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.