Rotary St Johns has sponsored five students from Glendowie and Sacred Heart Colleges to the 2023 Rotary National Science and Technology Forum in Auckland. They are among 168 students from around the country. The Forum is a 14-day program organised and operated by the Rotary Clubs of New Zealand, with University of Auckland, AUT and Massey University. Starting today, the excitement levels are building for a life-changing two weeks for the participants.
The club cards have been a success to date, if maybe a little boring. We have changed our club emails away from gmail to match our website address necessitating a revision and the cards are now more colourful, and double-sided as shown here and will be available from the club boxes at the Golf Club cupboard from 25 November. At EVERY project, please have some available to hand out. All members are encouraged to have a couple in your wallet to hand to people who may be interested in Rotary St Johns.
The number of sales continues to grow, but the clock is ticketing and the time to sell all tickets is closing in!
To date we have sold over 130 tickets, but there are still plenty to be sold. Most of the unsold tickets are in books distributed to members, but details of sales have not yet been captured.
If you are sitting on tickets yet to be sold - now is the time that we need you to turn unsold tickets into "SOLD"
To those members who have sold tickets - thank you! To those who have not yet sold all tickets in your possession - closing a sale now and returning payment to Miles would be much appreciated.
This is an important fundraiser for the club so we need everybody to get behind this.
Through the generosity of our past presidents Mary Ann and Andy, plus contributions to the travel allowance from Donald Bowie, we are offering this amazing mini break experience just 15 minutes out of Blenheim.
Great odds with only 200 tickets.
This is a fantastic way to support the club and a great opportunity to have a chance to win this amazing holiday vacation.
Please share this email and the attached Flyer amongst friends and colleagues.
With the participation of the other Clubs involved [Remuera, St Johns, Ellerslie-Sunrise and Howick], each once a month, the foodpacking for the Salvation Army, centralised at Mt Wellington, and lead by the Newmarket and Papakura Clubs, continues to go well. We have been packing – Covid permitting – every Wednesday morning for the last couple of years, presently averaging 320 food boxes each pack. With other teams involved on other days, the Salvation Army endeavours to keep up with the current demand on their Auckland centres.
In particular, consistent assistance from members of the two lead clubs is acknowledged – the latter are also coordinating distribution from the Manukau Centre on a Tuesday morning.
We are operating with a very loyal team of “regulars” – warm thanks to all those involved. Further participation invited – pick your at least “once-a-month” Wednesday morning and come and join us!
Where we started in 2020
And here we are now
Last pack for the year – Wednesday 14thDecember. Packing resumes – Wednesday 25thJanuary 2023
Due to member requests, new webpage athttps://www.rotarystjohns.club/page/project-network will list occasionally available project opportunities that members (and others) may be interested in volunteering for that are ADDITIONAL to Rotary St Johns projects and events - for club events and projects please refer to our Events Calendar and Bulletin as usual
If you are interested in any listed projects it is up to you to liaise with the project organisers - these projects are sorted by project date, soonest at the top.
Recommendations for new projects to add to this are welcome - email Colin at cs.bg.robinson@xtra.co.nz It of course does not need to be said, but club projects should be first call for your volunteer time via Rotary :)
Ainie Kwok created and lead the first "Breaking Barriers" Disability Day as a new District 9920 Youth programme, and what an amazing day that was. Above you can see some of the participants flying their self-made kites. Each disabled person was matched with a Rotaractor or a RYLA alumni, and they all had a wonderful experience. St Johns Rotary assisted in a number of ways. The full story written by Ainie is below. A picture tells a thousand words so a carousel of pictures is HERE.
The team of Gary, Beryl and Colin promoted St Johns Rotary to the community at the Orakei Volunteer Expo last Saturday (17 September 2022), and came away with 20 high quality leads for Beryl to follow up and convert into future volunteers or even, members, so if you see visitors to our meetings in the coming weeks please make their experience a memorable one as usual.
The stand was at the end of a row and while the pictures make it look a bit 'lonely' we actually think our position was perfect and we got a good number of people stopping. Also present were Auckland East, Remuera and Ellerelie Sunrise Rotary along with about 45 other volunteer organizations all seeking more volunteers or members. Overall we did better than most with our immediate offer of the Omaru Stream clean-up next weekend and the upcoming Quiz.
Also there was Margaret in her Orakei Board role, but huge kudos to her for wearing a St Johns Rotary shirt ... well done Margaret! Thanks also to Murray who called by to see if anyone needed a break. This was the first volunteer expo and these are likely to be held bi-annually. As you will notice, the tear drops look very smart ... we need to always use these at our projects. If you need these for any project / event, they are held for safe keeping by Co-President Graham.
Clean-up of Omaru stream and surrounding Eastview Reserve - heading upstream from Line Rd and crossing Apirana Rd to finish up in Apirana Reserve. Come and enjoy meeting others for a couple of hours. Click on Read More to see flyer with full details.
As our cohort of Young Professional members grows so must the club adapt our social media for that audience as that younger age group doesn't use Facebook, but do use TikTok. So, being the progressive club we are, the club now has a TikTok site for occasional posts and this can easily be accessed using this QR code (or in TikTok search for St Johns Rotary):
Just to clarify, for the moment at least, Facebook remains the main social media in use by the club.
St Johns Rotary is working with our younger "Young Professional" members to build an active membership in this general age group and Alex, Maddy and Clair have been coming up with a number of good ideas, one of which is that we need to use the social media TikTok to reach that target audience. So, the club now has a TikTok account - search for St Johns Rotary and you will find it and the two posts so far.
