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The End of Polio

Rotary Project Day

The 23rd of February is the 108th anniversary of the founding of Rotary and to mark this event Rotary Clubs hold a project day where they are urged to carry out special events in the their communities.  We were privileged to be invited to be part of several of these events.

The Rotary Club of Plimmerton have been working on a walkway around the Pauatahanui Inlet with the support of the Porirua City Council.  A further section of the walkway was opened by Club President Bob Austin and DG Graeme.  It is great to see the progress being made with this project and it already being utilised by the community.

The Rotary Club of Hutt City  has been developing the Dowse Community Pathway.  Here people purchase engraved bricks of their own design to be added to the pathway.  The purpose of the event was to acknowledge the many Hutt Valley residents, friends, families, schools, and businesses who have purchased engraved bricks on the Dowse Community Pathway.  Since the inception of the Pathway over $57,000 has been raised  from  engraved bricks being sold.  Dame Lynley Dodd, of Hairy Maclary fame and also a past Lower Hutt resident, spoke of her passion for the project and later signed books for so many followers and fans.

We also had the opportunity to catch up with the Rotary Club of Porirua Sundown who along with Titahi Bay Lions were cleaning up the Porirua Hartam Court following the regular produce market.
They also had the opportunity to raise awareness and funds for the ERKs.  It was great to see Rotary and Lions working together on this project.

DG Update - The week that was!

President Hewitt Exchanging Banners

A very busy week for us this week.  Monday started with a visit to the Rotary Club of Wellington.  This was an opportunity to meet with our Russian Friendship Exchange.  Wellington was to be the last port of call in our District for the team before part of the team headed home and some headed to the South Island.  Our thanks to Joyce Campin, Friendship Exchange Chair, and the Rotary Club of Masterton South for arranging this visit.  If you have any ideas for future Rotary Friendship Exchanges I am sure Joyce would love to hear from you.


Tuesday we headed to the Rotary Club of Petone for their PHF night to present community PHFs to Reg Cotter and Kevin Goldsbury for their services to the community.  



It was also an opportunity to present a Centurion Club certificate to the club in recognition of their giving $100/member to the Rotary Foundation in 2011/12.  It was a great clear warm Wellington night that was enjoyed at the Jetty Cafe on the Petone waterfront.  Our thanks to the Club for their great efforts including the running of the Petone Rotary Fair.


Wednesday we hosted the RYLA team for a BBQ and debrief following the latest RYLA course.  All agreed it was a great success and several suggestions for improvements were given to the new Port Nicholson team.  Our congratulation to the Rylarians and Plimmerton team for another very successful event.


Thursday was off to the Rotary Club of Feilding where we presented a community PHF to Brian Hunter for his services to the community, in particular for helping establish the Feilding Coach House Museum.




On Friday we headed to Carterton where we attended a Wairarapa Cluster meeting and dinner hosted by AG Nicky and PDG Alastair Osborn.  A great night where we got to learn what projects and plans the local Rotary Clubs have in the area.  Our thanks to Nicky and Alastair for a great night.

Tom Thorfinnson to Speak at Wellington Rotary on March 11

New Rotary Advertisment Playing on TV

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Man Cave Tour

Rotary Club of Wanganui North Golf Tournament

ShelterBox appoints a new Chief Executive

The Board of ShelterBox is pleased to announce that Alison Wallace, will take over as its new Chief Executive from 15 April 2013. Alison is a New Zealander, a law & commerce graduate, and joins ShelterBox from Amnesty International.

Alison has over fifteen years’ experience in the UK and international not-for-profit sectors, most recently working for nearly seven years as Director of International Fundraising at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. She has particular expertise in fundraising growth strategies, having delivered Amnesty International’s first Global Fundraising Strategy in 2010 and recently re-launched an ambitious global major donor fundraising programme.

Alison Wallace said she was "delighted"
to join the charity on "the next stage
of its growth" 

In addition to her extensive marketing and fundraising experience, Alison has worked on substantial organisational change projects at both Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth and been a long serving member of the Board of Trustees of the Camden Society.

Alison said: “I am delighted to be given this opportunity to lead ShelterBox and its dedicated team of staff and volunteers on the next stage of its growth, and to bring shelter, warmth and dignity to more people more quickly in times of crisis. I firmly believe that shelter, and the dignity it brings in the hours and days after a major disaster, is key to families and communities re-building their lives as soon as possible. I am also looking forward to working with ShelterBox’s international affiliates to spread the ShelterBox message and increase our capacity to reach more people.”

