Rotary New Zealand’s sole humanitarian first response for those left homeless following cyclones and floods is the Emergency Response Kit (ERK). Established in 1983 the original “fill your own” wooden Emergency Box (EMBOX) with second-hand goods replicated a scheme that had been operating in the United Kingdom by Rotary since 1971.Early in 2009 devastating floods in Fiji saw 150 Boxes distributed from stock held in Lautoka with a further 300 flown in from Auckland. In September of that same year, in Samoa, some 3,200 people were made homeless following a devastating Tsunami. Rotary New Zealand responded within hours with 400 Boxes.
I have copied a report on a Zoom Meeting held by Cambridge Rotary recently. The speaker was Dave Harmon from Australia - he also spoke at our PI Zoom Meeting last night (for Australasian DGEs, DGNs and PI Chairs) - I think what he says has a lot of merits:
Bill Robinson introduced Dave Harmon of Ballina-on-Richmond Rotary Club and handed the meeting over to him.
Building A Vibrant Successful Rotary Club was the topic of Bill’s presentation. He showed that membership tends to go in cycles that can easily be negative and spiral down unless action is taken.
GUEST SPEAKER – Melanie Harper was introduced by Ian Halford, advising that Melanie and her husband had established the business of Driving Miss Daisy in Havelock North.
Melanie advised that she and her husband Jack are the owners/directors of Driving Miss Daisy NZ Ltd which began in 2008 with one car. Now there are 255 vehicles throughout the country and it is her plan to have a “Daisy” in every town in New Zealand.
It is now an international franchise, beginning in the UK in 2014 and was to be in Australia this year but given the Covid pandemic, the legal papers were never signed. It is also hoped to get the business going in Europe.
Today is World Gratitude Day. While COVID has presented challenges to Interplast’s work, and to the lives of so many, we are reflecting today on all that we have to be grateful for.We are grateful and immensely proud of our volunteers who, throughout this worldwide health crisis, have continued to deliver essential training, one-on-one mentoring sessions, live stream webinars and remote case planning to our international colleagues across the Asia Pacific region.
We hope that you and your whānau are managing to stay safe and well.Over recent weeks, many of us have had to re-adapt to working and studying online.
That's why, this month, we thought we'd share the above photo - which shows our remote training in action. Last year, when Covid-19 made it impossible to travel abroad, we had to rethink our entire approach to how we conduct training overseas.
Here, you can see Lucy and Flora, from ShelterBox HQ, as they run through different techniques of how to use the items within our ShelterKit, with one of our in-field partners - Help (Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe). The Help team will then use their new skills to support displaced families in Burkina Faso.
Whakatane Volunteer Fire Brigade Vintage Fire Engine: The gearbox has clapped out and the brigade has asked for our help.Brent magnanimously offered the help of his son in law who is a diesel mechanic.
The vintage engine is used in the Whakatane Rotary Christmas Parade every year and carries the jolly old fella himself.
Every year, the Rotary community mobilizes for World Polio Day to raise awareness about global efforts to end polio for good. If we stay committed, we can make polio the second human disease ever to be eradicated.Plan your participation
Join the effort to ensure that every child receives the polio vaccine and help end polio by organizing a World Polio Day event or fundraiser or other promotional activities. One advantage of online events: They allow us to expand our reach even more and inspire others to join with Rotary.
Greetings from Napier – Lockdown at whatever level for September.
Twenty-one members appeared on screen for the Zoom meeting.Guest speakers were Carol-Lynn Hill (principal) and Ana Stites (senior teacher) to speak about Wharepapa South School. “Growing Happy and Successful Learners”
It was good to hear of the activities of the school from these two dedicated and enthusiastic teachers.
Wharepapa South is a rural school with 37 pupils and great community support. They spoke of teaching the children about caring for the environment, growing and cooking the vegetables from their school garden and caring for chickens.
Brain Burrough mentioned at the Zoom meeting that we have been invited to join Havelock North Rotary’s Zoom meeting to hear Abbas Nazari speak on Monday, September 6th.The meeting will commence at 5pm and conclude before 6pm.
One of the children on that fateful voyage, The Tampa, was Abbas Nazari who has now published a book about his childhood in Afghanistan and the circumstances which drove his parents to find a safer place for their family to live thousands of kilometres away.
Abbas and his family settled as refugees in New Zealand. Whist a specific RSVP is not requested, out of courtesy, please advise David Smith if you wish to join the meeting, particularly as there is a limit of 100 attendees.
Anjum Rahman was our Guest Speaker and she was inspiring.She was born in India, lived in Canada for a brief period of time then at the age of 5 years arrived in Hamilton in 1972.
At Silverdale Primary School she was the only non-European child.
Their family was the first Muslim family to settle in Hamilton.
Lisa Carrington, our brilliant Golden Girl from Ohope, New Zealand’s greatest ever Olympian.
3 Gold Medals at Tokyo to go with Gold in London and Gold & Bronze in Rio
Pat Seymour on behalf of Life Education National Office presented President Ray with an Outstanding Community Award for the amount of support Rotary has provided since it was started in Gisborne.Gisborne West was highly involved with getting it off the ground providing funding and expertise with ongoing support with management.
Rotary has continued to provide donations towards costs since this time with them being the major recipient of money raised in the Duck Race.
1
Comment
A Night of Moonshining!!Raewyn introduced Jean who entertained everyone telling us about the Eastern Bay Wine Makers and Brewers Club and introduced us to some of their treats.
Later in the year, they are going to host a nationwide meeting in Kawerau showing off and comparing their wines, beers and liqueurs.
President Lynette thought it would be fun if we learnt how to make liqueurs to be tasted and judged at our end-of-year meeting when they should be well matured
Hard at work, working up a sweat is the Rotary Stortford Lodge men's over 100kg Rowing Coxless Eights
Bitter determination and Tennent's Bitter Ale spurs the team to higher and higher attainments.
Finishing last again was put down to not having a boat.
Meanwhile, the women's sculling fours seemed all at sea around the scone table but managed to win First in Their Class (whatever class that was).
Last Meeting
We had 2 Speakers, a Mother and Daughter combination of Donna and Danika Bergersen.
Danika spoke of her experiences as BMX Rider. At the age of 12 years, she has done remarkably. She competed in her 1st race at the age of 7 years, came 1st at the Nationals at the age of 8 years.
Over recent years in 2020, she was 2nd at the North Island Championships and Waikato Regional Sportsperson of the Year in 2021 so far has taken out the South Island championships and 2nd at the Nationals.
Shelley: Reminded us that the world-famous Whakatane Rotary Car Rally is scheduled for 16 & 17 October.She needs the number confirmed by the end of next week and will be emailing the club for entries.
A fun event that is highly recommended.
Remember that what happens on the rally stays on the rally and the Four Way Test does not apply.
Tēnā koutou katoa,
We hope you and your whānau are keeping well during this current Covid-19 outbreak. In these uncertain times, we have answers to your questions about the virus, the vaccination, and heart health.
Also this month, our latest TV ads about heart attack warning signs hit our screens. We're encouraging people to recognise the symptoms of a heart attack and call 111 straight away – making the right call is the best chance you have of reducing long-term damage to your heart.
.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
