Goodness – where did those months go! Here we are in December and I imagine we’re all looking forward to a short time of relaxing, reflecting and re-energising with our families and friends over the holiday period. What a strange year it has been – unlike any other – and I think we can all look back and reflect on the fact that we’ve adapted, we’ve got to know ourselves better, we’ve acquired new skills – in short we’ve survived and even thrived during one of the greatest challenges most of us have had to face.
We’ve now visited all but a handful of the Clubs in the District. It’s been a very special experience. Each Club is unique – and often fly under the radar. There are some great community projects around our District for which we need to be better at telling our story. I do think that we could collaborate better with our communities, involving them in our projects where possible and letting them know that we are we’d like them to consider joining us. If they help us grow, we can continue to help our communities.
As I look back on 2020, I reflect on how our lives have changed. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought pain and loss to many of us. And for almost all of us, our daily lives, family time, and work also changed this year. But we've made it to the end of this difficult year, not on our own but by reaching out to one another, as we always do in Rotary. With each passing year, I become prouder of our organization.
I will choose to remember 2020 as a year of great change and strength for us; Rotary didn't stop, despite the pandemic. We removed obstacles, found new ways to connect, and embraced new approaches to service, such as online projects and virtual fundraising. I have invited two Rotarians to share their stories about how Rotary grew stronger this year.
19 -21 March 2021 in Greytown (Friday) and Carterton (Saturday/ Sunday).
Things to look forward to:
Enjoy a Taste of the Wairarapa while we consider how to Future-proof our Proud Heritage.
Opportunity to enjoy the Wairarapa’s attractions.
Speaker tasters to date include Celebrity Chef Martin Bosley and Change psychologist Dr Paul Wood.
Taste the Wairarapa at Cobblestones on Friday evening.
Fabulous Saturday night food, wine, dancing, music from the decades delivered by crooner Steve Carlin – and dress up in the era of your Club’s charter!
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Freya has been a wonderful Bulletin Editor. She has been an amazing champion of the Bulletin over several years.
Sadly, continuing ill health means that she has no longer been able to continue in this role, and so this will be her last month as Editor.
Freya has had a knack of identifying special stories that Clubs have been involved in and has often chased Clubs to provide content for the Bulletin. The Bulletin has grown larger under her guidance, with our members increasingly wanting to share their activities.
We thank her for her commitment and wish her improved health in the future.
Freya writes:
"There have been many special moments and have felt that I may have left a little bit of myself in the clubs that are regular contributers to the Bulletin.
I have got to know a lot of wonderful people and have been privileged to learn a lot about the wider world of Rotary.
Taking over from Adrienne Murray was a challenge and a little bit frightening and I am so thankful to her for her guidance and support.
It is so important that clubs take the initiative to send in stories for the Bulletin that highlight all of the great service/ happenings in the District.
There is a risk of clubs becoming insular and sharing projects and ideas is certainly of interest or inspiration to other Rotarians.
Thanks for your friendship Rotarians
Freya"
The District Bulletin Going Forward
Since October Our Public Relations and Image Chair has been updating the format of the District Bulletin. He and his team will be working to fill this position in the coming few months. Andrew has included some notes at the end of the bulletin as to how he will operate this role in the meantime.
JOIN US & SHARE THE NEWS IYM is coming back and this time it is digital!
IYM Online will run in the first week of the April school holidays over five half-day sessions. Places will be limited to 100 and the cost to take part is $30.00.
IYM Residential is for students from the Greater Wellington Region only. This will be based at Silverstream Retreat in Lower Hutt and will run in the first week of the July school holidays. Places will be limited to 40 and the cost to students to attend is $170.
The Rotary Club of Wellington is running their annual Nonsuch PPM Jumbo Tennis competition.
This event is not one to disappoint and is the perfect for team building, enjoying the last of summer and also the perfect opportunity for any other Rotary Clubs in the Wellington Region to get involved as a participating team.
All money raised is being split 50/50 between Wellington Children's Hospital & Give Every Child A Future.
We have a District Calendar to help the District know when Clubs are running events. We ask all Clubs to ensure that their events are included on the District Calendar.
The District Bulletin is by far the easiest way to a advertise you have an upcoming event or the success of a previous event to the wider 9940 family.
It also provides an opportunity for us to engage with those outside of 9940 and as Public Image Chair Andrew Mahoney does communicate large fundraisers to people outside the Region often.
In order to communicate with your District you must ensure that you have provided the stories (AND photographs) by these dates. Any stories or photos received after this date may be too late to be accepted and subsequently may not be included in the Bulletin.
True to the point above all of this information is available on the District Calendar.
It is important that in advertising an event you are advertising it the right way. This means using the correct branding for Rotary & also ensuring that the communications look professional.
If you need help with communications, please:
Ask!
Ask with a good timeframe between asking and the event (Aim for at least 2 months before the event).
Your team will be able to let you know what they can do, and how best to advertise an event.
This December, Rotary’s Disease Prevention and Treatment Month, we are celebrating our devotion to fight diseases and create healthier communities around the world.
