A WALK IN THE PARK - Cornwall Park that is.
It is time to get some fresh air! Our last weekend of the Rotary year, so why not come together & talk about what has been going on in your clubs, your lives & how we are all coping.
June is Fellowship month in the Rotary calendar. It is a time to celebrate the many achievements that Rotarians and clubs have achieved in District 9920 and beyond. It is also time to get ready for club and district changeovers.
Now that the government has extended maximum meeting numbers to 100, some clubs are starting the journey to return to physical meetings. While good progress has been made to crush COVID-19, precautions still need to be taken to prevent a resurgence of the virus. The question for many clubs is to meet or not to meet. I have been asked for advice and my response is that it is a decision that each club needs to make based on their unique circumstances. The government guidelines on meeting numbers and physical distancing need to be factored into each decision. Each club must assess the ability of the meeting venue to meet these requirements and they also need to consider the membership age profile of the club. The other consideration is whether the members are ready to return. Several clubs are trying out a hybrid meeting with a smaller group meeting and the speaker and members able to join by Zoom.
Over the last month I have visited twenty-four clubs who have been holding online Zoom meetings. It has been wonderful to revisit clubs that Jan and I had the opportunity to visit before COVID-19. It’s been great to see clubs actively engaging with members, hosting visitors and speakers and finding ways to assist those in need in the community. The use of technology will be part of the new normal when we emerge from COVID-19.
Professor Robert Elliott, CNZM
Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Sir Robert Elliott, who prefers to go by Bob, says imagination is the key to having a successful career in medical research. He should know, having spent about sixty years of his life dedicated to trying to better the quality of life for people - especially children. Bob is a long-standing member of the Rotary Club of Remuera.
In 1971, Bob co-founded the Child Health Research Foundation, now known as Cure Kids. The foundation struggled during the 1990s and Bob thought it might have tipped over. However, he made a valuable discovery. He found that milk from different sorts of cows had effects on human health but, at the time, Bob wasn't all that bothered by it. In an interview with the NZ Herald Bob said, "I didn't think much of it at the time and took a patent out that caught the eye of commerce and thus was born the A2 Milk Corporation. The corporation was prepared to pay handsomely for that patent and Cure Kids took off from there - it brought in a small fortune."
Looking back on his career, it was Cure Kids which pleased him as it would continue to fund top-grade research for children's health long after he was ‘pushing up daisies’. His career might not have been possible without his older sister though, who taught him the importance of using imagination which he thought was ‘extremely important’. "You have to imagine how a problem could be resolved and let your imagination go wild," Bob said. "People need to think as widely as they can and not be restricted by can't attitudes. If you've got a good imagination, you'll come up with solutions for all sorts of things." While he had failed hundreds of times, there were half a dozen or so successes which were adopted internationally for the treatment of children with diseases of which Bob is immensely proud.
Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Sir Robert Elliott, who prefers to go by Bob, says imagination is the key to having a successful career in medical research. He should know, having spent about sixty years of his life dedicated to trying to better the quality of life for people - especially children. Bob is a long-standing member of the Rotary Club of Remuera.
In 1971, Bob co-founded the Child Health Research Foundation, now known as Cure Kids. The foundation struggled during the 1990s and Bob thought it might have tipped over. However, he made a valuable discovery. He found that milk from different sorts of cows had effects on human health but, at the time, Bob wasn't all that bothered by it. In an interview with the NZ Herald Bob said, "I didn't think much of it at the time and took a patent out that caught the eye of commerce and thus was born the A2 Milk Corporation. The corporation was prepared to pay handsomely for that patent and Cure Kids took off from there - it brought in a small fortune."
Looking back on his career, it was Cure Kids which pleased him as it would continue to fund top-grade research for children's health long after he was ‘pushing up daisies’. His career might not have been possible without his older sister though, who taught him the importance of using imagination which he thought was ‘extremely important’. "You have to imagine how a problem could be resolved and let your imagination go wild," Bob said. "People need to think as widely as they can and not be restricted by can't attitudes. If you've got a good imagination, you'll come up with solutions for all sorts of things." While he had failed hundreds of times, there were half a dozen or so successes which were adopted internationally for the treatment of children with diseases of which Bob is immensely proud.
Throughout the Covid-19 crisis most clubs have found their own special ways to support their members and where practical, their community. This is a small part of the Lautoka Rotary story as told from their Facebook page:
These are four out of a series encouraging Alumni to Reconnect with Rotary. You may have seen these on the District Facebook page www.facebook.com/rotarydistrict9920 and a similar series will also soon run on the Rotary Oceania Facebook page www.facebook.com/rotaryoceania
Past participants of our programmes know who we are and are 'prequalified' to engage with us whether as members, sponsors, volunteers or more but often are waiting to be asked by you. So go though your lists - who has your club sponsored to Rotary Foundation or District programmes that you can reconnect with? Give it a go and ASK them.
With the advent of Level 2 restrictions, do we start meeting physically or keep up our current practices e.g. holding meetings via Zoom? The decision is something that each club President and their team will need to make for themselves as we are all different in our makeup and the locations where we meet give us all different challenges.
Some new information about the upcoming Rotary Virtual Convention. Not at the best time for us in the South Pacific, but very exciting to be a part of. Put your alarms on, share in a very different experience & see what Rotary in the world are up too.
Hi Everyone,
Would you like to see “fame” come to one of your photos? Well, there are high quality video(s) made about Rotary in NZ and the Pacific Islands to be produced to go onto our Oceania website, Facebook, YouTube Channel and possibly a TV channel.
So, what is wanted is good quality (hi-res) photos about Rotary projects that you think are interesting. These can be environmental, health related, mentoring and youth associated photos. For example, science and technology, RYE, RYLA, walkways, planting, ROMAC, etcetera, to build up an extensive picture of the many faces of Rotary.
Submit your photos for consideration to Liz Courtney, lizcourtney.lc@gmail.com (with a copy to cs.bg.robinson@xtra.co.nz) together with a short explanation no later than Friday, 19 June 2020.
Pictured are the RYPEN Leadership Team – Gabriel, Claire, Grace & Henry.Due to Covid-19, all District Youth Programmes were cancelled including the 2020 Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment (RYPEN) Camp, which was to be held from 27-29 March 2020 at Kokako Lodge.
While it was no possible for the camp to go ahead as originally planned, the organisers still wanted to provide the students with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills as for many it would not be possible to reapply in 2021 as their schooling progressed. With Alert Level 4 requiring students to isolate in their 'bubbles' the obvious solution was to make use of readily available technology to deliver the RYPEN leadership curriculum online. This initiative is borne out of discussion over SKYPE on the night the Team cancelled the Camp on 9 March and the first video was out during the first week of lockdown.
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