I’m just about to race out the door for the Rotary Club of Auckland East’s meeting tonight featuring Mayoral Candidate, John Tamihere. Should be interesting?
Good turnout last week for the interesting Museum Medal collection “talk”. A real shame the projectors were not displaying the correct colours – red was missing. Thankfully Grant (Clubhouse Manager) called me with “glee” last Thursday afternoon to advise he had finally found the cabling problem which has been causing the projection colour issues. Our sincere thanks to Grant, who ensures the facilities we use are in top shape – despite RCSJ not paying any actual fee to use them. We are so very lucky to have this great arrangement with Remuera Golf Club.
I now want to shamelessly promote that I have taken up our District Governor, Gary Langford’s challenge for D9920 Presidents to raise money to support Cure Kids by JUMPING off the SkyTower. The jump is taking place this coming Saturday, 5 October at 2:00pm. BUT I need some sponsorship. While I try to blot out the looming jump in my head, please take pity, (on my foolish agreement to participate), and click onto this link which should take you to the Everyday Hero page to sponsor brave silly me. Remember Small Acts, Big Impact!? LOL!
President, "Rebellious Robyn", welcomed a good number, 33 members and 1 guest, to our meeting last Thursday.
After updating the meeting on recent news and running through "important dates and events", President Robyn introduced our newest Honorary Member, to the meeting. At the last Board Meeting Ainie Kwock was nominated, and elected unanimously, to this very honorable position. Ainie was delighted with the acknowledgement and updated the meeting on her new Rotary adventure, being the launch of a new District 9920 Passport Rotary Club. One of the objective of a passport club is to encourage members and clubs to participate and contribute to the community and clubs wherever it is needed. The idea of collaboration and working together with clubs around other Districts, and beyond, fits Ainie like a glove as she has a business in Christchurch; a home in Wellington and Rotary and community in Auckland. If you are interested in obtaining more information - Ainie will welcome your call.
Our guest speaker on the day was Gail Romano, "Associate Curator History", at Auckland Museum.
One of Gail's recent responsibilities has been the design, development and opening of a new "Medal Research and Display Area". This new area which has taken over a year to complete, has the ability to display thousands of medals that have historically been in storage. The displays focus is not only on the medals themselves, but also on the stories behind the medals.
If you have any interest in medals or the stories behind the numerous New Zealand Military and Civil awards, a visit to this new display is a must. A very interesting talk - thank you Gail.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 3rd, DINNER MEETING - GUEST SPEAKERS, SAM LUCAS & ANDREW PATTERSON, "ONJA"
LAST CHANCE - Be sure to block this date in your diary - this will truly be a fabulous meeting with Sam direct from Madagascar to give us a face to face update on this Rotary International project, which of course St. Johns Rotary is a significant supporters. Sam will be accompanied by Andrew Patterson, a well renowned business commentator, who will also give his insights into the project. Andrew has been working side by side with Sam on various aspects of the project and his update will also be one that you won't want to miss. Further details are included in your personal invitation below. To ensure your seat at the dinner, RSVP to Allan Smith now!!
SATURDAY OCTOBER 5th - CURE KIDS SKY TOWER JUMP CHALLENGE:
President Robyn has taken on DG Gary Langford's challenge and agreed to do a Sky Tower Sky Jump with him and other Presidents from D9920. All funds raised are for Cure Kids. You can use the following link to get to the Everyday Hero sponsorship page and support our President, or DG Gary: https://rotaryskyjumpforcurekids.everydayhero.com/nz/rotary-sky-jump-challenge.
Rotary St Johns members are very interested in the Tamaki Regeneration Project and how it is progressing. The club has some strong relationships within this community and is responsible annually for a large number of projects, donations & distributions. The progress and success stories that are coming out of this long term project will be of interest to all club members.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 17th, BREAKFAST MEETING - GUEST SPEAKERS, CHLOE MARSHALL & CORYN LALOLI, NEWZEALAND FIRE SERVICE:
Life in the Fire Brigade as a female has its challenges, but more important is how we can be pro active in preventing fires within our homes and community. As past Station Officers, and now working strongly within the Fire Protection team, these members will share their experiences with members.