No matter your role in St Johns Rotary, there are some things that will save you time and make what you do in Rotary so much morfe effective. The following are memory jogger points from the presentation by Colin Robinson:
LOGIN to www.rotarystjohns.club - this login also works for the District and NZPacific Clubrunner sites
UPDATE your profile - current picture and contact details plus full dates of birth (for stats, not viewable)
USE the Events function for ALL events and use the Volunteer Signup function where appropriate
SEARCH for any Rotarian - login to www.rotaryoceania.zone and then Contacts > Member Search
PROMOTE events via Colin Robinson (club PR) who will utilize 7 local residents Facebook Groups and more
SHARE widely any club publicity, especially through your personal Facebook page
As covered in Gary's "Presidents Pen" column above, another very successful collection for the GI Food Bank was undertaken last Saturday. Considering the current high inflation rate and the impact on so many in the community, this didn't detract from the generosity of New World shoppers. Once again Colin was very active recording the activity at New World. You can view one of his many Face Book Posts by clicking on he following link; https://youtu.be/16hItOrXUns
Once again many thanks to all club members involved and, of course, a huge thanks to Graham and New World.
A cool, big fine morning after all the stormy weather was a blessing for the many who donned their gumboots and gloves and planted the hundreds of native plants in the area where we also piled the mulch in Apirana Reserve. As you will see from the short video (click on picture), we were all having a great time!
The number of members and many from the local community were such that the planting was all done in 1 hours and 10 minutes! The next half hour was spent enjoying each other's company over a well-earned morning tea that had been provided by a number of contributions including from some who could not be there but none-the-less wanted to support, such as Isabella's home baking - believe me the morning tea was well received.
A record turnout occurred for the first working bee of the St Johns 2022/23 Rotary year, in fact just 12 hours after Changeover! A group of 17 enthusiastic gumboot-clad members, partners, and friends met at 9am on Sunday 19 June at Apirana Reserve, Glen Innes – coordinated by Ken, Nanda, Roger who began the restoration of this neglected weed-infested 'reserve' 2.5 years ago.
Have a Go Sailing is a programme sponsored by St Johns Rotary and Orakei Marina to enable primary school students from the local schools to gain a new experience and some useful life skills. In 2022 10 schools took part (with another 3 missing out due to weather conditions on their allocated day). Over the three weeks 209 students took part with a great deal of enthusiasm from the kids making for a good day out.
Many have not been in a boat of any kind before, and so light breezes experienced on most sailing days are actually a bonus as it can take a while for children to grasp the basics of steering and travelling in a specific direction. It is always satisfying to see a number of children confidently capsizing and righting the Optimists –something that would have been a new challenge for all.
When especially light breezes made sailing sporadic, a number of other activities are entered into involving a daisy chain of 11 yachts and a game of ‘Simon Says’. The objective of these exercises is to build confidence on the water and, once again, success can be measured by the number of boats that end up upside down and then upright again.
If present the parents are involvedas much aspossible, both heading out on the water and/or assisting with launching and retrieval.Feedbackfromall was outstanding with a number of requests foryacht club contactsfor Learn To Sail programmes.
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If you have seen ‘The Sound of Music’ you may remember this songby the Von Trapp children as they made their way to bed. The guests were enchanted by their performance.
But how does your club respond when you hear the same thing from a member and receive their resignation?
Or do you Shake It Off, accept the resignation, wish them all the best, believe the member is not Irreplaceableand watch them Hit The Road Jackwithout a second thought.
How about changing the tune?
Take some time out to talk with the member and find out What’s Going On? It could be a simple misunderstanding or the club may be able to accommodate some changes. Members should feel they can Count on Meand together We Can Work It Out. Even if it is a relocation – we shouldn’t lose Rotarians. The district can help you and your member find a new Rotary home in their new location.
Here are some examples of how clubs have done this
Introduced monthly automatic payments of club fees to spread outgoings;
Occasionally hold meetings by Zoom to make it easier for parents or non-driving members;
Accept member contribution other than solely meeting attendance – project help, running social media;
Held a member on the club record until they found a suitable Rotary club in their new location. For more information on Engaging with Members go to the Membershipsection of My Rotary.
[In St Johns Rotary we largely sing the 'new song' ... sure we can do better and that is up to all of us to help make the membership experience for us and our fellow Rotarians as good as it could be and if we get someone who reaches a place where resignation is considered, we can all pitch in to help get them to renew their enthusiasm. Sometime we have member who do leave ... for Rotary elsewhere and this is encouraged if they are moving away and we have many great fireinds who have done this and stay in touch with the club and its members]
Highlighted links in the article above go to the relevant song
Article source is the District 9910 Newsletter (November) and thanks go to Elaine Mead, District 9910 Membership Lead
St Johns Rotary has long supported the Emergency Response Kit programme for the Pacific. The NIWA and MetService assessment of named tropical cyclone (TC) activity indicates 9 to 12 named TCs could occur in the Southwest Pacific basin between November 2021 and April 2022 so these kits will again be a vital first response to families who may have been severely affected during a cyclone. This RNZWCS newsletter explains (CLICK HERE).
ERK's Ready For The Upcoming Pacific Cyclone Season
The odds of winning Lotto are 1 in 383,838. You might think that “Hey, that’s a chance!” but the odds are so extremely low.
A better option if you want your hard-earned money to do some good is to make a donation to The Rotary Foundation. That way you KNOW it will do good to children, women and men in real need of a helping hand up. The great news is that the way the Grant system works, coupled with the vibrancy of our own club, means as a club we gain back far more than we ever contribute thanks to the skill of our Rotary Foundation coordinator, Gary Key - think ONJA, Have a Go Sailing and much more. So, instead of Lotto each month why not consider donating the $20/month to The Rotary Foundation?! Thanks to those who have already contributed and please contact Gary at anytime if your have questions about The Rotary Foundation, how to donate or suggestions for projects we can support with their help. Interesting facts, knowledge and Foundation stories from around the region are in the November Rotary Down Under magazine here.
