Stories

A sea of red is set to engulf Auckland commuters tomorrow (23 October 2020) as hundreds of campaigners take to trains and ferries in a campaign to raise awareness about ending polio.

Rotary Club volunteers will ride around Auckland public transport wearing red shirts from 8am to 6pm as part of the Polio All Transit campaign.   Article here: https://pmn.co.nz/articles/sea-of-red-set-to-flood-auckland-trains-and-ferries-in-anti-polio-campaign

• Ueen te Uri Community.
• Ueen te Tangira Community.
• Uaan Kunkun Community.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 August announced that transmission of the wild poliovirus has officially been stopped in all 47 countries of its African region. This is a historic and vital step toward global eradication of polio, which is Rotary’s top priority.

After decades of hard won gains in the region, Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) — WHO, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the vaccine alliance — are proclaiming the milestone an achievement in public health. They offer it as proof that strong commitment, coordination, and perseverance can rid the world of polio.

Rotarians from all our clubs have and continue to support through their volunteer hours and donations the commitment of Rotary to eradicate polio.  With World Polio Day coming up on 23 October there are many activities focused on supporting this cause including the Tag You On- Tag yPolio Off initiative on the Auckland train network.

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.

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.

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Rotary Zoom Offer

Through Rotary Global Rewards clubs and Rotarians can get a 20% discount on a paid Zoom account. Go to https://my.rotary.org/en/member-center/rotary-global-rewards

The free version of Zoom has a 40 minute meeting limit and other restriction although good for first-time users to try out.  If your club is looking longer=tern to use Zoom for on-line club, Board or Committee meetings then a paid account is an option to consider.

It may not be radical or wildly Instagram worthy compared to pictures of Rotary volunteers delivering food parcels to grateful elderly or the myriad of other roles that are in the public eye, but Rotarians throughout New Zealand and the Pacific have been connecting with others fills a very essential function during this crisis.

Thank you to all who have and continue to willingly and brightly performed the role of cheer squad with your members and others who need perking up and to ensure people are not feeling isolated as they stay at home to keep all safe.

I don't know about you, but crisis or no crisis I am always keen to learn something new that will help me do the things I am involved in or want to do whether in my personal or business life or in Rotary.

The Rotary Learning Center has short courses (eg. 15 minutes +) that are very worth your time. There are a lot you can choose from across a wide range of topics and you do get recognised for your achievements.

Club Bulletins and Editors are the new Rotary Stars

The humble club Bulletin, some would say much maligned, is about to come into its own as one of the most important Rotary club communication tools we have after picking up the phone and talking to members.

• World Class Venue 
• Meet the Most Inspiring People in the World
• Strengthen your Club and your Passion for Rotary
• Plenty of Time to Party and Socialize
• Explore Auckland City – The City of Sails
• Enjoy Special Conference Events and More

From Wayne Brewer, ROMAC Representative District 9920

ROMAC is a totally Rotary funded project offering life saving and dignity enhancing surgery for Pacific Island children that is not available to them in their home countries.  ROMAC operates across all districts in Australia and New Zealand.

In Auckland the families are accommodated at Ronald McDonald House, mainly for surgery at Starship, and are hosted by local Rotary clubs who provide support and look after the family's day to day needs.  Some clubs have a group of members sharing this most rewarding activity of caring for families in need.  The ROMAC NZ committee offers full support and guidance.

Elizabeth Thomson from Downtown Rotary, whose report follows, has hosted a number of families and is currently looking after Ben Mahit and his mother Mayling from Vanuatu.  Also in Ronald McDonald House at the moment is Jasminah and his mother Angelina.  They are being hosted by Josie Adriaansen and the Rotary Club of Brown's Bay, District 9910.

On 4 May, the Mt Eden Rotary Club held its inaugural free WELLBEING DAY OUT at the Mt Eden Village Centre.

The free open-access health and wellbeing initiative introduced the local community to a number of organisations and activities. The day went well and was received positively.  Looking ahead, the intention is to hold a bigger event, broadening the focus to include the environment, conservation and sustainability, over a half day on an annual basis.

The club is very grateful for the Albert-Eden Local Board’s support and funding and the assistance provided by the organisations, workshop presenters, Rotarians and Rotaractors who participated.

Rotary Club of Mt Eden: Ursula Rajkumar, Aritra Ray (President), Ainslie Campbell (President-Elect), Geraldine Henderson

Papatoetoe Central Rotary's Indian Diaspora night was a great success. It was the perfect combination: guests had a wonderful night, and a significant amount of money was raised to support four charities: The Rotary Foundation, Cure Kids Fiji Oxygen Project, The Middlemore Foundation and Kids Can.

