Bugger, that came around quick. My final message as President... [remember, no breakfast next week (Darrell's Changeover instead) nor the following week (our Changeover instead. Ed.]
... and what better way to finish up the year than with the wonderful news that our very own Daryl Sanderson, one of the most important cogs in the wheelchair shed for the past 19 years, has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal. Daryl, on behalf of Surfers Sunrise, thank you so much for your mammoth and ongoing contribution to our Rotary Club, our Gold Coast Community and the greater good in the world.
Speaking of good in the world, here's my final shout out... To all of the Surfers Sunrise members, the partners, the friends and families, for your help and support and encouragement throughout the year, for the Bunnings BBQ's, the Polio Collection, the Melbourne Cup Luncheon, the Wheelchair Shed working bees, the Samoan School Project, the GC Ramble, and to those who have helped in our various Rotary youth programmes and the preparation of our very own DG Brown's year. Without your generosity and willingness to get in and give it a go, we wouldn't be half the club we are today... or 30 years ago… so thank you.
If there's one thing I've learnt (and I've learnt a bucket load of stuff on this journey!) it would be that 'Everybody knows something you don't'... Rotary is made up of some of the craziest, strangest characters I have ever met, and whilst our backgrounds, our professions and our interests are often worlds apart, our ability to come together, to learn and contribute towards a common goal is something only Rotary can offer....
Winter is here, don’t let the snooze button win, See you all for breakfast on Wednesday!
The pre-construction of the School for Samoa, supported by Helensvale High School, has started. The picture (by Bob Harrison) on the left shows 'Chief of Construction' and designer of the concept, Des La Rance with Al Sirovs at The Shed last Saturday.
The Samoa School Raffle will close this coming Saturday 29th April 2017.
Surfers Sunrise Rotary will build a school for disadvantaged kids in Samoa. Have you sold your tickets? Or, if you prefer to buy on a secure website, see link below. Making a difference, that's what Rotary is all about. Our Club, Surfers Sunrise, will build a school for disadvantaged children in Samoa. We just need a few more dollars to raise the final funds, so we have organized a Raffle with a huge prize.
Only 500 tickets - Family Holiday in Fiji valued at AUS $4,522. Closes 29th April 2017.
These tickets make a fantastic, quick and easy gift too. OK, Easter has just gone, but whom did you forget to buy an Easter Egg for?. Would you help us to spread the message? Log on to Facebook, go to our club's page www.facebook.com/rcsurferssunriseand share the post. Come on, do it right now, before you forget!
Imagine how you would feel if you lived in a country where you couldn't afford to send your child to school? In Samoa there are many children who don't have the privilege our Aussie kids have of getting an education and creating a better life for themselves, as they live in extreme poverty. The Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise, in conjunction with the Northern Gold Coast Collegiate of schools, will build a cyclone ratified school for the Samoa Victims Support Group to provide a place for these children to learn for free.
We have plenty of experience, with similar buildings erected in Thailand after the 2006 Tsunami, Samoa after the 2009 Tsunami and the House of Hope in Samoa in 2012. All labour is provided pro bono, there are no commissions, wages etc. Crikey! The construction crew even pays for their own airfares and accommodation!
A Rotarian; a radio broadcaster; a stand up comic; an actor. An author; a businessman; a coach. Chairman of Relay for Life. A motor industry expert and so much more. Its amazing that he has time to come to speak with us! At this breakfast, Ron Hailes will give us his personal insight into the motor Industry in Asia Pacific - whats changed and what's about to change. Expect it to be fun - and if you ask nicely, he may tell us a funny story or two.
This Wednesday is the last breakfast meeting at the RSL Club for a couple of weeks (next week is a dinner meeting and the following week we'll have a joint meeting with Hope Island Rotary Club). See you there!
So how does one cram a major leadership seminar into a 20 minutes presentation? It would have to be quite a difficult task indeed to do such a precis. But Tania and Jo came up with a good summary. “Start with Rotary and good things happen” – ok, perhaps the slogan is a bit corny, but – yes indeed! – this is what happens. Developed in the US in 1992, the Rotary Leadership Institute is designed to teach potential Rotary Club leaders about Rotary’s major aspects. It is a general education program rather than “job specific”, as many other programs are. And the lecturers? They don’t come much more senior than District Governor Michael Irving (himself a former University Professor and Vice-Chancellor) and the Chairman of our District’s Rotary Foundation committee, Neil Jones. The program goes over 3 major parts, but for the purpose of this article, let’s just concentrate on the first segment:
Insights Into Leadership
My Rotary World
Ethics-Vocation Service
Foundation I: Our Foundation
Engaging Members
Creating Service Projects
Jo and Tania specifically addressed a point all clubs, including ours, need to seriously concentrate on: Membership development and retention: Identify the target audience, Define how to go about it, Attract potential members, show them the value of potentially engaging with us and ongoing involvement.
Jo also provided a brief outline of The Rotary Foundation. Starting with a foundation capital of $26.50 (yes, no misprint), today it is one of the largest non-government charitable organizations in the world.
