Welcome back to Rotary in 2021! I expect most of you will be back meeting and focusing on the year ahead. I’ve enjoyed reading about the various social gatherings that many Clubs have had which have eased members into the year in a fun way. I don’t think we can overemphasise the importance of having fun and enjoying each other’s company. A few Clubs I’ve visited have told me that fellowship (a rather ‘quaint’ word…) isn’t a key focus. We all know the wisdom that ‘couples who play together, stay together’. The same premise is entirely relevant for our Clubs. It’s a key factor in keeping our members engaged.
As well as engaging our current members, I’m focusing strongly on growing Rotary in our District. This month I’m meeting all my Assistant Governors and we’re exploring opportunities for starting new Clubs. This is a key focus of RI President Holgar Knaack. While I am discussing this with our AGs in the first instance, there is actually much that each of us can do in this regard. How many of us know people who would make great Rotarians but, for a range of reasons, their situation is such that they can’t see how Rotary could fit into their lives? We’re setting out to change that!
Our solution is to look for opportunities to make Rotary more accessible. This may mean having a good hard look at the way we do things in our Clubs – our meeting structure, our expectations of members, the cost are examples. What can we do differently that would make our Club more attractive to a wider range of people?
We’ll also be exploring the range of new Club models. Some examples: An E-Club would be great for those who would love to join but are too busy to attend physical meetings or who can’t afford the cost of meals. I’m confident we will have an E-Club in our District soon! A cause based Club – ‘E’ or otherwise – would be great for people who are passionate about a specific cause and would value the support of Rotary in developing that cause. Young Mums could meet over coffee in a café with their littlies, thereby creating a friendship group while working on projects in their communities. A group of young professionals could form a Club that provides networking opportunities while providing a service opportunity. Many of these ideas can start small as a satellite Club of a larger Club and may then develop independently as they grow.
I attended the closing session of RYLA in January and was blown away by the way the young attendees spoke of how they’d grown during the course. A huge thank you to Rotary Hutt Valley and to the ‘Blue Team’ for running such a great programme. The attendees were encouraged to keep in touch with their Club sponsors. We often miss the opportunity to keep young people who benefit from our wonderful programmes, engaged in Rotary. The opportunity for more relaxed new Club models potentially plays well into the lifestyles of young people. Let’s keep them engaged!
My challenge to you as Rotarians on the ground in your communities – if you know of anyone who may be interested in understanding how Rotary could fit into their lives in a less traditional way then the usual Club model, please talk to your President or Assistant Governor or come directly to me or Marion Johnston our Membership Chair. We’d love to hear from you. The great work of Rotary depends on it!!
DG Gillian Jones
Happy New Year & Happy Chinese New 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!
We have been encouraging clubs to take out insurance, especially as this year’s costs would largely be reimbursed by District.
At the current time, some 31 clubs have signed up for the insurance. If your club has not and you want to be a part of the deal please talk to Grahame today.
Living with COVID-19 in our world is the new normal. It is important that when running an event or organising one that you follow the rules for the different Alert Levels that we are operating in. To ensure that you are following the right advice please defer to the following websitehttps://covid19.govt.nz
Some advice (and I speak from some experience!):
Ensure all participants use the COVID Tracing App for the event.
Ensure you have a QR code if you are running an event so participants can scan.
If your event relies of more than 100 people to participate please note in Alert Level 2 conditions and above this will not be possible. Events such as this need to be postponed (if possible) or cancelled.
COVID-19 will be with us a while, so ensuring that you are working to the right rules is vital both for safety, risk mitigation and ensuring that Rotary is remembered for the right reasons.
Whether it be within our clubs, our work, our businesses or hobbies – members of Rotary are some of the busiest people you can find. From our youngest members who are juggling the start of their career to our older members who are focusing to on their responsibilities to their families, our members live dynamic ever-changing lives. What connects us is that we all wish to dedicate our skills, services and time to Rotary: emblazoned by the motto that unites us and serves as our modus operandi, Service above Self.
Remember We Are Volunteers…
However, what must be stressed is that at the end of the day all our members are volunteers. For the work that is done in Rotary not a single dollar is exchanged for our members hard work. What is exchanged is time and work for community good. Whether it be work giving school children books they need for their education, grant giving to ensure that a local arts centre has enough money to operate, or a fundraiser for our main causes of End Polio Now, Give Every Child A Future, the Rotary Foundation or the newly established Wellness Trust: our work by our volunteers provides massive support to our local and more global communities.
While this work is heroic it is not undertaken by individuals with super powers, no… it is the work off the brow of our fantastic volunteers who are willing to make personal sacrifices so that others may succeed. It is vital in this environment that we respect the involvement of our fellow volunteers and remember that they are doing this out of their own goodwill.
In essence, kindness to our volunteers is needed to ensure that our work continues.
