The new Rotary year is already underway with Rotary clubs, Rotaract clubs and district changeovers behind us. New club and district leadership teams are in place and we have a new Rotary International President Mark Maloney and his wife Gay. They are from Decatur, Alabama, USA.
RI President Mark’s theme is “Rotary Connects the World”. Rotary connects the world in so many different ways; whether it is with individuals, clubs, districts, communities or with Rotary International and the United Nations. The new logo is attractive and is a representation of a modernised version of the Rotary wheel.
My wife Jan and I are originally from Wellington where we grew up, went to school and university. We have a son, daughter and a grandson.
District Changeover signifies the first ‘meeting’ of the new Rotary year. It is a celebratory event that performs a number of important functions as mentioned below.
Pictured are (from left): DG 2020-2021 Craig Horrocks and Nickola, DG 2019-2020 Gary Langford and Jan, DG 2018-2019 Ingrid Waugh and John.
The District 9920 Changeover for 2019 was held at the Remuera Golf Club with a capacity gathering of almost 200 joining in the festivities. The mix ‘n mingle gave ample opportunity for all to catch up with friends and meet others from many clubs in our Auckland area. As such this is one of the few formal chances for Rotarians to meet and chat to others from clubs that they might not normally visit (although you can) and the circulation of plentiful and delicious canapes was much appreciated by all.
DG Gary (R) presented Dr Robbie Francis (L) with a Paul Harris Fellow award at the 2019 Rotary Youth Leadership Award dinner on 5 July 2019. Robbie is a truly outstanding individual who has spoken at NZ district events and spoke at this year’s D9920 RYLA.
In 2009 Robbie won the Attitude ACC Supreme Award at the age of 20. In 2010 she was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study Peace and Conflict resolution in Israel.
In 2013 Robbie was given the opportunity to intern for an international disability rights group in Mexico. Having witnessed first-hand the shocking conditions many people with disabilities are forced to live in, she decided to become an active part of the solution. So in 2014 Robbie and her friends founded The Lucy Foundation, an organisation empowering people with disabilities.
Despite some rather extreme weather on the Thursday when we were packing up to come home, this was another successful delivery of the program for 118 young people. Rotary Young Leaders Awards (RYLA) is one of Rotary's most successful leadership programmes with a huge impact on the lives of those who take part and the 2019 camp was no exception.
Funded by District 9920, an Interplast team departed on 15 May and concluded on 23 May 2019. The team comprised two surgeons, two anaesthetists, two nurses and one physiotherapist. A total of sixty-four patients were examined and forty-one subsequently underwent surgery.
Shefali Mehta, District 9920 Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship Chair, is proud to announce that the Rotary Club of Auckland will be hosting Ambassadorial Scholar Connor Lind from July 2019 to November 2020.
Connor is from Tyler, Texas, in District 5830 which covers a tri-state area of north-eastern Texas, south-eastern Oklahoma and south-western Arkansas. District 5830 refers to itself as the “Action District”. Connor was 2018-2019 District 5830 Global Scholar. Photo showsConnor Lind and Shefali Mehta.
Bill Boyd was President of Rotary International in 2006/2007, only the second New Zealander to hold that position.
On 30 June 2019 Bill finally drew closure to his stellar thirty years of international service to Rotary and returned to be 'Bill Boyd - Magazine Distribution’ and member of Pakuranga Rotary.
Always by his side during his years of service has been his much adored wife Lorna. Lorna played her part in convention break-out sessions and became a fountain of Rotary knowledge which she graciously shared with whomever and whenever the appropriate occasion rose.
The members of the Pakuranga Rotary salute Bill's work for Rotary and its many endeavours.
Special thanks to the class of 2018/19 I have held off writing this note of thanks in the hope of having final fund raising figures to pass on to you. However, our dedicated team at Rotary International is still finalising those details. It is very important to ensure the numbers are correct. However, the end of July is closing in and I did not want to get too far down the track before expressing sincere thanks to you all for your magnificent support in the Rotary year just ended.
This week a group of Rotarians from the Pakuranga Tamaki River Auxiliary got to work labelling and numbering 400 rat, possum and stoat traps.
The working bee is a culmination of 12 months work by Pakuranga Rotary and several other organisations in the area, to increase native bird numbers across the Howick Ward.
Rotarian Sylvie Wilkinson says, “It is so encouraging to see Lions, Friends of Mangemangeroa, Howick, Half Moon Bay and Somerville Rotary Clubs joining together working towards a common goal to preserve precious wildlife for future generations.” Together they have established a trap library, the first in the area.
The Rotary Club of Christchurch Sunrise has been instrumental, with help from St John, in arranging a much needed ambulance for Tonga. It all started from a club meeting on 2 February this year when Rotary New Zealand World Community Service (RNZWCS) chairman Stuart Batty spoke about the great projects around the Pacific that they are involved in. Stuart mentioned that the main hospital in Tonga required an ambulance.
