary International's President.
These are the major points for Rotary International:
1. Support and Strengthen the clubs: Improve the Gender Balance! We are, on average, still very low (and our club is no exception). Contrary to that, the Mt Warning AM club started off as purely female, even though they now have inducted some male members as well. But in our club, what talent we have. For example, Jo Gorman, who not only will be incoming President next year, but will also
chair the District Conference 2018 Committee. (By the way: at a recent meeting, Darrell inducted 5 new Rotarians under 40 at Burleigh Heads. Four of them women!)
2. Promote and support Humanitarian Service: Foremost of this is the completion of the Polio eradication. "I had a workmate who had Polio", Darrell outlined. "He not only had to be supported by a caliper, but also had to wear a high platform shoe on one foot. 350,000 people were afflicted by Polio when Rotary started its program in the mid eighties. Last year, just 6 cases were reported world wide.
End Trachoma: this is one of RI President Ian Riseley's big goals. Australia is the only developed country where Trachoma is still occurring.
3. Enhance the Public Image and Awareness of Rotary: We must not just carry out our various projects, but we must record what we have done, how many man hours were spent on them, how much funds were raised for them, so we can publish and educate the public.
Darrell's personal goals:
1. Expose Rotary to friends and acquaintances. Every member to introduce Rotary to at least two people in this current year.
2. Mentoring, maintaining and nurturing the members we have got. Do you realize that in the last two years we lost 40, respectively 77 members who had only been in Rotary for 2 years or less? The aim is to pair an experienced member with a new member. KISS. (Keep it simple! Don't use acronyms)
Don't overload the club. It's better to have fewer projects that are carried out properly.
3. Every club to support at least three Rotary initiatives, and they can be local ones: Australian Rotary Health (ARH), Donations in Kind (DIK), Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM), Disaster Aid, Rotary Overseas Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC), just to name a few. Further, substantial subsidy can be obtained via District Grants and The Rotary Foundation. For example: $33,000 for a ARH scholarship becomes $87,000!
4. The Rotary Foundation: There is no doubt that Rotary's own major international foundation is at the very top: internationally renowned Charity Navigator rated at it with an efficiency factor of 97.85% and has given it the coveted 4-star rating.
Kerrie Brown's 'DG Partner' project is ROMAC: Any funds donated to ROMAC go to bringing an afflicted child to Australia for corrective surgery. Doctors provide their services at no charge and of course all the directors positions are honorary. Kerrie made 54 (!!) pillows (one for each club in District 9640), which she intends to "sell" to each club for $500 to achieve her goal of raising $25,000 it costs to bring a child to Australia. Surfers Sunrise certainly comes to the party: President Andy Bell presented Kerrie with a cheque for $500.00 [see picture above - your editor apologizes for the wobbly quality. Not sure whether it was the bright smile of Kerrie or the icy stare of President Andy which made me shake... ☺]
(Former Sergeant) Andy Bell sent a text (or was sent a text), apologizing for not attending a meeting - the current Deputy Sergeant disagrees... Franz Huber, according to the bulletin, do we have a new member named Robert Smith? Simon Brook, haven't seen you since the Changeover... (returned former member) John Dew: how long you've been away? Four years? well, that makes it about $200.00 in unpaid fines... Our newest member Col Laurenson: simply to get you used to it... Fred Hamblen, judging by your wearing shorts in mid winter, are you going off on a holiday? (No, he just came back from the Carribean. Obviously has not had time to change yet...) Steve Marais, we normally don't fine visitors, but as a guest of the District Governor, I can hardly leave you out! Mario Fairlie, how is your new watch working? Just how much did it cost? ("big dollars"); well, the Sergeant claimed he bought one for $15.95, postage paid... Adrian Crowe, ok, we know you are an enthusiastic Rotarian, but to describe the DG's visit as "exciting"??
Col Laurenson, who was inducted into our club last Wednesday, the previous week gave us a presentation of his work with Donations in Kind (DIK) Nothern Region. Col has been in charge of this project in Brisbane for ages. His original intention was to retire, however... Yeah, right! No regrets though: "Donations in Kind is the sort of thing that makes Rotary BIG" Col enthused about one of the key divisions of the Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS), an organization which has served the international community for decades. "DIK is mostly about logistics to check, sort and ship the goods to various developing countries, mostly in the PNG / South Pacific Region. Yes, it is a big job though. The organization is totally volunteer based - and age is no limit: the oldest one is 94 years old!
But of course, it is much more than just logistics. In essence, it is all about recycling and re-use. For example, the Tweed Heads South Hospital was replacing its electric beds. The "old" ones, whilst still perfectly functional, would have ended up on
the tip (that is, the metal would have been re-cycled by being shredded). Instead, the Rotary Club of Tweed Heads South arranged for them to be loaded into a container and sent to DIK. (You can see a separate article on this in the District 9640 Newsletter, to be published on Friday 28th July).