Chairman of ShelterBox, Dr Rob John OBE said: “The Board of Trustees of ShelterBox were looking for an outstanding leader who possessed a track record in fundraising and strategy development relevant to our very special charity.”

“I am delighted that Alison has accepted our invitation to take ShelterBox forward as our Chief Executive. She is an excellent communicator and team player and we welcome her most warmly into our ShelterBox family.”

A Woman’s Worth – Celebrating Women in Rotary

March 2013 Rotary Down Under is dedicated to the wonderful work of women in Rotary. When Paul Harris and his mates formed Rotary back in 1905, there was no mention of Rotary as an organisation for men to the exclusion of women.  Women have always played an important role in Rotary, yet they comprise only 16% of Rotarians.  Read The Winning Edge on page 12 and you will be insisting that your club increases its gender diversity so your club performs as well as it can, because that increased diversity is likely to yield better outcomes as women bring their special touch.  As one woman Rotarian said “Have we made a difference? You bet we have!”  Read this exciting issue and pass your magazine onto other women in your community who would make good Rotarians, so they can consider joining Rotary, or send them the link to read this outstanding issue on-line (from 1 March) at www.rotarydownunder.org   

RLI at District Conference

Dear Rotarians,

This special event has just been approved by both Rotary Districts 9920 and 9940 Governors Ron Seeto and Graeme Blick that we invite you to consider in association with our joint District Conference in Rotorua on 26-28 April.  

Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) has been the highly successful Rotarian development forum throughout New Zealand since 2008, resulting in an ever increasing number of motivated and knowledgeable Rotarians, many of whom go on to be effective and valued leaders of their club and district, following this leadership skills and Rotary knowledge training. 

This is a special opportunity for 9920 and 9940 Rotarians to discover the world of Rotary opportunities by completing RLI Part 1 which focuses on the Rotarian. 

If you are attending or thinking of attending the joint district conference, this will add value to your trip and your Rotary weekend experience in Rotorua.

It is usual that clubs sponsor their members to attend RLI, but that is the clubs decision.  If your club is willing to sponsor you, please note this on your registration and your club will be invoiced. Otherwise, please pay cash or cheque for the seminar on arrival, and a receipt will be issued.

When:   Friday 26 April 2013 from 8.30am to 4.00pm (before conference starts at 5.30pm)

Where:   RSA, 1072 Haupapa St, Rotorua - within easy walking distance of conference venue and hotels

Investment: $85 includes morning tea and lunch plus RLI Part 1 curriculum material folder

Seminar registration and information at: www.rlirotorua.rotarysouthpacific.org

Any queries to berylrobinson@rotarydownunder.co.nz  or +64 21 652 802 or skype:  csbgrobinson

Other useful links:

RLI New Zealand and Pacific Islands Division www.rli.rotarysouthpacific.org 

Recent RLI news:  http://rotarystories-nzandpacific.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/the-ten-will-make-difference.html 

Rotorua Conference www.rotaryconf2013.co.nz  - note the conference early bird registration cut-off date is Monday 18 February

Kind regards,

Beryl Robinson

RLI, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Chair

DG Update - Great Community Work

This week we have focused on looking at conference details.  On Monday we had a return visit to Eastern Hutt club, where I gave a talk on Antarctica, and incidentally helped the club celebrate PDG John Cole’s birthday.  Four local businessmen were also honored for their support to the Rotary Clubs trailer Christmas raffle.

We were able to get along to our own club, Plimmerton.  It was a special night as our member Wendy Betteridge was awarded a PHF Sapphire Pin for her work in the Club and in particular her great work running RYLA and the marketing and publicity of the Club including the Teardrop Banner campaign which most Clubs are now using.  Our  warmest congratulations go to Wendy.  

On Thursday I also had the opportunity to meet Dieter Schott from the Rotary Club of Plon in Germany who is visiting his son and family in Wellington.  He was particularly interested in discussing opportunities for a VTT exchange with our District.

The week ended with Christine and I attending the Petone Rotary Fair.  


Another great event sponsored by Rotary.  


It was great to see a strong Rotary presence by many Clubs in the Hutt Valley both running the event and having stalls and displays including the ERKs and Shelterbox.  Running for 22 years now, this is becoming a major event like the Martinborough Fair and is a great showcase for Rotary and the work we do.  

Congratulations to the Rotary Clubs of Petone and other clubs in the Hutt valley for the huge effort they put into this very community focused event.