Canva is a graphics software that the club has free access to (Pro version). It is also a common software that some of you may use personally or in your work (or want to), The Rotary Zone 8 PI Committee recently ran a workshop on the basics and here is the material and recording:
Rotary Club of Manukau City Sunrise is holding our annual fundraiser. In these challenging times of restrictions we have decided to run a raffle with a special focus on providing food and support to local families impacted by COVID and lockdown.
There are three prizes with a total of $2000 of Countdown gift cards, drawn 31 October 2021. Tickets are just $10 each – so why not take a few!
It’s easy to register so do so now:
By text:
Text ‘food4u Full name’ to 2834 and follow instructions e.g., food4u Joe Bloggs
When you register you can skip the credit card entry if you wish, or if you are entering a credit card then you will need to type it in and not use the pre-saved card that may be associated with your PC or phone.
Or, our preference is you can pay by bank transfer to 12-3110-0034774-00 and ensure 100% of your proceeds goes to this worthy cause without any merchant fees. Be sure to include your name as registered. Once payment is acknowledged you will receive your ticket numbers electronically to your phone.
All proceeds will go to providing essential food to those less fortunate, and to other Rotary initiatives.
PLEASE NOTE: Anyone interested in the masks mentioned here need to go to Lanaco athttps://shop.lanaco.co.nz/collections/lanaco-face-masks (with the arrival of Omicron the club has received several requests for supply from the public but we obtain masks for specific club charitable projects from Lanaco).
Members of our club are amazing in what they contribute via Rotary as described below:
Lanaco in Auckland is the manufacturer of N95-equivalent NZ wool masks and have been incredibly generous and supportive of access to these via Rotary to the more vulnerable in our communities.
Over the last few months, they have donated 70,000 of these masks to the Fijian communities in desperate need via Rotary Fiji and you can read about this HERE
Now underway, Lanaco have donated 30,000+ masks that are being distributed to those who cannot otherwise access or afford adequate masking via Rotary in Auckland to the foodbanks of the Salvation Army, Auckland City Mission and (to a lesser extent) the Glen Innes CAB. This Auckland initiative is being very capably organised by Gary Key, Peter Ross (the main Rotary coordinator with the Salvation Army) and Christine Fenby (President Downtown Auckland who have a close relationship with Auckland City Mission). They are working together cooperatively to ensure best impact from this donation including publicity for Lanaco and Rotary. Thank you!
The above picture shows the first of the donated masks being received by the Salvation Army Rotary packers at Mt Wellington foodbank.
Is the reason you joined Rotary something you can share with others and thereby encourage others to join our amazing club?
Why not give it a go! Sure Covid is disrupting things at the moment but even as we are somewhat curtailed there are still projects members can participate in, let alone the camaraderie of our weekly Zoom meetings. If you have a lead and would like Beryl to help turn that into a new member, just call her on 021652802.
An update from our caretakers at the Pauanui Clubhouse. Looks as though will all be finished by summer and as long as we are are out of Level 3 no doubt members will be looking forward to a Pauanui break - bookings are now being accepted!! (Just joking!!)
RC St Johns Satellite Clubhouse in Pauanui is very grateful to be at Level 2 and as such can happily advise that the spring landscaping project for the clubhouse grounds has begun. Caretakers Robyn and Tony extracted themselves from their Mountain Retreat to return to the Coromandel and oversee the work.
Front lawn (Estuary facing) is now level and top-soiled but grass seed will only be sown after new fence is installed. Material ordered, just waiting on delivery (like everyone else!)
Future roadside lawns are now professionally levelled and top-soiled with grass seed sown; and gardens also top-soiled with some planting achieved.
Caretakers now eagerly await delivery of fencing supplies; so that Tony can use his newly acquired post-hole borer.
Hundreds of great people will be coming to the Orakei Volunteer Expo to find out more about the volunteering opportunities in their community and St Johns Rotary will be there to let them know that they can enjoy this with us.
What we need is some of our great members to be at the stand to chat about the greatness of St Johns Rotary - our people, our projects, our fun - to these prospective volunteers, sponsors or members. The event is on Saturday 17 September 2022 from 10am to 2pm at the Auckland Netball Centre, 7 Allison Ferguson Drive, St Johns (so easy to get to and loads of parking). Colin is organising the display and what we need to be doing when there and is the person to call today 021 652 801 and say "YES - I will help"... we need 4 people at least (2 on the stand and 2 floating handing out material and generally being visible). All will be wearing club shirts or a hi-viz vest.
Have you noticed 'TBA' in the Upcoming Speaker list? Well, it's not there to create mystery and suspense! TBA generally means we are having difficulty securing a speaker for that date. If you have any ideas, hints or leads for possible Guest Speakers for our morning and evening meetings, please let your Club Services Director (Robyn) know.
All topics are considered, but it must be remembered that we don't have a budget to pay for professional speakers - although our gift tea-towel is very highly prized! In special circumstances (and usually with prior permission) the Sergeants collection can be especially allocated.
I look forward to any hints to add to our contact list.
All our meetings are great fun, although if you want to introduce someone to Rotary but are hesitant to do so until “the time is right”, because you want them to have an extra special first experience, then that extra special opportunity is coming soon.
Everyone enjoys a great, motivational speaker … who lifts our mood, so we feel great! Along with that, if the atmosphere of the occasion is vibrant, your guest will feel included and enjoy themselves.
Our combined meeting with Remuera Rotary on Monday 30 August is the perfect time to bring along someone to learn a little about Rotary, and to meet fellow Rotarians. This will be a popular gathering with many in attendance where they can chat with others over a drink and a meal and be inspired by a top-rated motivational speaker … Allie Mooney.
