There’s a video on Youtube which in 75 seconds depicts the extremely large (as in the Universe) all the way to the extremely minute (as in sub-atomic). Have you ever thought of Rotary in a similar way? Come on, think about it: on the one hand, we have the extremely small (yes, YOU, rattling the Polio Plus bucket, running a mental health forum or removing graffiti), just one of about 1.2 million world wide. At the other end, you have the very large as, for example, The Rotary Foundation and within it, the Polio Plus campaign. At the Micro end, hundreds of millions of dollars collected via small “rattling the bucket” collections (visualize the granny giving her toddler granddaughter a coin to put into the Polio Plus bucket you are holding) through to giants of industry and commerce such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who, according to an article in Forbes Magazine in May 2019, have contributed some $US 3.7 Billion in total towards the eradication of Polio.Whooaa Franz! Where are you going with this? Well, let me give you two examples of personal “Micro to Macro” experiences on the one day: Last Saturday, the day started off with a working bee at our club’s Project Shed. We loaded a 40’ container with over 200 wheelchairs, some 60 school desks and chairs, walkers etc, destined for PNG (ask Tanya and Mark Twyford how to stack so many in such a small place!). At an even more micro level, the wheelchairs had been lovingly put together by our volunteers, who stripped old bicycles, cut plywood, spray painted. At the other end, they’ll be handled by the local Rotary Club “over there”.
The second example is less complex, yet qualifies equally for “Micro to Macro”: I got a call from a personal friend of mine whose disabled brother had passed away. He had an almost new wheelchair, two walkers, a perfectly good laser printer and other paraphernalia. He knew that “Rotary can find a good home for that stuff”. Yes, but our club doesn’t handle “western” style wheelchairs, but the Burleigh Heads club does, via Donations in Kind in Brisbane. One phone call, a quick trip to deliver the goods, and I could assure my friend that the goods will end up in a good place, without any “baksheesh” being collected by a corrupt official. How good is it to be part of a “ready made” organisation like that? How good is it to be a member of Rotary?