But perhaps we should go back to basics first: Can you remember The Objects of Rotary? What about The 4-Way Test, in essence the 10 commandments distilled into 4? Yes, we have seen them so many times, one gets a bit blasé about it. Keep reading below…
The Objects of Rotary
FIRST. The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND. High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD. The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business, and community life;
FOURTH. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
Rosie McIntyre, you are telling lies! You said "Larry Murray worked hard"... Yeah, right! Jo Gorman, I didn't know your first name was Doris... Larry Murray is in despair - the floods prevented him from his weekly sojourn to the D'Arcy's Arms pub... Peter Morgan: Lawyers [there was something else to further elaborate, but your Editor can't read his own handwriting... ☺] Ian Mayberry, good job you did last week in my absence! Tania Laird is planning to visit Hong Kong - the Kung Fu Wineries have already been advised to expect a substantial increase in sales of Fine Quality Wines... Franz Huber was accused of being negative on the prognosis of Gold Coast and Surfers Sunrise Rotary winning the Multiple Clubs Project Award this year [not at all - but being Chair of the Awards Committee, I need to maintain total impartiality. Ed.]John Franich, welcome back! [He was already back last week, when he copped a fine from Ian - what a welcome!] Gerald East, how's Richmond going? (Very nicely, thank you! Won 2 out of 2 so far)... Mitch Brown and President Simon Brook: the 'Broken Record' fine (... and whilst around the League Club's floor, the listening members moan...)
Franz Huber, followed byAdrian Crowe were at the door, Jo Gorman was Chairman and Andy Bell was Sergeant.
We had apologies from Ray Higgs, Mario Fairlie, Darrell Brown and Paul Seymour.
President Simon Brook welcomed all members, including Rosie McIntyre's daughter and one of the trio of the winning GC Ramble team Trinity - good to see you when you are on school holidays! Simon reminded us to bring in the money of the Samoa Raffle tickets sold. He also had contact with various Rotary Clubs in flood affected areas: Murwillumbah, Lismore. We are awaiting finalization of a Flood Relief Fund of the District, hopefully to be arranged via RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service). A brief reference to the Gold Coast Ramble (more details below from Mark Twyford). On 26th April we'll meet at the Hope Island Rotary Club - numbers are needed by next week.
Wheelchair Trust Chairman Daryl Sanderson advised that Cambodia has shown renewed interest in our Wheelchairs program, but there is a question mark over whether they will charge import duty for containers? The Wheelchair Team hosted the Rotary Club of Surfers Paradise at The Shed recently - Des La Rance gave them the "full treatment" as usual, with a presentation.
Following on from this, Rosie McIntyre advised that so far we have 15 Volunteers to go to Samoa in September to assist in the construction of the school we are currently raising funds for. Anyone else coming? This will be during the School Holidays period. Larry Murray has worked hard to obtain some goodies via Donations in Kind. But very important: the Raffle Ticket sales are somewhat slow. You need to bring in the ticket stubs and money no later than 26. April 2017. If you go away before end of April, please bring all unsold tickets back beforehand!
Secretary Mark Twyford gave us an update on the Gold Coast Ramble: They had a de-brief meeting last Friday. The event produced a "slight profit", which, considering this is the inaugural event - and they are always the hardest ones to crank up where the public is involved - is quite encouraging. A total of $7,500 was donated to various charities. There were only minor glitches, all of them were comfortably covered by the backup systems in place. There were a total of 250 participants. A special thank you to Neil Thurlow, who provided all the printing at no charge. 'On ya, Neil!' Interestingly, the top two teams in the 4 hour event were only separated by extra points gained from donations they had organized to nominated charities. Next year, it is planned to have more Check Point Sponsorships - the feedback from this year's sponsors has been very positive indeed!
President Elect Larry Murray advised that the Changeover Luncheon will most likely again be held at Seaworld Resort on Sunday 2nd July - more details as they come to hand.
The detailed program has now been released: click here.
Starting on Friday, but you can attend any of the sessions (except the College of Governor's Lunch, unless you have PDG, DG or DGE in front of your name...). Hey, how about Professor Lyn Griffiths, the Biomedical Director at QUT (Saturday at 09:25 am). Or famous TV journalist Kerry O'Brien (yes, of the 7:30 Report and 4 Corners) at 11:25 am. Then, in the evening we have a bush dance: It will be held at the Alstonville Community Centre, just a 20 minute drive from Ballina, or if you prefer not to drive, a bus is organized. The band is Tallowwood Bush Band (yes, "No 96 to the snack bar please"...). The line-up includes a swag of incredibly talented multi-instrumentalists who present folk music from around the world with a strong Celtic influence and an emphasis on preserving the Australian family bush dance that transports the audience through time and emotion leaving no doubt why this band has been the winner of so many music awards and been so popular at festivals and events throughout Australia. And for food? Master Chef Tony Koelner will have an open spit bar-be-que.
Conference attendance itself is free, but, fair enough, some fees apply if you want to get lunch, participate in the bush dance on Saturday night etc.
"There is a huge difference between being tolerant and tolerating intolerance." Ayaan Hirsi Ali
"Clearly the spirit of freedom that historically animates Australia’s laws — indeed, the West’s laws — is increasingly at odds with the spirit of forced conformity that animates the hearts of many human rights activists..."Stephen Chavura
The pre-construction of the School for Samoa, supported by Helensvale High School, has started. The picture (by Bob Harrison) on the left shows 'Chief of Construction' and designer of the concept, Des La Rance with Al Sirovs at The Shed last Saturday.
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So how does one cram a major leadership seminar into a 20 minutes presentation? It would have to be quite a difficult task indeed to do such a precis. But Tania and Jo came up with a good summary. “Start with Rotary and good things happen” – ok, perhaps the slogan is a bit corny, but – yes indeed! – this is what happens. Developed in the US in 1992, the .JPG)
Rosie McIntyre, you are telling lies! You said "Larry Murray worked hard"... Yeah, right! Jo Gorman, I didn't know your first name was Doris... Larry Murray is in despair - the floods prevented him from his weekly sojourn to the D'Arcy's Arms pub... Peter Morgan: Lawyers 