Read more on this amazing event here

MUNA 2019 for Districts 9910 and 9920 was run over 17-18 May at Auckland Girls Grammar School by Rotary Club of Auckland East.

Nearly 300 high school pupils from 44 schools participated this year.  Vigorous debate on the 5 remits submitted to the model United Nations Assembly ensued, with plenty of objections and points of order along the way.  Delegates also took part in a snap Security Council debate on a pressing topic of the day.  The event was ably chaired by Ross Robertson QSO former member of parliament, and the awards were announced by Bevan Iles, President of Rotary Club of Auckland.

RYLA – a district success story for clubs and awardees who attend

RYLA 2019 is on again in first week of July. This is one of the largest RYLA events in Australasia and is quite unique in many ways. Once again, we are expecting 120 candidates from a wide range of corporate and Rotary sponsors.

The support we get from all district 9920 Rotary clubs in terms of finding candidates, managing the corporate sponsors and in the overall support of the programme is greatly appreciated.

MODEL UNITED NATIONS ASSEMBLY 2019

MUNA 2019 for Districts 9910 and 9920 was run over 17-18 May at Auckland Girls Grammar School by Rotary Club of Auckland East.

Nearly 300 high school pupils from 44 schools participated this year.  Vigorous debate on the 5 remits submitted to the model United Nations Assembly ensued, with plenty of objections and points of order along the way.  Delegates also took part in a snap Security Council debate on a pressing topic of the day.  The event was ably chaired by Ross Robertson QSO former member of parliament, and the awards were announced by Bevan Iles, President of Rotary Club of Auckland.

Picking the winners was never going to be an easy task for the team of judges from Rotary Club of Auckland East.  However, the following were prize winners on the day:

The Interact Forum was held on 25 May 2019

A majority of the Interact Clubs in Schools throughout our District got together to share ideas and meet other like-minded students and Rotaractors from Auckland University and Auckland City. Some of these Rotaractors were part of their school Interact Club and together, they shared their experiences and their "Rotary moment". 

Rotarians in New Zealand play golf. Everybody knows that. We have fund raising golf tournaments and golf matches at district conferences. 

So – here’s a chance to extend our game playing toTennis! District Governor Ingrid received the following letter:

• We define what tasks we need completed, the job description;
• Then the attributes that the successful applicant needs, the person specification;
• Then we advertise, hire head hunters, etc. and eventually
• Recruit a new employee who’s going to carry out a specific job to contribute to the organisation’s success.

• It might be some skills required for ‘Internal’ reasons
  • for example a new treasurer or a
  • person to arrange the speaker’s programme,

• we have too many/too few female members
• a local ethnic minority or age group is not represented .
  • or an External reason,
  • we are running a project and we need more people to carry out the work

Is your Club contributing to the Centennial History of Rotary 1921-2021 in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands?

“Mana Tangata: People of Action” is the working title of a coffee table publication being crafted by professional historian Dr Stephen Clarke. The achievements of your Club and Rotarians cannot be considered by Dr Clarke if he is not aware of them.  Many Clubs have already sent information to Dr Clarke. Research and writing is already under way.

The manuscript is due in July 2020 for publication in 2021, so Clubs need to get their information to the historian as soon as possible. More details and an outline of what the publication will cover are set out later in this article.

An opportunity to see our country through other people’s eyes!

Incoming DG Gary Langford received the following note recently. Naturally he said that we would support the rally.

If you feel that you, and/or your club, would like to be involved Gary would love to hear from you. Gary Langford glangford.rotary@gmail.com

District Conference Friday 10^th May – Sunday 12^th.  The dinner (and most importantly - the Dress!)

On Saturday night there will be the traditional Gala Dinner with a theme of Art Deco (no surprises there!!).  Well, slightly less traditional this time as it will be an opportunity for everybody to dress up – and let their hair down!  Entertainment will be provided by Stolen Records – dancing is not obligatory, unless the ladies insist!

Right – so everybody has to get their Glad Rags on and have a great time. Glad Rags – think Great Gatsby, the roaring 20s, flappers, etc. For ideas go to https://vintagedancer.com/1920s/  Stuff can be hired of course, there are two or three costume hire places in Napier that specialise in Art Deco gear. (Book them now!)

YHC’s Ever Loving is already plotting and scheming about what we’re going to wear! I understand that brightly coloured socks are obligatory!

At other times in the conference ‘smart casual’ is the formal attire.  