Russian Friendship Exchange Now Visiting 9940

The Russian Friendship Exchange Team from Khabarovsk, a city in Russia about 30km from the border with China , is now visiting our District.  For the last couple of weeks they have been in Palmerston North and the Wairarapa and in the coming week they will have several days in Wellington hosted by the Wellington Club.  Khabarovsk has 600,000 people but only one Rotary club consisting of 15 members. It is a very young club. 

The photos below show the team visiting the Milson Club.  Here one of the members Mariana introduced the other members of the team, Serguei, Ana, Nadezhda, Svetlana and Elena, and presented the club president, Mike, with a banner and a book about Khabarovsk. 

Form Milson Clubs Newsletter

Disaster Strikes Samoa and Rotary Responds

After a natural disaster, citizens and friends far and wide have a natural feeling of urgency to help those affected. Our cyclone battered country was no exception.  However, many are stuck to know exactly ‘how’ to help.  Do you send money? Clothes? Food? If so then, who do we send it to and how can you be sure it gets to those who are in need?  Taking a step back, how do communities and families prepare to help themselves after unprecedented flooding and gale winds?  History will have us anticipate a cyclone every so often as a pacific island prone to such events.  Logically, locals should be able to know on the top of their head what to do and what is needed during and after the cyclone. 

For Rotary Club of Apia, one of Samoa’s small but more active charitable clubs, the rally of Rotary Emergency Recover Kits or ERK’s as it is called by members, arrived as soon as the flights were allowed back into Faleolo Airport.  Over 200 ERK’s from Rotary NZ have been distributed to the devastated areas of Upolu affected by the worse flooding ever recorded in Samoa’s history.  The first shipment of 100 ERKs were delivered on the 22nd December 2011 by volunteers to Ma’agao, Lelata, Fa’atoia all the way through to Aai o Niue, Levili and Mo’ataa.  This was the area where some fourteen lives were taken and over 100 homes were destroyed.  The second shipment of another 100 ERK’s were delivered to the southern rural region of Upolu to Siumu, Maninoa, Mulivai and all along the coast. 

Submitted by: Phaedra Moors

For more on this story seehttp://rotarystories-nzandpacific.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/disaster-strikes-samoa-and-rotary.html

ShelterBox Aid arrives for tsunami survivors

ShelterBox Aid arrives for tsunami survivors

(RNZAF Boeing 757 being unloaded at Honiara Airport, Solomon Islands)

Relief supplies have begun trickling into tsunami-hit communities in the Solomons Islands, as another powerful aftershock rattled the Pacific nation in the wake of last week’s 8.0-magnitude earthquake.
The New Zealand  High Commissioner Mark Ramsden announced yesterday that “New Zealand is committed to helping a friend and neighbour at a time of need,” Mr Ramsden said.

“These supplies, many of which have been generously donated by New Zealand businesses, will go some way to meeting the needs of people on Santa Cruz who have lost almost everything in the tsunami.”  

ShelterBox SRT's Lyndon Tamblyn and Owen Smith both from New Zealand are now on the ground in Honiara working with our partner World Vision and local Rotarians to get their much needed supplies to families in need.



(ShelterBox SRT Lyndon Tamblyn and "Kiwi" colleagues loading ShelterBox tents)

The aid supplies which include ShelterBox tents, blankets, sanitation kits, tarpaulins and water containers have been donated to World Vision by The Warehouse and ShelterBox, and chainsaw packs provided by the New Zealand Government have today been unloaded from the Royal New Zealand AirForce Boeing 757 in Honiara and transferred to the cargo boat M.V. Arnavona which will depart for Santa Cruz this evening.

The number of aftershocks had slowed but not halted aid operations in the remote Santa Cruz islands, where at least 10 people died in the tsunami, triggered by the quake last Wednesday.

The Solomon Islands government has declared the Santa Cruz Islands a disaster area. Aerial surveys indicate most of the damage is confined to the Lata region.

Almost 600 houses are believed to have been destroyed, with most of the destruction caused in the initial earthquake and the metre-high tsunami which swept through coastal areas soon after, leaving more than 3,000 people homeless.

A WONDERFGUL OPPORTUNITY

A WONDERFGUL OPPORTUNITY

Wanted for 2 weeks commencing 17 March 2013.

Two skilled carpenters (plumbing skill would also be an added advantage)

Volunteers would be responsible for their own airfares, insurance etc..