So how about it? Ask your potential member if they would like to come, and RSVP as detailed below:
After this initial introduction to Rotary, then get them along to our Quiz Night on Friday 24 September, or to a St Johns Rotary club meeting as a follow up (remember that their first Rotary meeting meal is complimentary for prospective members, as they are hosted by our club).
St Johns Bush is a remnant of coastal forest that was saved from developers and has since been restored and maintained in the heart of our community. It really is a gem and a very relaxing place to visit. The club has had some considerable past involvement here, but not in recent times.
These cards are available in the club boxes at the Golf Club.
These are business card sized so (hopefully) people will keep by placing into their wallet and have a QR code to help link to the website. The website has been upgraded and includes a direct personal contact for people to call. Yes, it has this year's theme at the top BUT that will not date re the public because it what we offer. Members will be encouraged to use these as often as the opportunity presents itself, not the least being an easy hand out at projects.
We want these to be well used and can reprint as needed so here is how you can help your club:
Have a few in your wallet and hand out whenever you meet someone who might be interested - the card saves you having to explain Rotary (unless you want to ... always best)
Take a few and place into letter boxes around your house ... if every member did just 10 that is 530 households who will hear of us
Place one or two cards onto the local shopping center community notice board
MAKE SURE you have a supply at projects so you can hand these out to the public - do not hold back BUT keep left overs safe for future use or return to the supply point.
In addition we need help with:
Placing posts on locals/residents association Facebook page - these can only be done if you are in their area. We currently post to the 'Meadowbank/Remuera/St Johns/ Stonefields Locals' page. If you are willing all that is asked is you join and let Colin know and he will send you the same post that he does - about every two weeks and only when there is something relevant for these pages.
Tape one of the cards to the front cover of your (read) monthly RDU magazine and leave in a local cafe
Thanks to David James we recently had an inclusion in the July 2021 Glendowie College Principal's Newsletter. The item says it all:
The club wants to expand its presence in media like this so if anyone has a suggestion as to where we can submit an article please let Colin know on 021 652 801
SJR in the media: Glendowie College Principal's Newsletter
Designing a club project? Are you excited about what can be achieved? Then plan into every stage of the project the publicity that excites others to take part in your achievement. Need help? Ask Colin for some advice - 021 652 801 anytime.
Did you know that 85% of new members come from you as a valued existing member asking or referring someone to Rotary?
So, who do you know who would make a good Rotarian member of our club? Will you bring a friend, family member, neighbour and/or colleague along to discover more about us as a vibrant club in their community? Please don't pre-qualify them as to whether they have enough time or money etc - simply invite them to come along and experience who we are and let them make their own decision.
If you want to invite someone along, but are reluctant to do so yourself for whatever reason (we will not ask), then contact Beryl on 021 652 802 or email berylrobinson@xtra.co.nzwith their name, email address and mobile number, so she can encourage them to join us for a great experience at a meeting, event and/or project, then follow-up at their pace.
Let us ALL do something towards growing our club, as more members enables more ideas, more hands to do good at community projects, and more fun through Rotary! Don't 'hog' the joy of membership - share it around ...
Times have changed and so has how RLI is being delivered. RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute) is back! This learning programme is designed to educate and enthuse any Rotarians and Rotaractors who would like to learn more about Rotary, develop an understanding of the leadership and other opportunities Rotary offers, and build connections with other Rotarians from across Auckland and north (Districts 9910 and 9920).
We have redeveloped the RLI programme to enable different styles of learning and reduce the face to face time commitment while still delivering informative and engaging interactive sessions. Whether you are new to Rotary or Rotaract, new to your current club role or just want to get up to date, there is something for you. Go to HERE for more details. The new RLI format meets these needs to create an incredibly effective programme. If you are interested please contact Beryl ASAP - the club pays the fee
Let the fun begin! It doesn't get much better than this. A great night of fellowship, a great night of rugby, (potentially) and a great opportunity to raise some funds for "doing good in the community" .
We have an active club events programme coming up and we know you will fully support this, but sometimes we want more ... so, are you needing to further spice up your social life or just get out and do something new and exciting?
There is a solution!
All the Events below are open for you to take part in, and you can take your significant other, family, friends neighbours along with you as well if you wish. As a Rotarian you do not need club ‘permission’ to go … just go and have fun, meet a whole lot of new people you have a lot in common with, and add that immense value to your Rotary membership.
Click on "Read More" below, then simply click on the picture, to go to more information about the event. In most cases you could not get to go out to events like these for double or three times the price so huge value-for-money and your time spent.
These do not include St Johns Rotary activities – go to the club Events Calendar for those. Nearest event on top. At present these range from an Indian-themed 3-course dinner to stargazing to a family cycling event (no harbour bridge riding involved):
The Japanese expression "shinrin-yoku" means "forest bathing" and captures the joy and benefits of immersing oneself in green activities from just walking in nature to doing what these members did so ably ... shovel mulch to continue to create that wonderfully relaxing beautiful space all can enjoy in Apirana Reserve, Glen Innes. The fresh air, the physical exercise, the cameraderie, the chatter and finally, the intense satisfaction of achievement. There is nothing quite like it.
The act of sinking your hands in freshly tilled soil to plant new life creates a sense of incredible achievement. Trees for Survival is a Rotary founded programme inspiring young environmentalists - Kia tupu ai enei kakano hei rakau nui - that St Johns Rotary has supported since 2009 as part of the Environment and Science Committee. This is a programme widely supported by Rotary clubs across many schools.
A new Homepage is being designed to be more outward facing and completely suitable for mobile phone viewing. Any ideas, comments no matter how small or significant to Colin Robinson cs.bg.robinson@xtra.co.nz 021 652 801 please. New Homepage will go live mid-June. The rest of the website pages linked to from the Homepage have be reviewed, so comments welcome on these as well.