We are now only 2 months out from the District 9920 conference in Napier, Friday May 10 - Sunday May 12 2019

Already more than 200 have registered for the conference, but there is still plenty of time for those who have not.  To register click here

The conference boasts a fantastic location and venue, some excellent pre- and during-conference activities, as well as a line up of speakers that you won't want to miss including:

Dr Tom Mulholland - Dr Tom is an Emergency Department Doctor and GP with over 25 years’ experience in New Zealand. He has worked in Kaitaia Hospital in the North to Southland Hospital and the Sub Antarctic Islands as a doctor. He has worked in Tologa Bay, Chatham Islands, Papamoa in the east to Raglan, Taranaki and Greymouth in the west. He has hosted his own TV and Radio shows, written two internationally best-selling books and been a professional speaker to the likes of Google, Microsoft and Hilton for the last 10 years.

Dr Harold Hilman -After working in his early years as a clinical psychologist, Dr Hilman developed a passion for leadership development while teaching at the United States Air Force Academy.  His professional journey since then has led him down the path where he is actively exploring the domain of authentic leadership.  His two books have focused on what it means to lead others through authentic connections.

Mike Williams - Mike is a former president of the Labour party and regularly appears on current affairs television in New Zealand.  Mike is chief executive of the Howard League whose programmes and objectives are aimed at reducing the prison population, reducing recidivism rates and helping reintegration of former prisoners into communities. 

Nigel Latta - Nigel trained as a Clinical Psychologist and worked for over two decades in the areas of forensic psychology and family therapy. In 2010, as a result of his passion for science and science education, Nigel was invited to become an associate of the world leading Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study at the University of Otago. In 2012 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to psychology.  He’s written eight books which have now been published in 19 countries and 10 languages.  His television career has spanned almost a decade and he’s presented a number of series including Beyond the Darklands, The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show, On Thin Ice: Nigel Latta in Antarctica, and The Hard Stuff. In 2016, along with Arwen O’Connor and Mitchell Hawkes he co-founded a production company, Ruckus, and the team have since made numerous primetime television series including Mind Over Money, What Next, and The Curious Mind. In 2018 Ruckus was named New Zealand’s Hottest Production Company in the StopPress awards.

For more info about the conference click here

Rotary Club of Auckland East has a long term relationship with its local school, the co-educational secondary school in Glen Innes, Tamaki College. Tamaki College has a well-run Driver Training Scheme to prepare students for work.

In 2017, the college’s existing vehicle was reaching the end of its useful life.  The school asked the Club if they could have a new car to reduce on going running and maintenance costs. The Club sprang into action.

As a result of this major effort to raise money for a replacement, students at Tamaki College can now learn to drive in a safe, modern vehicle.

Our club was approached to paint a concrete elephant, for a Pre School located in Otara.  It so turned out he/she was fibreglass. We understand it was donated to the pre-school by the Otara shopping centre. So Jill, Elaine  and myself excepted the challenge.

 I approached Wattyl paints to see if they would provide free paint and they obliged by providing 4 ltrs of the grey coloured paint.

 We arrived at the site on a Saturday morning all decked out in painting clothes and armed with paint brushes, rags and paint pot and proceed to paint. We completed the first coat by mid-day. On completion the pre-school provided us with an exceptional lunch as the island community do.

It is really fascinating to receive a number of club bulletins. They illustrate similar themes: how quiet it was over Christmas and the holidays, planning for the second half of the Rotary year and the many imaginative projects that the clubs sponsor.

Bulletins were received from the Rotary Clubs of:

From the Mangere bulletin – too good to delete!

Auckland City Mission (ACM) is one of the 7 social causes Auckland Downtown members voted to support.  Here's a link to their Clubrunner article: City Mission - Cooking for the Homeless

St John’s Rotary has a great lineup for 2019.  Good luck, people. You will really make a difference with all these projects.

The Rotary Club of Parnell expects to be able to donate $140,000 to Dementia Auckland as a result of the 2019 Golf Day.  This sum will add to the $2.2 million already donated over the last fifteen years.  These donations have been raised at golf tournaments held in conjunction with Countdown and its suppliers.

<<< DG Ingrid and Avis signing players in.

Before dawn on Friday 15^th , 45 Parnell Rotarians and friends set up at the Titirangi Golf Club course with sponsors’ stands, sun tan lotion (it was a very sunny day!), refreshments (it was a very hot day!) and big smiles to welcome the 36 teams for each of the morning and afternoon rounds.

The 78 teams, some of whom took the competition very seriously, represented many of Countdown’s suppliers. The players welcomed the opportunity of catching up with old friends and renewing business relationships.

Sponsor Sistema’s stand, with Rotarians encouraging players to bet on how close they could land the ball to the hole >>>

Thank you club bulletin editors who have sent me your bulletins. I’ve included some good stuff from them!

Actually, while I'm thinking about it, I will be at the Conference as it's a great opportunity to catch up with old friends, meet some new ones, learn some interesting ideas and (because it's in Hawkes Bay)  drink too much. I hope that you'll make yourselves known to me so I can thank you personally for sending me your bulletins and providing me with a whole lot of good ideas and quite some amusement!