DECEMBER 7th - St. JOHN'S ROTARY CLUB 30th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION:
To be held at Remuera Golf Club - Save the date and mark in your Calendar now! Note: Dec 5th Meeting will be cancelled.
CHRISTMAS / NEW YEAR BREAK:
Last Meeting for 2019 - Thursday December 12th
First Meeting for 2020 - Thursday February 13th
3rd SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH AT 8 am - EASTERN BAYS HOSPICE, DOVE HOSPICE SHOPS GARAGE SALE:
Corner Elizabeth Knox Place and Thomas Peacock Place, (off Morrin Road). Go along and assist with the sale or just go along and shop - some great bargain's. More details from Murray H.
As per flyer below, club member and founder of ONJA Sam Lucas, along with Andrew Patterson, will be our special guest speakers at our next evening dinner on October the 3rd. You can now RSVP online;
Please use the new super-easy online registration/RSVP system for this event. Please use this system to indicate your attendance OR if you can't attend.
Click onto the link below which directs you to our Event in Clubrunner.
Once into the Event, Click onto the MEMBER registration link on the left
Follow the step-by-step instructions to register yourself and any number of guests.
You can change or update your registration using the same link.
NB: when registering guests, you need to click into the checkbox confirming their permission to be registered. If you are unable to use the link, please RVSP to Allan via his email.
As you will now know, the Rotary Club of St. Johns will be 30 this year, and in recognition of this auspicious occasion, we will celebrate this milestone on SATURDAY DECEMBER 7th 2019, at our home, the Remuera Golf Club.
The Board has formed an anniversary committee to put together a great evening to help celebrate this event as well as the end of year, prior to the Holiday Season. Please be sure to mark your Diary now and don't forget to submit your photo from 1989 - see flyer for details.
Note: The scheduled Club Meeting on December 5th will be cancelled.
On the weekend of September 19 - 21, St. Johns Rotary once again stepped up to support the annual MS Street Appeal and the following email from Donald Bowie on behalf of MS sums up the effort and the thanks from MS to St. Johns;
"MS Auckland is extremely grateful to the 20 RCoSJ members and 4 other volunteers who collected donations on behalf of MS Auckland at New World Stonefields over three days of last weekend.
This is the third year we have supported MS Auckland. There are many in our club who find this sort of effort very rewarding and enjoyable as a Rotary initiative. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.
Here are two quotes received from collectors in response to my thank you email:
"It was my pleasure I had an absolute ball. New World Stonefields absolutely went off"
"It was a pleasure to help out our St John Rotary member"
And some comments from donors over the weekend:
"My sister-in-law has MS in the UK"
"This is such a worthwhile cause - my mother has MS"
The first donation I received on Saturday morning was $50 - she was such a nice lady - her good friend has MS and is in a wheelchair.
And here's the result included in an email from Liz Callinan, Event Coordinator from MS Auckland:
I have the pleasure of letting you know that once again New World Stonefields was our top site!!!
NW STONEFIELDS
TOTAL
PER HOUR
TOTAL HOURS
Friday
$1,567.70
$195.96
8
Saturday
$2,086.20
$260.78
8
Sunday
$1,208.10
$151.01
8
Total:
$4,862.00
What an amazing effort! Thank you Donald and St Johns Rotary!
Also, the "Text-to-Give" tally is currently at $1,418, although this covers our campaign for all of September, not just Street Appeal.
Even though the 2019 programme ended several months ago, we are still receiving thank you notes from students and schools who participated in this year programme. Two of the most most recent thank yous are shown below;
Apologies from Ed., to Gonza, but somehow the pictures of his very busy previous week, dropped out of the Bulletin. Click on "Read More" below, to see them now and as a reminder, herewith Gonza's report from last week.