Thanks to the support from St Johns Rotary, Orakei Marina and Yachting New Zealand, HAG Sailing begins this week with the first school up being St Patrick's School with 26 students taking part of this worthy project in developing young people life skills. Here the group is shown 'the ropes' prior to getting out onto the water. The resumption of this annual programme after 2020's Covid cancellation was most appreciated as expressed by one student: "Last year the Year 7 & 8's were unlucky since covid struck and they couldn't go sailing. Now I am most grateful to St. John's Rotary & Yachting NZ for giving my friends and I the opportunity of a lifetime. It has sparked an interest in me and to maybe pursue sailing in the future."
Some Rotary evenings are up there with the best entertainment "money can buy" and the annual debate between St John's and Auckland East Rotarys' was utterly spectacular. The St John's Rotary team presented themselves with a strong, well researched argument that over 18yos should be made to receive the C-19 vaccine ... all very serious vs Auckland East Rotary who very very entertainingly (and dressed to match) argued vaccinations were important but should not be compulsory as people can be trusted "to do the right thing ".
Pics show some of the 60 odd present socialising before a sumptuous dinner and then 'Donald T" selling Covid-curing sunbeds, the St Johns Rotary team in action, 'Mary Poppins" in full song, 'THE Doctor' supplying supplementary medical 'advice' and finally a pic of the St John's Rotary team stoically receiving the independent Adjudicators assessment before the jubilation of being declared Winners.
Great to catch up with many of you at the ANZAC breakfast meeting a few short weeks ago.
I wanted RCoSJ members to know that there is the opportunity to play Golf at Wairakei which is not often available to non members. For a team the cost is $200 per player which includes an electric cart and range balls are available. There is an all-day barbeque and platters in the Club House during the prize giving and auction.
Full info below and for the Rego form, click read more.
The art of debate involves mastering skills of obvious intrinsic value: the confidence to speak in public, and make sense; the construction of a logical argument; the ability to read an audience’s reactions; and, perhaps most importantly, the willingness to hear others’ arguments, and to respond to them.
Or are we expecting far too much from our debate this Thursday?
One way to find out ... COME ALONG. Bring your family, your friends, your colleagues and anyone else who would enjoy a thrilling night out. Just let Robyn know for numbers sake robyn.ingram@outlook.com
We need your support this Thursday for the greatest debate yet!
What do you think we should be doing? This cuts to the core of why many join Rotary. Is 13 May in your diary? This is a must for ALL our members. Please also bring along the thoughts of your significant other as Rotary is for members but also our families and friends.
Our assistance is still very much appreciated at the Manukau depot for usual packing duties. This date is possibly our last assignment at Manukau:
Date: Tuesday 25 May
Time: 9:30am - 1:00pm
Venue: 15 Bakerfield Place, Manukau
Please let IPP Robyn know if you would like to help - just click here to email her.
There are also opportunities to help at the Mt Wellington depot, joining with a mix of Rotarians from other clubs. The dates for Mt Wellington 'volunteer' opportunities are:
If you would like to join in on one of the above Wednesday's, please contact Alan Hayward (RC Newmarket) on 021 1079978 or email him: viv.alan@xtra.co.nz
Another thought provoker as we head towards the 13th of May and our all important Club Assembly (aka Brainstorm) where YOU will have the chance to help shape our club for the year ahead. We are vibrant now, but in true St Johns Rotary fashion are always looking to do even better.
If you were wondering where our Peter B was a couple of weeks ago, or what he was doing, well as confirmed on Seven Sharp on Friday 23 April, he was in his "happy place" with other Fungi Maestros on Stewart Island hunting down rare and beautiful fungi. The following pics are still shots from the Seven Sharp TV story, but if you are interested in seeing the full item, check this link out which still features the Friday April 23rd programme. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/seven-sharp/episodes
The following Event information (details under 'Read more ..") has been received from District 9920 and is passed on for your consideration. If interested, please respond directly to the Event organisers - also see the District Calendar athttps://www.rotarydistrict9920.org/events/calendar
It could be said that the club had just had a very busy couple of weeks - well even if that was the case, that didn't stop 16 club and family members turning up yesterday, in a very pleasant Autumn morning, to assist three Auckland Council Volunteers, Nanda, Ken and Roger, (who many of our members had worked with on Motutapu Island in years gone by), to assist in preparing an area for the planting of another 600 native trees in this small but attractive reserve, situated between Apirana Ave and the main trunk railway line. It is great fun working together to achieve so much and also very satisfying. Ending with a coffee is a great 'reward' for a job well done.
It could be said that the club had just had a very busy couple of weeks - well even if that was the case, that didn't stop 16 club and family members turning up yesterday, in a very pleasant Autumn morning, to assist three Auckland Council Volunteers, Nanda, Ken and Roger, (who many of our members had worked with on Motutapu Island in years gone by), to assist in preparing an area for the planting of another 600 native trees in this small but attractive reserve, situated between Apirana Ave and the main trunk railway line.
The first picture above is of Peter B safely crossing the road with his tools of trade and the next two pictures are of the team receiving a safety briefing, and the team at large prior to hitting the scrub. The next picture is a view of the "working bees" hard at work, with the last photo being the group enjoying a well deserved coffee and muffin at a nearby cafe' at the end of the working bee.
Our wonderful Rotary food-parcel packing organisers advise the Salvation Army now have a new distribution centre in Mt Wellington where the majority of food-parcel packing will 'eventually' take place.
The first 'trial' packing with Rotary Volunteers at Mt Wellington will be on Wednesday 14 April, where Rotary Teamleaders and volunteers will have the opportunity to work out how our 'volunteer power' can be best utilised at the new Mt Wellington venue. Any volunteers available for the usual 9:30am-2pm ish timeframe on this date, who are happy to help please click here to email Robyn.
