Rotary, April District Newsletter 2017

 
 
This month's Newsletter is coming to you a little later than normal and for good reason. 
 
A highlight on the District calendar occurred last weekend when we held our annual District Conference.  And wow, what a conference thanks to great support from so many people.  It was held in the magical town of Whakatane to a theme of ‘Rotary – it’s a kind of magic,’ and entertainment included many tricks from a magician over the two days.  Magic was everywhere! 
 
The weather was perfect, guest speakers were top calibre, there was fine dining and good fellowship giving us a conference to remember. 
 
 

 

RANZSE
Rotary Australia New Zealand Student Exchange.

Rotary gave me the best eye opening experience in life to travel as a young teenager.

Living in Australia for over 3 months of my life was one of the best things that could have happened to me.

Rotary has given me the best tastes of the world in 3 short months.

Sam spent his year in Vienna, Österreich with the stopover in Los Angeles on the way to Europe being a highlight of the year.
 
Hosted by the Winchester Club of California, students were treated to visits to Disneyland and Universal Studios. Sam began by addressing us in fluent German but admitted that picking up the language was fairly frustrating and took about six months before he felt comfortable. Exchange students from a variety of countries attended the German language course in Altmünster on the shores of Traunsee; the views from their accommodation were beautiful but since it was winter swimming was not a good idea.
Here we are going to publish great parting thoughts from members of Rotary.
 
"Don't worry if plan A fails, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet". - Rotary Club of Otorohanga
 
“If at first you don’t succeed don’t become a skydiver “ - Corolyn from Te Aroha
 
“Gisborne, where the sun spends the winter and the flies spend the summer”  - Alan at Gisborne Rotary
March was a particularly busy month as we push ahead with our plans to increase the number of surgical services we deliver each year and reach more people.
 
Across the month, six programs were delivered in:
 
  • PNG (both Mt Hagen and Madang)
  • Yangon, Myanmar
  • Fiji (both Labasa and Suva)
  • Apia, Samoa.

More than 190 000 polio vaccinators in 13 countries across west and central Africa will immunize over 116 million children over the next week, to tackle the last remaining stronghold of polio on the continent.

The synchronized vaccination campaign, one of the largest of its kind ever implemented in Africa, is part of urgent measures to permanently stop polio on the continent.  All children under five years of age in the 13 countries – Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – will be simultaneously immunized in a coordinated effort to raise childhood immunity to polio across the continent.

Our Rotary Australian - New Zealand Student Exchange participants fly off to Australia from Auckland on April 1st.

This is the 50th year of the Rotary Australia & New Zealand Student Exchange
 
Rotary is perhaps the most respected and safest student exchange throughout the world.
 
Rotary Australia & New Zealand Student Exchange is sometimes called the "matched twin exchange"
 
Pictured are Charles Annals (Hamilton East Club); Joshua Goodall (Morrinsville Club); and Hamish Hawthorne (Rotorua Sunrise Club). 
Graeme Kitto of Fairfield Rotary reports: 
 
This morning I made the annual enviro presentation at Insoll Avenue School in the company of the Enviro Schools Facilitator, Adrienne Grant (left of Graeme in left photo) 
 
The school enviro team, guided by teacher Nicky Meyer, ran a competition – Design an Environmental Sign. 
 
Out of scores of entries, three were selected as the finalists.  Adrienne made the final selection. The winner, Samuel MacKenzie in Year 6, transferred his drawing of “Butterfly Palace” on to a large sign to be hung beside the school’s sizeable collection of swan plants. 
 
It was quite a task for him and took some time. Samuel’s mother was present at the presentation 
 
District 9930 Training Assembly is for all Rotarians.
 
District Training is about increasing the understanding of the wide range of Rotary programmes and activities for all Rotarians, and providing an awareness of what’s happening across Rotary.  
 
But I’m new to Rotary… We’ve got some great introductory level sessions for those who are still learning about Rotary and what it does in the world.  
 
This year we’ll be running “Introduction to Rotary”, and “Introduction to Foundation” taken from our popular Rotary Learning and Information (RLI) programme.  
 
There’s always so much more to learn about Rotary than what you see and hear in your club! 
 
Reviewing your retirement options? Download the full story here
 
I saw an article about nursing and retirement homes and the expenses. Then it hit me!! No nursing home for me!! Here is my plan: I’m checking into the Holiday Inn.
 
With the average cost for a nursing home approaching $188 per day, there is a better way when we get old and feeble.
 
I have already checked on reservations at the Holiday Inn. For a combined long-term stay discount and senior non-active Rotarian discount, it’s $49.23 per night.
The L&P Café was the place to be after work on Tuesday 21 March. 
 
And what was on?  Well, it’s the new meeting home for Rotary Paeroa and a Rotary meeting was underway. 
 
With a few extra guests thrown in, the L&P Café was clearly to place to be with 54 people in attendance.
 
A few highlights were covered during the night. 
 
The club members are really on a roll in gaining new members.  They’ve recently inducted 7 new members and there are further prospects lining up to join.  
Rotary’s 108th annual international convention June 10–14 is expected to attract 40,000 Rotary club members from over 160 countries, and will inject an estimated $52.3 million into Atlanta’s economy.

Bill Gates will speak at this year's Rotary International Convention.

Often described as a “mini-United Nations”, Rotary’s third convention in Atlanta will transform the Georgia World Congress Center into a cultural kaleidoscope as the organization’s global network of volunteers gather to exchange ideas on how to improve lives and bring positive, lasting change to communities around the world.