Some Tips To Ensure You Are Kind To Volunteers
Always speak from a “How can I help?” attitude before jumping into problems.
Remove your feelings from the equation – you might be in charge of a large Club or District event and you are feeling worried or stressed on progress, but remember never to let those feelings guide communications with volunteers.
If you are feeling too many emotions and you need to communicate with volunteers, stop… The communication can wait until you have cleared your mind.
Everyone is human and things are always happening – sometimes things happen out of people’s control. Seek first to understand before being understood.
Show your appreciation to volunteers. Whether this be thanking them privately or publicly let them know their work is valued.
We are on the Low Peak and with little further effort we will be able to wave a flag gleefully in celebration of reaching the High Peak.
Ed Hilary and Harry Ayres were the first to climb the South Face of Mt Cook, and so reached the low peak. They then strolled the mile long summit ridge, over the Middle Peak, to reach the High Peak. We have reached a summit in our search for the missing district trophies, but the high summit would be just so much better. We have located ten trophies with just seven more to go.
Please have a scratch around in your club’s darkest corners, to locate the elusive seven. Then we can complete our celebration at the forthcoming conference, and so fully acknowledge the achievements of those awardee clubs.
The trophies missing, and most of them are Silverware trophies, are:-
Sir John Ilott Cup, Paul Harris Fellow’s Trophy, Fred Hall’s Conference Trophy, The Porirua Cup, The Public Image “Actions Count” Award, The Kapiti Trophy and the Significant Achievement Award.
How your gift to the Rotary Foundation can grow and give
A named endowment fund of US$25,000, established in 1995, has provided spendable earnings since then of more than $38,000. In addition, the fair market value of the fund has grown to almost $37,000. See how an endowment contribution grows over time and continues to give in this chart.
You may have a named endowment and select an area of focus where you would like the funds to be directed, if the endowment is US$25,000 or more. If you choose the Annual Programs SHARE fund, about 25 per cent of the proceeds from the investment would come back to our District each year for District grant projects carried out by Rotary Clubs in our District (in your area of focus, if selected). About 25 per cent would be allocated to our District (District Designated Funds) for our District to allocate to either projects in your area of focus (if selected) or worthy global grant projects or scholarships initiated by our District, or where our District decides to contribute to global grant projects led by other Rotary Districts. These global grant projects could be within our District, within New Zealand and the Pacific, or further afield. The remaining 50% would go to the Rotary Foundation’s World Fund for projects (in your area of focus if selected), scholarships and peace fellowships.
Should you wish to set up an endowment fund, please contact our District Foundation Chair, Martin Garcia
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.
New World Carterton and Carterton Rotary Ambrose Golf Tournament
Entries to john.reeve48@outlook.com(tel 021 560 461) by close of business 19 March please, stating your team name, players’ names, club ID number and handicap index, and if no official index, whether you are a non-golfer.
Individuals entering will be placed in teams trying to ensure they are teamed with at least one experienced golfer.
Entry fee is $25 per player (payment on acceptance of entry), with proceeds going to support community projects undertaken by the Rotary Club of Carterton.
RYPEN 2021
Nominations are now open for RYPEN 2021, which is to be held 26-28 March. It would be great if your club could sponsor two students, one male and one female. Term 1 has begun so please have your Youth Director approach a college in you area to offer the opportunity to 15-17 students the chance to be sponsored on this weekend of youth enrichment. The best person to contact at each school is the leader of the Pastoral Care team, often a Deputy Principal. The cost for this year has been held at $245 per student plus travel costs.
The forms can be downloaded from the very bottom of thispageor, if you have any questions, please call me on 0274 426943 or email rypen9940@gmail.comand I can send you the forms. Nominations close Friday 5thMarch.
Brave New Thinkers
New Zealand Business Week brings an amazing intense week from 12-16 July for year 12-13 students. For students that have ever thought about running their own business, don't miss New Zealand Business Week (NZBW). During Business Week, a project challenge is set and you will setup a virtual company to undertake that project. This will finish in a Dragons Den environment, where you will sell your idea to investors.
But NZBW is not just a business competition - it provides an environment that encourages and fosters brave thinking. You'll look at new business models, meet business people, be inspired and challenged. Not to mention, you'll be surrounded by like-minded friends from all over New Zealand.
WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?
You will be immersed in a fun and challenging environment. You'll gain an understanding of the realities of starting your own business and you'll meet other students and business people.
You'll take part in workshops, team activities and get advice from real business people. Not only will you develop new fantastic new skills and relationships, it looks great on your CV.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The programme includes identifying personal goals, inspirational speakers, workshops, a team challenge, business coaches and fun activities.
The week costs $1,012, up to 50% Sponsorship is available through Rotary Clubs.