Project – to assist a Fijian Village Community erect a kindergarten funded by Rotary Club of Lautoka.

Accommodation and food will be provided by the village community.

Great hospitality assured I am told.

Village is in remote area of Viti Levu (3 hours drive from Lautoka)

If you are interested please contact:

PDG Stuart J Batty JP

Director, RNZWCS Limited (Rotary New Zealand)

Ph/Fax 64 3 3599218

cellphone 027 2695615

stuart.batty@rnzwcs.org

ShelterBox responds to Solomon’s tsunami

The following update has been forward by Shelterbox.

A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) from New Zealand is being deployed to the Solomon Islands in response to the  undersea earthquake and subsequent 1.5 metres (5ft) high tsunami that hit Temotu Province in the Solomon Islands on the 6th February 2013. 

ShelterBox Response Team members Lyndon Tamblyn (Bulls) and Owen Smith (Kerikeri) both experienced response team leaders will leave as soon as flights become available.

The ShelterBox SRT will work alongside staff from World Vision, our partner in the Solomon Islands who are currently assessing the damage and the need for shelter. Pre-positioned stocks of tents and ShelterBoxes have been made available for the disaster hit families.

A New Zealand Air Force Boeing 757 is scheduled to leave this morning for the Pacific. It will be carrying relief supplies into Honiara, donated to World Vision by the Warehouse and ShelterBox. Stocks include shelter, sanitation kits, tarpaulins, water containers, and chainsaw packs from the New Zealand Government.

According to George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister, some 100 homes and properties had been either damaged or destroyed.

Sipuru Rove, a spokesperson from the National Disaster Management Office in Honiara, said the relief effort was being hindered by debris at Lata airport. Planes are not yet able to bring relief supplies to the Islands because of damage to an airport that had been inundated by tsunami surges.

Solomon Islands Police Commissioner John Lansley said that his officers in Lata were helping to assess the damage and prepare for evacuation in the nearby villages.

"Sadly, we believe some people have lost their lives," he said. "Latest reports have indicated that the death toll has risen to thirteen, but there may of course be more."

More than 50 people were killed and thousands lost their homes in April 2007 when a magnitude-8.1 quake hit the western Solomon Islands, sending waves crashing into coastal villages.

The Solomon’s comprise more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. The islands lie on the "Ring of Fire" – an arc that stretches around the Pacific rim and where about 90% of the world's quakes occur.

The Warehouse CEO Mark Powell (left), World Vision CEO Chris Clarke 

(right) and an army of volunteers load ShelterBox tents and donated items 

into an Air Force Boeing 757.

Russian Friendship Exchange Team Has Arrived in District

We are please to welcome a Friendship Exchange team from District 2225 in Russia to our District.  The team which has been organised through the Rotary Club of Masterton will we traveling through our District for several weeks and we wish them well while they are here.

To find out more about the team see: http://app.talkfusion.com/newsletters/vn_view.asp?NTM2MjE=_21545048

Porirua Sundown visits Takapuwahia Marae in Porirua

On Waitangi Day members from Porirua Sundown Rotary visited Takapuwahia Marae in Porirua.

They were the guests of Nick Leggett, the mayor of Porirua, who had also invited a number of new migrants to the area so that they could experience some of the Maori culture.  It was a really interesting experience and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.

Members for Porirua Sindown

DG Update - A Week of Variety

Our week began with a visit to the Rotary Club of Paraparaumu for a Robbie Burns night.  This was a chance to get out my Kilt and dress up for a great night of haggis, food, singing and friendship.  It was also a special night as I was able to award on behalf of the club a Community PHF to Rachel Osborne for her services to Youth in the local community.



On Tuesday we had an opportunity to visit our own club of Plimmerton, where Christine taught the club how to make Peace Cranes. This was a great effort to make a good number to add to our growing collection for us to send across to the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima.

DG with Members of West
Wairarapa at the Races

Wednesday, Waitangi Day, we attended the Tauherenikau Races in the Wairarapa as guests of one of my work clients.  This was a great day out for us and here we were reminded of the work of Rotary, as the Rotary Clubs in the area help run the event through arranging car parking etc.

The week rounded out with a number of meetings.  I was particularly pleased to be able to attend the Hutt 1 and 2 cluster meeting with AGs Paul and Carol and their cluster Presidents.  These 2 clusters have been working together very closely through the year and it was great to hear of a number of joint cluster projects and planned meeting.

We trust you have a great week ahead.

Regards

Graeme