Robyn was delighted to report that we had an excellent 'extra' packing session last week, combining with our friends from RC Newmarket. As usual we all worked so efficiently, we ran out of the stock variety needed to pack and were asked to stop early. Here we are standing in front of the boxes packed last week:
Super cool to have a team of seven of us last week, teaming up with RC Newmarket for our designated Tuesday to pack food boxes for the Salvation Army Foodbank. There was chatter time, which mostly consisted of nudging each other to 'get a move along'. Such was our 'packing prowess' we packed over 200 boxes and kept the shelf re-stockers on their toes sourcing replacement stock as quickly as possible.
Here's Colin looking startled to be caught on the other side of the camera. His job last week was to re-bag bulk flour into smaller quantities. And Beryl in action (but escaped before we got a group photo).
We have been offered an additional Tuesday to help out this week so maybe we can improve on last week's box count. Big thanks to Members who are able to volunteer on a weekday for busy (but fun) service.
Is our club in dangerously good form? Or could we do better? More specifically, what would YOU like to see improved so your Rotary can be a seriously great experience?
Our incoming Presidents Lesley and Penny want to know your thoughts and seriously, give voice to what you want to be considered as all ideas are valued and none should be crumpled and discarded.
To help your mull these thoughts over, lots of notice has been given of a club brainstorming session on Thursday 13 May. Preferably try to come alongand contribute your new ideas, but if you are unable to get along then email your ideas, tweaks, thoughts, preferences to Lesley and Penny on lesleypenny.rotary@gmail.com, or have a chat with them.
So, What do you want see in your club and community? What are you most passionate about?
Today (Tuesday 23 March) quite a team from St Johns and Newmarket Rotarys' enjoyed the monthly scheduled packing of food boxes (parcels) at the Salvation Army Manukau Depot. The number of boxes assembled grew quite quickly thanks to the efficiencies of great team work despite the constant chatter. Other Rotary club teams do the other weeks and it is possible an additional opportunity may soon open up at a closer Salvation Army Depot.
Yesterday marked Sarah's first day of work! You can probably imagine that we are overjoyed to see our first student stepping into the professional world! I just wanted to update you all to let you know the good news, and to say thank you for all your support that has allowed this to happen.
St Johns Rotary sponsored three Year 12 students we sponsored to attend the two-week live-in Rotary National Science and Technology Forum which was held at Auckland University in January. Mya and Joshua from Glendowie College, and Peter from Sacred Heart, recapped highlights of the programme and their experiences of the Forum to a recent club meeting and emphasised how much it has already helped each of them open their eyes to so many more study opportunities when they leave school at the end of this year.
Working around upcoming Public Holidays and speaker availability - some changes have been made to our normal meeting schedule over the next few months, and the following is additional information to that noted above, to allow you to update your calendar and to be sure you don't miss any activity;
Thursday 1st April – now a BREAKFASTmeeting
INHOUSE EASTER QUIZ
Moved to a Breakfast meeting so Members hoping to get away as early as possible for a well-earned Easter break can do so. Come along and enjoy a hearty breakfast; an Easter Quiz and some April Foolery. Hot Cross Buns and Easter treats have been ordered!
Thursday 22nd April – ANZAC BREAKFAST meeting
Special breakfast as per Club tradition with funds going to RSA. Partners, Family and Guests welcome.
Thursday 6th May - EVENING meeting (no change - just a Promotion!). ANNUAL INTERCLUB DEBATE
We are hosting RC Auckland East for the much-anticipated Annual Debate. Moot and team TBA. Please let Hugh know if you have a topic suggestion or if you would like to be part of this years Debate Team.
Thursday 27th May – now an EVENING meeting, HOSTING SPEAKER FROM LEGASEA
Rescheduled guest speaker from earlier in the year. Partners, Family and Guests welcome.
Thursday 3rd June – now BREAKFAST meeting
Swapped with previous week. As this date is immediately prior to Queens Birthday long weekend, a BREAKFAST meet allows members to make the most of the holiday weekend.
NB: As speakers are booked, more details will be displayed in the Bulletin and on our website.
Thanks to the extra Tuesday available this month, we have an additional opportunity to join Rotarians from other Clubs to help with food-box packing for the Salvation Army.
Date: Tuesday 30 March
Time: 9:30am - 2:00pm (but we often finish earlier)
Venue: 15 Bakerfield Place, Manukau
Please let IPP Robyn know if you would like to help - just click here to email her.
There is so much happening in Rotary just from a purely entertaining/recreational aspect that you should never feel bored and without the chance to meet others for some friendship and fun.
Just go to www.rotarydistrict9920.org and look at the events on the left-hand column. Whether it is just yourself or you take your family, friends (or whole neighbourhood ) for a good time out, these are open for anyone to join in on. And that is before we consider the Rotary programmes and projects you can nominate people for or volunteer to help at.
PS: the shown Las Vegas evening is on the 10th April.
Rotary is so much more than just the club!
There is so much entertainment and recreation for you
As many of you know, Isi was the last Rotary Youth Exchange Student left in our District, with the usual July intake from Europe cancelled thanks to Covid. Our South American students exchange from January, so come July of last year we just had Isi from Chile, with South American exchanges running January - January.
Isi has experienced a year of contrast! Hosted by Tuakau Rotary Club, she attended Tuakau College and lived in Tuakau. This was a HUGE change for city-girl Isi, who grew up in Santiago, one of the largest cities in the America's. She exchanged with our Club's sponsored Outbound student, Lachlan Kerr, who very happily left for Chile in January 2020 (just as Isi arrived her), but as you will be aware, Lachlan returned to NZ in June 2020 after only six months on exchange. Like many around the world, Lachlan's exchange was 'different' and totally disrupted by Covid. He spent around four months in Lockdown in Chile and with no improvement in sight and that countries healthcare severely overrun, the decision was made to return to NZ, luckily via an Australian repatriation flight. Via Zoom, Lachlan presented to us while travelling the South Island and is very much looking forward to presenting to us 'in person' once our meetings resume this year.