The planning committee for the lead up to the 9940 District Conference would like to involve as many clubs as possible in the District and have been working on the Wellington, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa region to bring the R100 Baton symbolically to the District Conference in March. Below is a summary of the plan and if other regions in the District would like to plan other events with the R100 Baton please let us know so that we can arrange for delivery of the baton to your club/s.
On 13 March the R100 Baton will arrive into Wellington (symbolically)
The R100 Baton will be run from Wellington Airport to the Wellington Railway Station by a group of runners and club members in a group run/walk in the afternoon of 13 March.
The next day 14 March the R100 Baton will arrive at Ava Railway Station (Memorial Park)in Petone in the morning and will be run and walked up the river bank to Trentham Memorial Park (we are talking with Hutt Valley Clubs about being involved in this section)
The afternoon of 14 March we have arranged to use the park and club rooms at Trentham Memorial Park for a celebration of 100 years of Rotary and plan to include a kids relay with the theme being the Anne Hare Challenge which has been a school event in the past. The students will form teams of 10 studentsrunning 200m each to try and beat Anne Hare’s NZ 2,000 record of 5.44. (Anne is a member of Port Nicholson Rotary Club and is on the organising committee).
The R100 Baton will rest until 19 March when it will be delivered to Greytown ahead of the Conference opening and we have contacted the schools to invite them to hold a similar Anne Hare Challenge event as well.
If any club or Rotarian has an interest in assisting or being involved please contact a member of the organising committee. Organising Committee:
This November, it will be 35 years almost to the day that District 9940 Caravan Club was born, when three Rotarians from Tawa Club, One from Porirua, one from Plimmerton, Three from Paraparaumu /Kapiti Clubs and three from Feilding Club met in the Carterton Holiday park for the very first District 9940 caravan rally. Eleven vans complete with Rotarians and their wives spent an enjoyable weekend together visiting the delights of the Wairarapa ably assisted by the Rotary Club of Carterton and the then incoming DG, Alastair Orsborne. That meeting set the club up with a bright start thanks the Carterton club, and Alastair Orsborne.
Prior to the first rally, the three Tawa Rotarians, Keith lee, Glyn Patchett and Bill Russell were enjoying each other hospitality one evening and as two of the group had just newly acquired a caravan, they were keen to use it as often as possible. Following discussion that evening a phone call to the then District Governor Fred Burns asked for permission to form the club under the banner of Rotary. What was the objective he asked ? Fellowship was the response. Anything else he said? More fellowship was the reply. Permission granted said DG Fred, and so the club was born and its first rally was held on November 11th 1986 at the Howard Booth Memorial Camp (now named Carterton Holiday park) in Carterton..
Over the 35 years of its existence the club has visited most of the motor camps in the Wellington region, as far north as New Plymouth and on the east coast to Bay View in Hawkes Bay.
Over the years we have been fortunate to share good times with Rotarians who sadly have now passed on and who made a big contribution to the fun and culture of the club. Selly and Ngaire Hyde were foundation members of the club who are no longer with us. Jack and Sue Leslie from Paraparaumu Club. Jack with his dry wit, and his generous contributions to our Saturday night dinners when we camped at Arataki Motor camp In Havelock North which he owned were standout events.
Only three of the original group still survive as active members, Marion Patchett, Bill and Clare Russell.
Membership of the club is free, there are no subs, but occasionally we place a small levy on the campers to pay for an upcoming event. That levy is usually around $5 to $10.
Prior to breaking camp a “business meeting “ is held where the date and location for the next rally is set and who will organise it. The financial report is then read out and goes something like this. We had a bit to start with, we spent a wee bit, and we have a bit left.
I move the adoption of the report. Carried with acclamation !
On November 5th this year we The Caravan Club is celebrating its 35 years with a monster rally in our founding and favourite camping ground Carterton Holiday park. Over the years this park has been substantially up graded and has excellent facilities. A program is being planned to reflect all those years and we are inviting caravanning minded Rotarians from across District 9940 to join us. New members welcome, motorhome or caravan, it does not matter, what does matter is sharing the spirit of Rotary amongst us. There are a few past members still in circulation and they would also be very welcome to join us.
The Rotary Club of Kaukau, based in Khandallah, was chartered in 2016. It was principally a club for younger people who saw benefit of being part of Rotary, but not necessarily bound to its traditions of regular meetings and the associated formalities. Members met casually with limited formal meetings. The main focus of the group was to be active in community projects, the most significant of which was the December Khandallah Village Fair.
By 2020 many of the club members had faded away. However, a core remained, still with a focus on community projects. Discussions were held with the Wellington North Club, eventually resulting in it absorbing the remaining Kaukau members into the club. It wasn’t a one-way arrangement as Wellington North, encouraged by the flexibility promoted by RI President, Holger Knaack, needed to adapt. The solution was to continue with luncheon meetings twice per month and add more casual monthly evening meeting at a Khandallah restaurant, more suitable for the Kaukau group.