Club bulletins were received from:

Auckland: Chartering a new Interact Club

Bulletins have been received from these Clubs - Thank You:

Here are some examples of some of the inspiring events that have taken place in our communities over the last couple of months:

• Papeete Rotary Club celebrated their 60^th anniversary in style; 
• Taravao Tahiti-iti club put on a Magic show for about 500 children from their local community;
• DG Ingrid's own club of Parnell organised supermarket chain Countdown’s annual golf tournament for suppliers and raised over $140,000 for Dementia Auckland;
• Waiheke ran a very successful Onetangi Beach Races for the 21^st year.  See here for their great write-up in the Island magazine;
• Auckland South showed us how to 'Shoot for Oxygen' and have a load of fun while also raising money for the Oxygen project in Fiji and raising Rotary’s profile;
• Highbrook organised a Fun Run in their local community that got over 600 people out and moving.

RYPEN – 29, 30 & 31st March 2019. Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment has a fantastic impact on young people’s lives.  This is a weekend long camp for Year 12 and 13 students, aged between 14 - 17 years old, designed at developing young people’s potential through a mixture of lecture style sessions and adventure-based learning.  I trust your club is supporting this.

RYLA 2019 – This year’s 9920 RYLA will run 29 June – 6 July 2019 at Willow Park in Eastern Beach.  I am sure there is a young person in every community our clubs serve who would love the opportunity to join with 120 other young people for a life changing week.  I would like to see 80% of our clubs sending someone along.  It is a modest investment for a wonderful leadership programme. 

From Otahuhu’s bulletin: Books for Children in Tonga — Project report by Pat Taylor and Jeanette Drysdale

For some years Nuku’alofa Rotary has been assisting with books for Tongan schools. These books have come from Rotary Clubs and other sources. The assistance of US Peace Corps Tonga and their volunteers was sought to help sort books and distribute them to schools. While this has added to school libraries the exercise identified the need for more books using local themes and focused at a level relevant to the reading skills of Tongan primary students. Many books sorted as ‘primary’ from Australia and NZ were better suited for Tongan secondary schools. Over the years, these have been distributed to secondary schools, where good use has been made of them.

From this partnership, the idea of using local authors and artists was developed. This resulted in the Sight Word Book Program as a joint partnership between the Peace Corps in Tonga and Tupou Tertiary Institute in Tonga.  The programme is now well established ...

The big event for Rotary Youth in January was the departure of our Rotary Youth Exchange students for their year of life changing experiences.

The other big event was the 2019 Science and Technology Forum – Over the two middle weeks of January, 168 Year 13 students from all over NZ, came together to learn all about the many varied avenues of science.  DG Ingrid attended their BBQ evening and the formal dinner.  What a credit they are to their schools and the many Rotary clubs who sponsor them.  This is Rotary in NZ’s biggest youth programme, and the only one that the three universities in Auckland collaborate on.  If you have sponsored students to attend I am sure you will be equally inspired when you have them come and speak to your club.

More funding = greater impact for your projects (even the local ones!)

We all know that large Global Grants from the Foundation make it possible to undertake high impact international projects – but did you know they can be used for local projects too?

A great example is the Kerikeri Club in Northland.  They identified an issue with young students from poor families in the area who were performing well below average.  With a club investment of US$12,516, they were able to undertake a US$102,000 project that delivered ‘digital classrooms’ to help address the issue.

If your club has a vision to create a major project that will have a significant impact on people’s lives, consider Rotary Foundation grants – for international and local projects.

Foundation funding would not be possible without the wonderful generosity of Rotarians and clubs!

The Fiji Oxygen Project – No child should die for a lack of oxygen.

Yet too many do die from otherwise treatable illnesses because of variable access to good quality oxygen in Fiji. The Rotary Club of Remuera Inc, working in partnership with other charities and trusts, is working to raise $650,000 in order to provide reliable oxygen supplies to Health Clinics throughout Fiji. This is a project worthy of wide support and I fully endorse it and would like to see it come to fruition as soon as possible. I would appreciate Rotarians giving their full support to this project.

• This is not a merger but the creation of a new district
• The discussions about the whole of NZ will be continuing but we felt we needed to look with some more urgency at our two districts, given the current membership numbers.  The national modernisation project team will be meeting again before the end of the year.
• We will progress with the nominations for District Governor for the 2021-22 Rotary year in both districts. 
• The Governance group for Tangata Moana will be co-chaired by PDGs Bruce Rasmussen and Willard Martin.

RI awards and recognition were also made to the following clubs for: Membership Incentive, and for Giving to the Rotary Foundation ...

Congratulations to you all!