Hello everyone, I will tell you what I did the last two weeks....
I spent a wonderful afternoon knowing and enriching myself culturally and historically in the "Auckland War Memorial Museum". I am very impressed with the size of the museum and its structure.
I went to Ohakune with the Robyn family, and every time I travel within New Zealand I fall in love every second more with the green and bright mountainous landscapes, the truth is that the words do not reach me to explain how much peace and freedom they produce. On the way to Ohakune we stopped to have an experience in Otorohanga, "the Kiwi house", and I loved learning from the birds of New Zealand, and I really like to see how New Zealanders are interested in protecting their wildlife, and in general, the percentage of the population knows a lot about local birds, and that is very different in Argentina; I admire a lot how New Zealanders know and value the animals and forests they have.
We were able to ski only one day because the weather was not so good but I enjoyed the weather with Tony and Robyn, we also went for a walk.
We returned to Auckland and went directly to the house of Penny and Warwick Leyland, had a wonderful dinner watching the sea from the dining room and then went to see the magnificent band "Fleetwood Mac" ... I'm still impressed, by the recital, it is ineffable.
I also spent the afternoon friends, we went to the movies, shopping, maccas ...
One day I went to the "Cockle Bay" elementary school where Danielle (Tony and Robyn's daughter) teaches, and I loved how the elementary schools are and we did many nice activities with the children in the class, like drawing flags, singing in Maori , and talking, and yes, they asked many questions and I answered them in the best possible way, obviously with my "funny" accent.
Last Saturday I had an activity for multiple sclerosis with Rotary, so I spent a beautiful morning with Robyn, raising money, my main function was to inflate balloons and give them to the children.
In the afternoon, my friends came home to see Los Pumas vs Fancia, unfortunately Argentina lost (23-21). Two friends stayed to sleep and we really enjoyed the beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu. When someone smiled at me today I started smiling too. I passed it round the corner and someone saw my grin, And when he smiled back I realised I'd passed it onto him. I thought about that smile, then I realised its worth. A single smile, just like mine, could travel around the earth. So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected Let's start as epidemic quick, and get the world infected!!
Did you join Rotary to do good things in the community?
You can help or join in all projects (whatever the committee), just contact the committee director and/or project team leader. In most cases, you can include family and friends.
After updating the meeting on recent news and running through "important dates and events", President Robyn introduced our newest Honorary Member, to the meeting. At the last Board Meeting Ainie Kwock was nominated, and elected unanimously, to this very honorable position. Ainie was delighted with the acknowledgement and updated the meeting on her new Rotary adventure, being the launch of a new District 9920 Passport Rotary Club. One of the objective of a passport club is to encourage members and clubs to participate and contribute to the community and clubs wherever it is needed. The idea of collaboration and working together with clubs around other Districts, and beyond, fits Ainie like a glove as she has a business in Christchurch; a home in Wellington and Rotary and community in Auckland. If you are interested in obtaining more information - Ainie will welcome your call. 
Our guest speaker on the day was Gail Romano, "Associate Curator History", at Auckland Museum.
Rotary St Johns members are very interested in the Tamaki Regeneration Project and how it is progressing. The club has some strong relationships within this community and is responsible annually for a large number of projects, donations & distributions. The progress and success stories that are coming out of this long term project will be of interest to all club members.
As you will now know, the Rotary Club of St. Johns will be 30 this year, and in recognition of this auspicious occasion, we will celebrate this milestone on SATURDAY DECEMBER 7th 2019, at our home, the Remuera Golf Club. 
On the weekend of September 19 - 21, St. Johns Rotary once again stepped up to support the annual MS Street Appeal and the following email from Donald Bowie on behalf of MS sums up the effort and the thanks from MS to St. Johns;
Hello everyone, I will tell you what I did the last two weeks....
The clubs Enviromental Challenge is a nice easy one to remember this month, but one with significant benefit to the environment;
The D9920 Conference will be held 15-17 May 2020
