Co - President's Notes Tom Atkinson & Murray McKay
Dear Rotarians and friends,
Yesterday, we went to see the film ‘Marie’ with friends.
The film is about the life and death of Maria Callas the famous post-war opera singer. Whilst it is a reflection of the marvellous performances that she gave during her early adult life, it also highlights the difficulties of aging and yearning for the past.
The film makes one realise that no matter how important you may have been for part of your life we all should make the most of the time that we have. I believe that by being a member of the Rotary family, we are helping achieve this through the large and small programmes that we support.
It is, however, important that the club continues to thrive through new leaders volunteering taking on leadership roles. The role of President is key to this and can be achieved with a co-President or in a manner that the person wishes to manage themselves with advice from the outgoing Presidents and members of the Board.
Massive wildfires in California, USA, have destroyed at least 12,000 buildings, razed neighborhoods, and displaced tens of thousands of people. Rotary members have raced to help.
We’d like to think it’s our Rotary Fellowship which attracts Visiting Rotarian Roger Painter to keep coming back to spend time with us every few years, but it’s his grandchildren here in Perth. Of course he’s also missing the snow and ice on Vancouver Island, but another week of heat wave conditions must have had him wondering if it’s now time to go home. So he is, in a couple of weeks.
Since we last enjoyed Roger’s company, he’s moved Rotary Clubs - from South Cowichan to Duncan, a Club with 60+ active members, and one of the first Rotary Clubs established in Canada.
Roger became a Rotarian after his daughter spent a year in France on Rotary Youth Exchange, and he has always been involved in Youth programs. Nowadays his club promotes short term exchanges, where your outbound exchangee lives with a family in a foreign country for 3 weeks, then bring their host sibling back to Vancouver Island to spend another 3 weeks with them in their own home. Quite often your outbound exchangee is using the short experience to improve their skills in speaking a foreign language they are learning at school. Fewer Canadian students are interested in a year long program, mainly because of cost, and also, in Canada, finding host families for inbound students has become very difficult. Canada is a destination for foreign students studying at university, and they pay full room and board to stay with a local family. Rotary can’t compete with that.
Roger brought his interest in Youth with him when he moved to the Rotary Club of Duncan, as well as two Interact Clubs. The main reason he moved was that his old Club’s membership declined in number and enthusiasm after COVID, and when he began to lose his own enthusiasm for being a Rotarian, he started to look at alternatives. Fortunately in his time as an Assistant Governor, he had got to know a lot of other Clubs and thought RC Duncan would suit him. When he advised that he wanted to move Clubs he was asked to take most of the Youth programs with him, as nobody wanted to take them on. His decision to move had been vindicated,
His Duncan Club is very active in the high schools hosting an Interact Club, promoting leadership development through community projects, and later with RYLA of course. The Club also recognises outstanding students with awards, like ”Student of the month”, and Student Entrepreneur Awards. The Interact Clubs also participate in river clean ups, and collecting food for needy students especially in the school holiday periods.
RC Duncan is very involved in overseas projects, often involving other Rotary Clubs. An example of this is Rotary Wheels for Cambodia, which funds the purchase and any necessary repairs to bikes purchased in Cambodia. Their Interact Clubs get involved in fundraising and enjoy seeing the benefits in Cambodian villages.
Another project, in Guatemala, supported by 22 Rotary Clubs in North America, receives second hand desktop computers for use in village schools in areas with little or no Internet service. Rotary helps create local Internets in each village to make the computers more useful to students researching projects.
However, even with all this going on locally and internationally, RC Duncan has positioned Polio Plus as its Marquee project and is fully committed to eradicating Polio and several other major diseases of children, from Planet Earth.
Lorri showed off her cake making skills for a special cake to mark Kenn’s recent birthday and Visiting Rotarian Roger Painter departing home to Canada shortly.
I have had 3 requests for support at Rotary events/activities coming up in the next couple of months, as mentioned at our last meeting.
As Follows:
1 Hyde Park Festival is being held on the Sunday and Monday 2nd/3rd March and Warrick Smith has asked if AxR can support with some of our project infrastructure… Ute and trailer, large and small marquees, trestles and chairs and the delivery, erection and pull down, on the Saturday and later Monday.
Warrick is planning for a significant and major upgrade for Rotary Mental Health at the event, with speakers and opportunities for the public to engage with this initiative.
It would need 3, preferably 4 to support this request.
I’m in, who else can help?
2. Warrick is also is seeking AxR support to join as project co-ordinators for the GIVEA FEED Christmas Hamper appeal, which we already commit to in terms of hamper packing and donations.
He is planning to elevate the Rotary role in this project by seeking more community and corporate support, with more Hampers for delivery as a result.
He has offered to address AxR as a speaker in the not too distant future and I think we should be prepared to support the request.
3. Open Day at Capital Radio set down for Sunday, 30th March.
David Barton, our Rotary Community Leader, our local Rotary Clubs, along with the City of Melville and Capital Radio, are planning a special community promo day to help boost the interest in local community radio.
Request is for AxR to support the day, be available for Rotary interviews and supply our BBQ trailer for the crowd expected to attend.
More info to follow on this but again, it makes sense to be part of the open day.
Capital Radio have been great supporters of AxR and the JacFest over many years.
It is the weekend of the Margaret River District Conference.
Como Rotary is doing a Fund Raiser to support Rotary International’s Number 1 project - the elimination of Polio worldwide.
This film is more than just a thrilling adventure. It's a story of sacrifice, determination, and the fight to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. Witness breathtaking Himalayan landscapes, the dedication of Sherpas, and Ken's unwavering spirit as he pushes his limits for a worthy cause.
Fly from Everest has already raised nearly half a million dollars to end polio, and net proceeds go directly to the End Polio Now campaign!
Want to be a part of this incredible story? Check out the trailer through out website - https://comorotary.org/
