Before we begin the newsletter, we would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners of this land – the Aboriginal people past and present.
It is upon their ancestral lands where we are today.
As we share our knowledge, Rotary practices and ideas, through this newsletter and all of our activities,
may we also pay respect to the knowledge embedded forever within the Aboriginal Custodianship of Country.
My dear fellow Rotarians, Friends, and all in our Rotary Family
For those that don’t know GIVE EVERY CHILD A FUTURE is the Australian and New Zealand Rotary Centenary Project for celebrating 100 years of Rotary in these countries.
The Centenary Project or (R100 project) has been given the go ahead by all District Governors in both countries and will prevent, cervical cancer, and will save children lives through the introduction of vaccines for human Papillomavirus (HPV) rotavirus and pneumococcal disease into nine Pacific Island countries: The Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. All these countries are suffering financially due to lack of tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic so the Asia Develop Bank (ADB) signed off to provide financial support to Samoa, Tonga. Tuvalu and Vanuatu to introduce these three vaccines. Rotary have taken up the challenge to fund regional and other supporting activities in these four countries, as well as fully funding the program in the other five Pacific nations. The Rotary budget is around $5 million, which will require significant fundraising to achieve.
The project is being executed in partnership with UNICEF, who we have a tremendous working relationship with through the end POLIO now campaign. Past RI President Ian Riseley and wife Juliet have come on board as patrons for this Centenary Project- a lasting and worthy way to celebrate Rotary’s impact over the last 100 years.
We are asking all clubs in the Zone 8 and our District to take part in this International project by maybe sponsoring children or having someone in your club becoming a project ambassador.
I know it is hard fundraising at the moment, but I am asking all clubs to put their thinking caps on and maybe just allocate one activity to go towards this project. There is a video from Ian and Juliet Riseley talking about, Give Every Child a Future and it can be viewed at
1. Please be advised that there is a new email going around offering to distribute $350 000 from funds from the cancelled Rotary International Convention 2020. Please ignore this email because it is a scam.
2. RAWCS has set up a Project (Project 19 2020-21) as a Rotary Australia Relief Fund project to provide funds for humanitarian programs to assist the people in Beirut recover from the disaster last month. The link below will take you to the appropriate web page.
It has been announced that Nigeria has suffered no new wild Polio cases for 4 years! This means all 47 African countries are now Polio Free and that is an enormous effort.
Take A Bow, Rotarians…because you did it!
We still have 2 countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan) to clear before we reach the goal of a Polio Free World. To finish the job Rotary needs to raise $50 million each year.
So we need to continue to provide End Polio Now with generous support.
You will see many calls for EPN support during the coming months.
Mark Anderson is heading up Ride the Train to End Polio on Friday 23 October.
Rob Byrne has announced the availability of “I AM WOMAN” as the End Polio Movie.
Please consider whether you can run the movie in your local cinema during September/October and fundraise for EPN.
The Sir Clem Renouf Appeal has been announced in honour of the Past RI President who started the Crusade.
You will hear more about all these opportunities to help.
Foundation Grants
Congratulations to 33 D9685 Clubs who have received Foundation District Grants to assist with their projects. Grants Chair, Haran Ramachandran who be arranging payments during the coming month.
Our Clubs have 14 Foundation Global Grants awaiting approval and 9 Global Grants have been paid to our Clubs during July and August. 4 of these were to support Club projects that help with COVID-19 assistance.
Centurion Week
As you know, November is Foundation month in the Rotary calendar.
The week commencing 9 November will be Centurion Week in District 9685.
During this week Clubs are being encouraged to recruit all Rotarians to become Centurions by donating AUD100.
These gifts can also be directed to End Polio and respect the memory of Sir Clem Renouf.
They can also recognize 100 years of Rotary in ANZ.
3 Good Deeds for just $100…. What a great offer! (Sorry, but we do not have any steak knives!)
Thank you for reading. Stay safe, keep your distance and wash your hands.
I am so honored to serve as your president this year. We have important work ahead of us at Rotary, and we are going to have a lot of fun as we do it.
Last year, we launched our five-year Action Plan to build a stronger future for Rotary. We are working to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt. The last several months have shown that we — as Rotarians and Rotaractors — can realize these goals as we forge a new path for the future.
Without question, COVID-19 has posed new and previously unimaginable challenges for Rotary. But within every challenge is perhaps an even greater opportunity. And while I could not have known what lay ahead when I selected my theme for the year, Rotary Opens Opportunities has even greater relevance as we begin our new Rotary year.
Annual General Meetings for all Clubs need to be held prior to 31st December, to comply with the Constitution of your Clubs and NSW Fair Trading. Even though these meetings this year could well e by Zoom, they are important events in your Year.
Reminder to all Clubs and Rotarians - If there any changes to Club meeting times or venues, or if there any changes to the personal information of members (eg. change of Club, address, email, phone), please update Club Runner AND advise the District 9685 Communications Director at communications@rotarydistrict9685.org.au
Reminder that DG David Clark has asked each Rotary and Rotaract Club to prepare a 3-5 minute video about what Clubs are doing / have achieved, the best 10 or so to be shown at the Virtual District Conference in 2021. They will need to be submitted to the Communications Director by the end of November at communications@rotarydistrict9685.org.au
Within the next few days, as reported in the current issue of Rotary Down Under, the World Health Organisation African Region will be officially certified free of wild poliovirus. August 25 is the red letter day and certification will come four years after Nigeria – the last Polio endemic country in Africa – recorded its last case of wild Polio! When the African region is certified as wild Polio-free, FIVE of the six WHO regions – representing over 90% of the world’s population – will be free of the wild poliovirus. This progress is the result of a decades-long effort across the 47 countries of the African region. It has involved millions of health workers travelling by foot, boat, bike and bus, innovative strategies to vaccinate children amid conflict and insecurity, and a huge disease surveillance network to test cases of paralysis and check sewage for the virus.
