D. G.'s April Newsletter, April 2017

A keynote speaker on Sunday morning was Sir Ray Avery who received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his presentation. 

Special thanks go to all who made the weekend happen, particularly those from the five Area 8 clubs who worked tirelessly over the weekend and of course Conference Chair Extraordinaire Ses Webster who worked on this project for 2 years.  The conference concluded with a BBQ lunch on Sunday out in the sunshine.  We hope all who attended left on a high, had safe travels home and will encourage other club members to attend in future years.

 

During the last month, our District has enjoyed a Rotary Friendship Exchange team visit from D5130 in Northern California.  I met the team very early into the visit when they were hosted to a club meeting with Rotary Hamilton East.  Even though they were new arrivals, friendships were being quickly established.  Our District’s RFE reciprocal visit to Northern California will comprise a team of up to 12 members and take place in October of this year.

 

Interplast does so many good things, particularly in the Pacific Islands where we can share our medical skills.  In conjunction with District 9910, it is pleasing to say our District Interplast Chair Eliz Wright has been selected to lead a Vocational Training Team who will be carrying out Interplast medical procedures while at the same time upskilling local medical practitioners at Lautoka, Fiji to reduce future reliance on overseas assistance.  This team will not depart until the 2017/18 Rotary year and the visit will be for a few weeks.

 

There is an increasing emphasis within Rotary to find and implement successful ways to increase membership numbers.  With Rotary now being more relaxed in decreeing what clubs can and can not do, the environment is in place to experiment and try different approaches to Rotary business.  A National Membership Seminar was held at Wellington in mid-March and this provided a great opportunity for the sharing of ideas.  Within our District, our membership numbers dropped during the last 2 months but there is also good news – several clubs are doing well in lifting membership numbers.  Clubs on positive growth paths include Paeroa, Te Kuiti, Lake Taupo and Ahuriri Sunrise.  You are reminded of our District Membership Incentive scheme where clubs only need a net gain of 4 new members (not transfers) during the 6 months to 31 May 2017 and $1,000 is available for your new members to use as seed money for a new community project for your club.  A maximum of 10 grants are available and it’s not too late to lay a claim to a grant.

 

Rotary Youth Exchange is a programme which is active all year round.  On a global basis, many Rotary Districts take part in the programme.  Requirements for participating Districts cover many aspects, including having robust orientation, home hosting and youth protection practices.  To ensure consistency and high standards are maintained, Districts are inspected around every 5 years and have to be cleared to continue on the programme.  I am pleased to say our District was recently inspected and has been recertified as fully compliant.

 

Rotary Tauranga Sunrise can celebrate.  The clubs Savealife capsule project was withdrawn mid last year on the instructions of MedSafe.  The reason for this was due to a complaint on a technicality.  The good news is a green light has now been given by MedSafe and the product in a slightly amended format is re-entering the market.    

 

 

Have a good month and thank you for your commitment to Rotary Serving Humanity.

 

Regards