Although all of our RYE events and excursions were cancelled last year and we endured two lockdowns in the Auckland region, Isi's hosts and the RYE committee worked hard to ensure she had the best experience she could; with continued background work evaluating whether we needed to look at repatriations flights to get her home early - or not. Thankfully for Isi, she has been able to enjoy a full twelve months in NZ - some at school, some in lockdown, some being a good RYE Ambassador giving presentations to Rotary Clubs, and (Yeh) some sightseeing! Despite having to cancel our usual Rotary organised South Island trip for RYE's, we found another safe, student-orientated trip option for her to enjoy, and she has had lots of other excursions with her host families here and there, including quite a few train trips up to big-bad Auckland.
About 10 months into an Exchange we always check with our Inbounds about anything on their 'Bucket List' they hadn't achieved and then see if we can work out a way to 'tick' a few more 'things' off that list. When I heard Isi had not been to Wellington, I was delighted to make this an opportunity for me to revisit my 'almost' hometown and take her on a whirlwind weekend trip to our beautiful Capital City.
Top of the Cable Car - super on a fine day!
In Parliament grounds - tour of Beehive, Parliament House and Library.
We had a super weekend mid-January and in two quick days managed to: walk the waterfront; go up the Cable Car; walk the Botanical (hilly-puff-gasp) Gardens; then (highlight) do a night tour at Zealandia. This is the first urban, completely fenced ecosanctuary, where the biodiversity of 225ha of forest is being restored and where over 40 rare native wildlife species are protected. At dusk, thanks to a great guide we watched Kereru's divebomb to show off their fat white chests; saw Kaka swooping and feeding; watched some Takahe feeding up close and spotted four Tuatara coming out of burrows, one even yawned for us to show he was alive. Once night fell, armed with red flash lights we nearly tripped over another sizable Tuatara ambling along our path and further into the tour, (carefully) spied the backend of Weta's in their natural holes in trees; saw banks shimmering with glowworms and identified quite a few different spiders in webs. Our guide got us to tune into Kiwi calls and then (drum roll) helped us to see little spotted Kiwi - at four different locations in the bush. WOW, so very cool - a must do if you have time when you visit Wellington. Spotting Kiwi not guaranteed - we had an exceptionally lucky night for seeing so many.
The next day we hit the Museums, Wellington Museum (on Jervious Quay) and Te Papa (Cable Street, near the waterfront) with a break in-between to walk to Cuba Mall and Courtenay Place. In the afternoon we strolled to Parliament grounds and did a surprisingly interesting tour of Parliament Buildings. We then nipped across the road to the National Library to see the Treaty of Waitangi and Kate Sheppard's Petition - which were both available to see in especially darkened rooms, and supplemented with clever audiovisuals to educate us further. We followed this up with 'refreshments' and a meal at the famous (?) Backbenchers Gastropub.
Our final day we enjoyed more exploring of Lambton Quay checking the 'Shoreline was previously here' plaques, then we Ubered to Weta Workshop in Mirimar to do a combo tour. Part One covered the original Weta Workshop, where you learn about props, costume and creatures created for films e.g. District 9; Avatar; Lord of the Rings; Hobbit. This was followed up with a 'Miniature Effects Tour' where you can learn some filmmaking techniques of miniature effects - with a new version of 'Thunderbirds Are Go' currently filming the third series. Super fun for me (growing up with Thunderbirds on the telly) and fun for Isi to see Hobbiton in miniature (used for those whole village wide shots).
PP Ainie (super happily now residing in Wellington) then scooped us up to have lunch at her Apartment and then walked us back to Te Papa so we could do the Gallipoli exhibition, which we hadn't made time for the day before. Weta workshop made all of the exhibition models for this display, so having just done their tour, we appreciated even more, the amazing models. If you haven't seen this display, put it on your 'list'. It is so popular and so incredibly moving that our Weta Workship guide told us Te Papa has extended it for a further three-plus years.
Ainie then drove us to the airport, ensuring to go around the bays so Isi could take in a bit more Wellington architecture, Oriental Parade, the odd private cable-car, and the Hollywood style 'Wellington' sign blowing apart on the hill. Just time for a quick ice-cream before we flew back to Auckland.
The next day, lucky Isi was picked up by Muriel and Phil and whisked off to Waitomo Caves for a day of tours! Isi reported to me on WhatsApp that Waitomo Caves was AMAZING and sent this really lovely photo. Thank you Muriel and Phil for taking special time out to provide this unexpected experience for Isi.
Isi was due to leave NZ on January 26 and should be back safely in Chile by the time this story goes to print. What a memorable year to spend in NZ? We wish her all the very best for her next adventure, now that she is safely back in Chile.
In case you missed our last meeting in 2020, our club member and CureKids CEO, Frances Benge gave a quick report on what she had been up to. Here is an extract from CureKids newsletter:
On December 1, CureKids CEO, Frances Benge, launched the first 'State of Child Health in Aotearoa NZ' report in Parliament. The aim of the report is to help identify the most urgent priorities for child health research. It provides a 'snapshot' of children's health in New Zealand and this inaugural edition focuses on the latest published data concerning three specific areas: dental disease, respiratory conditions and skin infections.
It was really fantastic to see how well the report was received by the Government, with special endorsement from the Children's Commissioner for New Zealand, Judge Andrew Becroft. The event also generated significant media coverage on the day.
We partnered with the Paediatric Society of New Zealand, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service (NZCYES) at the University of Otago to prepare the report. Looking ahead, we will publish this report on an annual basis, working together with our partners, to further identify other urgent priorities for child health research. Click here to read the report. Your fellow club members are very proud of your efforts Frances.
