The voice of experience often makes you sit up and listen, appreciating what you belong to. This is more so when that person is actually leading the direction of the organisation. Last Thursday the members who attended the morning briefing given by DG Ingrid Waugh was certainly received very positively and made us all realise that we are striving to build our communities stronger. Talking privately with Ingrid she applauded St Johns with the project initiatives that seem to just roll out from our members. Onja, Water-fresh, Tahuna Torea clean-up are just some recent examples. It was extra-ordinary that in the last year we placed $112,000 back into the local and international communities through our projects, donations and distributions. As members you should be proud of what is being achieved by our club and certainly strong recognition of those members who lead from the front with their involvement.
I am about to complete the goals of the club for this year required by our district and the projects suggested by your Directors certainly help us set those goals. Your contribution is most welcome to keep these projects at the forefront of what we do.
Now that we have had a series of Inspiring Snap-Chat presentations it is certainly a pleasure to hear the stories told. This last week, David shared the fact that his father started Tru-Test a well known NZ agricultural business vs. Toni’s experience sharing a room with Sir Edmond Hillary and the Dalai Lama. These are experiences that inspire us all and I look forward each week to these. They become a great highlight of our meeting.
From the Board
A decision was made by the Board at our last meeting to increase the members cost of dinner to $30 / attendee. This small increase allows Brian to work with the catering team of the club and raise the options and standards of the meal presented. This is a reflection of your requests and ensuring that our evening meeting is of a high standard for yourselves and guests.
Membership
Our members are the lifeblood of our club. This last year we went from 78 members down to 66 members as we realised that there were a large number of members who were not engaged with the club for many reasons. We inducted Angus recently and we hope that he is one of several to join us this year. Our goal is to get back to 75 members and so we are looking for a further 8 new members that will assist in continuing the traditions that we hold close. Invite those individuals to a meeting and let Robyn know that the person is attending, so that they can be met and welcomed into the club.
A good turnout with 31 Members plus 4 guests, including DG Ingrid and ADG Pam. A more in-depth summary of Ingrid’s presentation follows, (under "Read More" below,) but firstly a couple of additional notes from the breakfast meeting;
ERK’s:
Penny advised the meeting that the District has confirmed that the Club who contributed the most person hours in the recent packing of the current round of ERK’s , was St. Johns!! Well done and a big thank you to all who participated.
Letter from St Judes:
It was only two months ago that we received a letter from our sponsored child at St Judes School in Tanzania and this week we received another – great to hear that she is doing so well and is'nt her writing so neat and legible!
Our own Steel Gibson will update members on his recent activities. We will also be hearing from Jimmy Griffith and Charles Lambert from Shelter Box International. Charles coincidentally is a long time friend of Alex McKenzie and is also a neighbour and member of the same Rotary Club in Nelson.
Jimmy is a ShelterBox Team Response member who has recently returned from the Rohingya Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. ShelterBox has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2018 and their primary message is one of thanking Rotary which is a key partner.
Other important dates to diary.....please "Read More".
Another happy time engaging with year 3 students at Tamaki Primary School.
Principal Rhonda Kelly welcomed us with 25 beautifully presented and cheerful students. This year we took time to photograph each student with their Dictionary enriching the whole experience for all. A great program and a great way to engage with our schools.
A big thank you to Michele M. (again), for her time and coordinating this programe on behalf of St Johns and a thank you also to Murray H. for the photos. A sample of some of the pictures under "Read More".
I have been a Rotarian since 2015 and been involved with different projects such as organising speakers for our club over 1.5 years and volunteer for hospice garage sale.
Recently helped with interviewing 2018 RYLA candidates sponsored by our club.
A little about me - I work as an Alcohol and other drug counselor for, Community Alcohol & Drug Services, (CADS). I have been with CADS for the last 5 years.
In my free time I read books and play the saxophone. I enjoy travelling to a different country every year and exploring beautiful New Zealand.
The attached picture includes my mom, my older brother and his family and my older sister who I live with.
We as a club already focus on local projects and I would want it to keep focusing on our local communities and joining with other clubs for more interaction and joint ventures.
All plumbing to the house is now completed and the electrician will be coming to wire the electric hot water in for the bathrooms and kitchen.
A brand new 2000L water tank is also now connected to a fresh water electric pressure pump system and the white box secured seen here is housed the stainless steel electric hot water cylinder.
A big clean up scheduled for the week before bringing in some furniture and the Waiyevo Hospital will be ready to receive its first residence/patient.
Once again, thank you to everyone that have contributed in one way or another to this project.
The national finals of Rotary's Sir Paul Callaghan Eureka Awards will be in Wellington on 6 Sept., and our IPP Peter B. is lucky enough to be going down for it.
It's only two weeks until twelve aspiring young science leaders face the judging panel in 2018 Sir Paul Callaghan Eureka! Awards National Finals. At stake are $10,000 and an ionic trophy for the winner of the Premier Award.
The finals will be held in the Museum Theatrette on the Massey University Wellington Campus on Thursday 6 September starting at 12:30. The doors will be open for members of the public from midday onwards.
For those keen to watch the students deliver their 12-minute presentations (but unable to be there because of distance) - we will be live-streaming the whole afternoon on the landing page of our website https://www.eureka.org.nz
The finalists' presentations cover a wide range of issues including: mental health, flexible concrete, superbugs, Epigenetics, solar roads, "clean" meat, food safety, augmented reality, crickets, geoengineering, bioprinting organs, and dairy farming.
Expect to be entertained and impressed by the quality of thinking, innovation and science demonstrated by these secondary students and university undergraduates.
As well as the presentations by the finalists we will also feature the six-minute presentations by five students who won scholarships.
Mick and Paddy are reading head stones at a nearby cemetery. Mick says, "Crikey! There's a bloke here who was 152!" Paddy says, "What's his name?" Mick replies "Miles, from London!"
....and of course this joke was provided by Miles
...and for some LEXOPHILIA:
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.
I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.
This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
When chemists die, they barium..
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.
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.
Namrata means kindness and politeness.
The national finals of Rotary's Sir Paul Callaghan Eureka Awards will be in Wellington on 6 Sept., and our IPP Peter B. is lucky enough to be going down for it.