Right on the cusp of the new Rotary year, on 30 June 2019, the Rotary Club of Tarawa was Chartered as the newest Rotary club in District 9920 and further boosted the Rotary presence to a large area of the Pacific. The story of their formation and how Rotary is now represented in Kiribati is compelling reading.
Pictured is RCC Chair Kairao Tune and Tawara Rotary President Ruth Cross.
After the previous two Rotary clubs in Kiribati (Bairiki and Kiritimati) closed in 2015 and 2016 respectively, there had been no Rotary presence. However the initiation of a Global Grant to Kiribati by the Rotary Club of Richfield, District 5420 in Utah USA, was the catalyst for a visit to Tarawa, Kiribati in May 2018 by DGE Ingrid Waugh and PDG Jennie Herring.
From 5 to 19 December 2019, twenty Rotarians from Australia, New Zealand (including District 9920) and the UK will travel to Cambodia and Northern Thailand to raise funds for NGOs working in the anti-trafficking and slavery movement. The volunteers will also participate in hands-on volunteering at the Rescue Mission for Children in Mae Suai.
There is still room for volunteers to join the trip which will be a life-affirming personal journey of service above self. If you would like to be involved as a team member or if your club would like to help support our project work fundraising, please contact RAGAS Oceania Regional Co-ordinator David Black at projectstarfishnz@gmail.com.
The Rotary Club of Otahuhu Inc invites you to an interclub event
Speaker: Hon Judith Collins, MP for Papakura
Topic: Women in leadership roles and the challenges in politics
Date: Saturday 24 August 2019
Time: 6.00 pm for 6.30 pm
Venue: Otahuhu Town Community Hall, High Street, Otahuhu
Cost: $55.00 per person (includes one complimentary drink)
Dinner: Two courses followed by tea or coffee. Cash bar
Payment in advance please to Rotary Club of Otahuhu Inc
Bank account 06-0217-0016206-03 and note your name in the reference section
Please RSVP by 18 August to otahuhurotaryclub@gmail.com with names and confirmation of payment. Also advise if any special dietary requirements when you RSVP.
For further information contact Jeanette, tel 021 939 728
Trees for Survival is a Rotary environmental education programme which involves school students potting and growing-on seedlings and then planting them the following winter on erosion prone land and riparian sites.
Club websites that function without fuss or drama and contribute to a smoothly functioning Rotary club are not the thing of dreams, they exist. At the beginning of a new Rotary year now is the time to seek this for your club if you wish.
If you join this Group - which is extremely easy you will see, and be able to make, some fantastic tips and ideas for club publicity. Also make sure your club has 'Like'd the District Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rotarydistrict9920
International convention in Honolulu, Hawaii. Registrations are now open.
District 9920 is a geographic area covering a half of Auckland, New Zealand and the seven Pacific nations of American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga. This is the largest maritime district in Rotary and this unique Pacific influence provides Rotarians with wide ranging and interesting service opportunities. In this area there are 53 Rotary clubs of which a third are in the Pacific countries.
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District Changeover signifies the first ‘meeting’ of the new Rotary year. It is a celebratory event that performs a number of important functions as mentioned below.
DG Gary (R) presented Dr Robbie Francis (L) with a Paul Harris Fellow award at the 2019 Rotary Youth Leadership Award dinner on 5 July 2019. Robbie is a truly outstanding individual who has spoken at NZ district events and spoke at this year’s D9920 RYLA..jpg)
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Shefali Mehta, District 9920 Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship Chair, is proud to announce that the Rotary Club of Auckland will be hosting Ambassadorial Scholar Connor Lind from July 2019 to November 2020. 
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Special thanks to the class of 2018/19
This week a group of Rotarians from the Pakuranga Tamaki River Auxiliary got to work labelling and numbering 400 rat, possum and stoat traps..jpg)
The Rotary Club of Christchurch Sunrise has been instrumental, with help from St John, in arranging a much needed ambulance for Tonga. It all started from a club meeting on 2 February this year when Rotary New Zealand World Community Service (RNZWCS) chairman Stuart Batty spoke about the great projects around the Pacific that they are involved in. Stuart mentioned that the main hospital in Tonga required an ambulance.
Right on the cusp of the new Rotary year, on 30 June 2019, the Rotary Club of Tarawa was Chartered as the newest Rotary club in District 9920 and further boosted the Rotary presence to a large area of the Pacific. The story of their formation and how Rotary is now represented in Kiribati is compelling reading.
From 5 to 19 December 2019, twenty Rotarians from Australia, New Zealand (including District 9920) and the UK will travel to Cambodia and Northern Thailand to raise funds for NGOs working in the anti-trafficking and slavery movement. The volunteers will also participate in hands-on volunteering at the Rescue Mission for Children in Mae Suai..jpg)
Club websites that function without fuss or drama and contribute to a smoothly functioning Rotary club are not the thing of dreams, they exist. At the beginning of a new Rotary year now is the time to seek this for your club if you wish..jpg)