The program addresses multiple needs: Health (from medicine to spectacles to birthing kits to hospital beds), Education (any aspect, from blackboards to computers to student desks to books of any type (yes, including National Graphics magazines!). Besides the need for goods of all sorts, DIK needs to finance the cost of container shipping. A 20' container costs approximately $4,500, a 40' is about $6,800. To ensure a smooth transfer of the goods to the designated end users, and in order to avoid corruption or - heavens forbid - the goods ending up on the black market, DIK always works with another Rotary Club in the receiving country.
If you wish to learn more about Donations in Kind, or wish to support this magical project financially, please contact the Surfers Sunrise Rotary Club or send an email to the editor of this bulletin.
Des La Rance was at the door (for Simon Brook), Geoff Croad was Chairman and Ian Mayberry was Sergeant.
We had apologies from Peter Morgan, Tania Laird, Gerald East, Rosie McIntyre, Larry Murray.
President Andy Bell welcomed all members and visitors Steve Marais (guest of DG Darrell Brown), former member John Dew (yes, he indicated he'll re-join the club!) and a special welcome to our DG Darrell Brown's better half, Kerrie Brown! Andy proceeded straight away to officially induct Col Laurenson into our club (see photo on right). Col, who is in charge of the Brisbane region for Donations in Kind (DIK), is transferring from one of the Brisbane region clubs. Welcome Col!
Andy then proceeded to formally introduce DG Darrell Brown and Kerrie, and revealed that in his family, Darrell is affectionately known as 'Rotary Brown'... ☺ (See separate article on Darrell's presentation above). Further, Andy expressed his gratitude to Mario Fairlie for donating a bottle of Grange Hermitage to the Australasian Order of Old Bastards luncheon, which fetched $1,525.00 - hopefully we can expect this to be donated back to our club. And the previous Sunday's Bunnings BBQ event was recognized as an outstanding success. Doug Lipp confirmed that this raised $1,269.00.
Secretary Mark Twyford advised that negotiations with the Gold Coast City Council are in progress regarding the lease of the Wheelchairs Shed - "almost there". Wheelchair Trust Chairman Daryl Sanderson has submitted a Business Plan, following their AGM. We are aiming for a longer term lease.
Des La Rance advised that the windows for the School for Samoa "will arrive today". The container has already arrived, and we expect to start pulling it down and stacking it on Saturday.
Mario Fairlie specially acknowledged Rosie McIntyre's ongoing work in relation to the School for Samoa. We still have some issues getting payment from some students and/or teachers, who have advised that they'll go over to help with the construction, and we received confirmation from the receiving organization, the Samoa Victims Support Group, that on their side coverage etc has all been arranged.
If you are a registered Rotarian in District 9640, you should have received it in your Inbox by last Saturday. You can also download it from the District website: Click on this link and click on the News tab at the top.
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This coming Wednesday morning, 2nd August, Tanya Twyford (yes, Mark's better half!) will give us a presentation of her work as a Complex Project Coordinator at the Wesley Mission. See you there!
Hang on! Before you panic: no, not at all - the project is still very much on track! But now we are in the final stage before shipping and on-site erection in Apia, Samoa: Under the careful supervision of Project Chief Des La Rance, the school is being disassembled panel by panel, beam by beam and stacked into a container ready for shipping. Last Saturday saw quite a number of our members on site at The Shed, helping to bring this largest of our club's projects in several years to fruition. Picture above (by Al Sirovs): Secretary Mark Twyford and District Treasurer Doug Lipp loading panels. Also present were Al Sirovs, Ray Higgs and several of the regular volunteers at The Shed..JPG)
District Governor Darrell Brown, on his "official" visit to his own club Surfers Sunrise, outlined his priorities. Not only is it a special year for us to have one of our members at the helm of District 9640, but we also have an Australian, Ian Riseley, in the top job as Rotary International's President..JPG)
(Former Sergeant) Andy Bell sent a text (or was sent a text), apologizing for not attending a meeting - the current Deputy Sergeant disagrees... Franz Huber, according to the bulletin, do we have a new member named Robert Smith? Simon Brook, haven't seen you since the Changeover... (returned former member) John Dew: how long you've been away? Four years? well, that makes it about $200.00 in unpaid fines... Our newest member Col Laurenson: simply to get you used to it... Fred Hamblen, judging by your wearing shorts in mid winter, are you going off on a holiday? (No, he just came back from the Carribean. Obviously has not had time to change yet...) Steve Marais, we normally don't fine visitors, but as a guest of the District Governor, I can hardly leave you out! Mario Fairlie, how is your new watch working? Just how much did it cost? ("big dollars"); well, the Sergeant claimed he bought one for $15.95, postage paid... Adrian Crowe, ok, we know you are an enthusiastic Rotarian, but to describe the DG's visit as "exciting"??.JPG)
Col Laurenson, who was inducted into our club last Wednesday, the previous week gave us a presentation of his work with .jpg)
If you are a registered Rotarian in District 9640, you should have received it in your Inbox by last Saturday. You can also download it from the District website: .JPG)
"The dreadful truth is that when people come to see their MP they have run out of better ideas." 