The very successful Village Fair last December brought together the total club with a team ably led by former Kaukau member, Kesh Gilmour. As well as commercial stall holders, there was provision for community groups to promote their activities as well as entertainment in the Khandallah Town Hall. The outcome gave Rotary a boost in its community as well as raising funds for the club’s charitable activities.
The new face of the club continues with ex Kaukau member Zaheda Davies being unanimously selected the nominee for Wellington North’s Club President in 1922/23.
The Rotary Club of Ngāmotu set a goal for the 2020/21 year of increasing participation in Community Service. Previously it was easy to raise money through raffles and other activities and present local organisations with a cheque from funds. President Sally Morch wanted the club to become more hands on support for worthy local organisations that needed help.
In previous years the club members have assisted at the Relay4Life event. On the day members would man the ice-cream caravan. In 2021 March they President Sally and club member ADG Des Freidrich will have the task of assisting with raising the flag, president Sally is secretary of the organising committee for Relay4Life and members will be assisting with “Handing out Beads for Laps Completed”
During Covid, Club members Des Freidrich and Wally Garrett along with President Sally began to develop a more in-depth relationship with the Cancer Society. Initially members gave of their time to man a pop-up stall in Centre City during August 2020. Club members clocking up 52 hours over the four weeks. Members went on to assist by washing, servicing and maintaining the Society’s cars, making sure the Society knew when the cars’ warrants, registration and professional servicing were due.
The club members also began the task of washing the windows of the Cancer Society’s building in Lorna Street.
The club has committed to organise a roster for the first week of the stall in Centre City wrapping shopper’s Christmas presents. All proceeds from this go to the Cancer Society. The club have been assisted in this task by members of the Inner Wheel club and New Plymouth North Rotary Club.
The Cancer Society appreciated the Club’s help and nominated them for an award with Volunteering New Plymouth. On 5th December the Rotary Club of Ngāmotu were presented with a Team Recognition Award at a function at the New Plymouth District Council Chambers.
It with great sadness today that the District learned of the passing of Bill Sheat of the Rotary Club of Hutt City. As a member of the community he epitomised our motto of Service Above Self, especially in a passion area of his: the arts.
His services to the community and the arts were most notably marked in 1973 where he was awarded the OBE; 2011 where he received a CNZM in the Queen's Birthday honours; and in 2004 where - as a proud member of Rotary - he was given a Paul Harris Fellowship.
Bill passed away in Wellington on Wednesday after a short illness. Our sympathies are with his family and friends at this time.
The protection of young persons, and by extension, vulnerable persons, is mandated by Rotary International in its “Code of Practice 2016” and in its “Code of Policies 2020.” Rotary International policy is incorporated in the RNZWCS’s “Policy for the Prevention of Abuse and Harassment of Youth and Vulnerable Persons 2015,” and further incorporated in District 9940’s “Youth Exchange Abuse and Harassment Prevention Policy.” Overriding Rotary International and District 9940 policy is Government legislation. The Education Department’s “Pastoral Care of International Students Code of Practice 2016” plus the “NZQA Code of Practice” and the Ministry of Health’s “The Prevention and Management of Abuse” are all important. The Ministry of Social Development and Age Concern also have reports and guidelines based on legislation relating to elder abuse and neglect.
Reading (scanning) through all of that documentation is a recipe for both eye strain and a raging headache! It further breeds a library of codes, policies and practices and it is from this library that Rotary Clubs, guided by the District, are able to ensure compliance with the regulations.
Remember, “The behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept.”
People are individuals who have the inherent right to respect for their human worth and dignity. To abuse someone is to harm or hurt them in some way or violate their human or civil rights.
The forms of abuse that might be inflicted on disabled/challenged persons are similar to those mentioned last month: physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, financial, neglect and restrictive practices.
There is a slightly different range of indicators of abuse than those listed for elder people. Common signs include extreme changes in behaviour (being challenging or withdrawn), out of character responses, signs of self-harm or unexplained injury, unusual weight change and lack of eye contact. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these signs are more likely to be observed by a casual observer.
What do you do? Once again, do not confront the abuser or the abused yourself. This may put the disabled/challenged person in more danger. If you are concerned about the treatment of a disabled/challenged person, go to IHC, 0800 442 442.
“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.” Martina Navratilova.
Information for this article has come primarily from: Ministry of Health, 2016, Prevention and management of abuse: Guide for services funded by Disability Services.
Thank you everyone for your patience this month for the District Bulletin.
The Due Dates for Stories and Photos for the February District Bulletin have been extended by one week to the 11th of February 2021. Please note, the inclusion of any late submissions are at the sole discretion of the Acting Editor.