Rotary’s commitment to expand access to health services and prevent the spread of diseases continues to grow as our members support polio eradication efforts, organize projects around screenings and interventions for HIV/AIDS, malaria, COVID-19, and more. Thanks to the dedicated support of Rotary members and our partners, Africa was certified free of the wild poliovirus in August. The polio eradication infrastructure that our members helped build has also been leveraged to effectively address COVID-19 through strengthened health systems, surveillance and contact tracing. Our members’ efforts continued in enhancing local health infrastructures, improving the capacity of healthcare professionals, and offering programs that provide free healthcare in communities that need them most.
Great to see young people seizing the 'Service above Self' ethos - last month we heard from student leaders from the St Oran's Interact club who have fundraised for Emergency Response Kits (Ainsley Rowe, Sophie Law, Catherine Ma, Christina Wen, Teresa Devine) and also from Ruby Campbell-Stokes, who was sponsored by Rotary to attend an Innovative Young Minds course, designed to encourage young women to explore science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and high-tech manufacturing sectors.
Congratulations to SHINE Interact Club on Sunday's induction of 14 new members. Daybreak President Shane King presented the pins, and AG Graeme attended.
Daybreak sponsored SHINE in late 2015, and then-DG Simon Manning presented the Club with its certificate in early 2016. SHINE continues to go from strength to strength, and with the Interact club's mentor Rochelle Howard set to become Daybreak President in July 2021, the relationship will only grow stronger.
Rotary Club of Takaro‘s support for the more vulnerable in our community.
Supporting Takaro School is the main service focus of our club. Our longest running project is Rotary Readers: 3-4 members sit with children and listen to them read , once a week: this has made a huge difference to the overall reading age of the school and the children’s future achievements. We also give them stationery at Christmas time (instead of Secret Santa) to use in the classrooms or to give to children who will benefit from it.
For many years we have provided scholarships to children going to intermediate or secondary school to help with some of the costs. Helena, their principal told us last month that all the recipients for the past 10 years had completed year 13 at school.
More recently we have supported their “Bikes in Schools” programme, with an expanding roll and busy kids, they always need help to purchase new bikes and spare parts, to ensure as many children as possible can participate. We obtained a district grant this year to assist with this programme.
We have supported the “Brush In” programme at Te Aroha Noa Early Childhood Centre for many years. This programme provides a toothbrush and toothpaste to each child to use at the centre and they are taught how to brush their teeth properly. They get a new one each term and the old one gets sent home. With dental health such an important thing it is wonderful to support such a simple program.
A new area that we have supported this year is the Starlight Trust led by the amazing Cathys. This trust provides gifts for adults and children in our community and hospital affected by mental illness.
Porirua is one of the Clubs in the Region that always is doing something amazing for the community. This month is no exception, have a read of the great activities this Club has got up to to aid their community.
The Rotary Club of Kapiti has been exceptionally active the last few months with a very successful golf tournament raising money for great causes (read more here) & A successful raffle raising funds for Kapiti Youth and the Wellington Children's Hospital (read more here).
Last day of the Rotary and lions book fair everyone starting to pack up, always far too many books to sell that major inroads anyway. Our first sales of the N95 masks with quite a few people interested. These will be available through clubs soon.
Thanks to everyone who has been involved with the book fair.
The COVID 19 situation has meant that one of our flagship Youth projects has necessarily had to be put on hold. RI President Holgar Knaack has asked all Districts to halt this programme until July 2021 at the earliest.
RYE committee members are people who are passionate about this wonderful programme and give their all to ensuring that both inbound and outbound students have the experience of their lifetimes. RI advises that Chair and Committee roles are considered for change every three years or so. The enforced halt to the programme provides the opportunity for a refreshed approach. Lynne Phillips, Chair has indicated she will step down from her role as Chair. Others have indicated they too may step away. We as a District sincerely thank Lynne and her committee for their huge commitment to the success of this programme over many years. They have left a great legacy that will provide a strong base for RYE in the future.
This provides an opportunity for others to become involved in this wonderful programme. If any readers would like to know more about what is involved, please contact Marilyn Stevens, our Youth Services Co-ordinator.
Rotary Porirua joined the Diwali celebration at the North City mall. Good to see an event two years later after Rotary hosted the inaugural Diwali Festival in 2017.
From June Murugan ‘Happy Diwali to all our Rotary members who celebrate this special day. May the light triumph over all that you do#Diwali2020’
As the iconic structures light up yellow, we're shining some of the glow onto this year's recipients of our Supporting Excellence in Road Safety Awards - a joint initiative with our major partners. Today the spotlight was on the recipient of NZ Steel’s Champion Facilitator Award, Andrew Robertson. Andrew facilitates Speed and Stopping for us around the Lower North Island. He is the king of dad jokes and really gets students engaged and having fun with the session. Receiving his award he said “This might be our one and only chance with these young people…and if we don’t do our best we may miss the opportunity of changing their future. Congratulations, Andrew and thank you for the energy, expertise and enthusiasm you bring to each and every RYDA workshop session. #Thankyou#RYDA#yellowribbon#roadsafety#NRSW
There will be no District Bulletin for the month of January as for most Rotary Clubs this month is usually quiet. Other than January all months in the 2021 year will have a District Bulletin.
The Due Dates for Stories and Photos for the February District Bulletin is the 4th of February 2021. Please note, the inclusion of any late submissions are at the sole discretion of the Acting Editor.