Radio is a powerful way to spread your Club stories. If your Club has a project, local or overseas, which would interest the wider general public, discuss it with Rotary Matters presenter Ian Stuart who will be glad to help spread the word. Ian.stuart@optusnet.com.au 0416 138 860
On Wednesday, August 12th, the Rotary Club of Upper Northern Beaches (UNB) was pleased to invite Lorraine McNuff, a senior manager from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA), to address the club & to acknowledge a donation to CPA from the Club. Lorraine gave a brief history of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, previously known as “The Spastic Centre”, which was founded in 1945. It is now a large organization, with over 2,000 staff & regional centres throughout New South Wales. Therapy services are provided for children & adults with neurological & physical disability. Research is a very important belief of the CPA, which initiated the world first research foundation into the causes & treatment of cerebral palsy, as well as linking globally to other research programs.
While the Orange Blossom Festival is in isolation in 2020, the Sydney Hills Garden Competition is on again this year and indeed is the only Orange Blossom Festival running in 2020. Intricately linked to the Hills Shire, the first competition ran in 1959 as the forerunner of the Orange Blossom Festival. This program is run by The Rotary Club of the Hills-Kellyville
This is a call out to all gardeners …. register your gardens and get ready for the judging in September.
Perhaps the most satisfying was the notification by the Rotary Grants
office at Rotary International of the approval of our global grant application to provide free insulin pumps to about 15 young people with Type I diabetes. The value of the grant as reported last weekend is US$ 93,010.
This process has taken 12-18 months of hard work and we cannot thank our “team” enough for all their persistence and guidance during this period. Thank you again George Papallo, John Steel, John Waterhouse, our past member PP David Dean, and Past President Haran Ramachandran of The Hills-Kellyville RC.
We should also like to thank our many Rotary Club friends who have arranged USD donations towards our Grant, namely Austin, Bourne End & Cookham, Colombo Metropolitan, Mumbai Queen’s Necklace and The Hills- Kellyville. Without these Clubs our grant would not have been possible. Thank you all. The team is now able to move onto the selection part of the program where each possible recipient is checked to see that they comply with the selection criteria. His aim is to try to select 3 to 6 candidates before Christmas subject to COVID interview restrictions. A worthy recipient has already been selected but the details will only be released when all the boxes are ticked.
Rotary New Zealand World Community Service (RNZWCS Limited)
The RAWCS and RNZWCS working group meets regularly to further develop a cooperative approach to supporting Rotary humanitarian projects in the Zone 8 region. The organisations share information and expertise in facilitating Rotary Club and District projects insuring they meet the specific tax and other regulatory requirements of the Nations where we work.
Collaborative project registrations have seen Rotary projects in the Pacific Islands and elsewhere supported by tax deductable donations, received in either New Zealand or Australia, applied to meeting humanitarian needs under Rotary’s areas of Focus. Both RNZWCS and RAWCS are now facilitating projects aimed at supporting communities affected by the economic consequences of Covid both at home and overseas.
RAWCS and RNZWCS are concerned that recessions in the economies of Australia and New Zealand will lead to reduced charitable donations supporting Rotary projects. The organisations have agreed to share information and approaches to seeking external funding for Rotary projects to further assist Rotarians continuing to do good in the world. Links to each web site can be found on the website of the other and the organisations are cooperating on communications and IT support.
Please clickHERE to view - download the ‘Rotary On The Move’ Newsletter for September 2020. Please feel free to share and send us your great membership stories.
MEMBERSHIP RESOURCE GUIDE
The Membership Resource Guide has been updated. The hyperlinked resources below (underlined in a blue font) can be downloaded on www.rotary.org by clicking on the hyperlink. If you experience any trouble when downloading resources, please email membershipdevelopment@rotary.org.
ROTARIANS AGAINST MALARIA VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
For more information about the Virtual Conference,
A project of the Rotary Club of the Upper Blue Mountains Sunrise to help the homeless Please join us on Saturday 26th September from 7:00 - 9:00 pm for a fun and easy way to test your knowledge and help the homeless.
The night will, be held via Zoom and using Kahoot.
Special screenings in cinemas are being offered to Rotarians and friends to
raise funds to fight Polio.
For more information about this really special event, please click HERE
A recent webinar on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Rotary: Hoe Are We doing? can be viewed HERE
Australian Rotary Health
HAT DAY
(For more information click on the above)
Hat Day, Australian Rotary Health's annual national mental health research fundraising event is now less than 6 weeks away. Even though COVID-19 may have disrupted many events this year, there are still some ways you can get involved in Hat Day this October to help #Liftthelidonmentalillness (see above). If you would like to get involved, visit the Hat Day website today to register. If you have any enquiries, email: news@arh.org.au
MELBOURNE CUP TRIFECTA TICKETS
Crows Nest Rotary Club is once again producing Sets of Trifecta Tickets for this year.For more information and order forms, please click HERE
Two more webinars on the New Style Rotary Forum (more details by clicking on the above picture)
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