Members Murray, Prabha and Robyn; and Isi (Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Chile) enjoyed a solid morning of work, helping out at the Salvation Army Foodbank (Manukau) last Tuesday. This is an ongoing project headed by Peter Ross, and many Rotary Clubs have been rotating through rostered 'help' days. This week we enjoyed the company of Rotarians from RC's of Newmarket and Half Moon Bay.
Murray was kept busy organising boxes and restocking shelves, while we girls blitzed the re-bagging of huge sacks of flour, rice and semolina into smaller more manageable packages. We were driven hard by Mr Ross (D9920 Special Programme Events Leaders Chair) who kept us going with the promise of a lovely lunch, supplied by Sally Army staff as a Christmas thank you for the awesome work Rotarians are doing at the Centre.
The final opportunity to assist (for this year)with this project is Tuesday 15 December. Let Robyn know if you want to tag along (generally 10am - 2pm).
The following story was published in last weeks Bulletin, but as this is such an important one for all members, it is herewith repeated to ensure as many members as possible are reminded of these matters - Thanks.
RSVP Etiquette - Just a friendly reminder that it is handy to receive your Apologies (with a brief reason) if you are not able to make a meeting. This gives Club Services and Membership Team valuable intel for follow-up on wellbeing, catering (do we need more eggs...), and speaker planning.
Please remember, if you receive an RSVP email from us (particularly for our popular evening meetings), please respond Yes or No. A non-response doesn't necessarily mean 'No', so we often follow-up (sometimes twice more) to find out your intentions, ensuring we are not embarrassed by running out of food or seating. That follow-up creates quite a bit of extra work for our volunteers!
Meeting Responsibilities - Making our meetings and meeting-space welcoming each week requires background work aka Meeting Responsibilities. If you are assigned a Meeting Responsibility and are not sure what this entails - please ask your Rotary Buddy, or click onto this helpful Meeting Responsibilities Info Sheet link.
If you are unable to do the assigned job, as a responsible member of the Club you are expected to negotiate with another member to cover for you. Simply ignoring the assigned 'responsibility' is rather mean spirited and not 'fair to all concerned'. Most of the duties are really easy (e.g. Greeter! What's easier than welcoming everyone at the door as they arrive?) Any queries onMeeting Responsibilities, please contact Club Services - Robyn.
A few of the Club's trusted Directors managed to wave the RC of St Johns flag on Sunday, at the first Stonefields Family Market Day. This market was promoted as an 'unmissable community event for the whole family' and was proudly supported by the Stonefields Residents Association.
Youth Director Muriel alerted us to the opportunity and as you can see from the photograph, obviously didn't mind waiting for her turn to have a chat with Santa! Muriel reports she also found time to have a good chat to the chairman of the Stonefields Residents Association, who is now coming to our meeting on Thursday.
President Hugh (behind the camera), IPP Robyn and Membership Director John L also put in an appearance and can be seen here brainstorming marketing ideas for next year's Market Day opportunity. These three were also lucky enough to have a long chat with a 'prospect' from the local Indian Motorcycle Club.
The Story below featured in last weeks Bulletin and the Editor would like to clarify that the funds to cover this sponsorship came from the "Brian Gibbs Memorial Trust".
The Board is delighted to announce the Club has agreed to assist with $1,000 sponsorship toward fees for a young teacher to attend an Outward Bound course in January 2021.
Vincent O'Çonnor is a 23 year old graduate from the University of Otago and currently a first-year teacher at Sacred Heart College, where he teaches Religious Education and English. Vincent lives at home with his parents and three of five older brothers, and is a keen hockey player outside of work.
He approached RC St Johns requesting some assistance to pay for the fees needed to attend the Outward Bound “Classic” course to be held in January 2021. This is something Vincent has wanted to experience for several years, as he has heard from close friends and family how this course helps one to grow and mature physically, mentally, and spiritually. The course he is enrolled for is the Classic 21-day experience for ages 18-26 year.
Vincent is looking forward to reporting back to us next year on his experience - so look out for him to feature early next year on the speaking schedule.
Just reminding members the final opportunity to assist with food parcel packing is Tuesday 15 December, tomorrow. Time to report is: 10am - 2pm. Please let Robyn know if you would like to join in, all members or partners of members welcome (email: Robyn.ingram@outlook.com). We will combine with Rotary Clubs of Papakura and Newmarket.
Please note that the Salvation Army aim to provide a special lunch this final day, as thanks to all volunteers.
Final Opportunity to assist this year at Salvation Army Food Bank
Our Web Master Colin R has been doing a little research of our Archives and he thought members may find his findings of interest. You can see some of what the club was up to between May 2011 and August 2013 at ;
A truly unique opportunity to own quality affordable art while helping a global cause dear to all Rotarian's hearts:
SPECIAL REQUEST OF MEMBERS: Please go to the club Facebook page and Share the post on the Art Auction to your own Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsRotaryClub)- this whole initiative is by Allan Smith so let's support this and him.
A Unique Opportunity to Own Quality Affordable Art
A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor's office. "Is it true," she wanted to know, "that the medication you prescribed has to be taken for the rest of my life? “Yes, I'm afraid so," the doctor told her. There was a moment of silence before the senior lady replied, "I'm wondering, then, just how serious is my condition because this prescription is marked 'NO REPEATS".
*********************** An older gentleman was on the operating table awaiting surgery and he insisted that his son, a renowned surgeon, perform the operation. As he was about to get the anesthesia, he asked to speak to his son. "Yes, Dad, what is it? "Don't be nervous, son! Do your best and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me, your mother is going to come and live with you and your wife...."
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The older we get the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for. (Mostly because we forgot why we were waiting in line in the first place.)
******************** When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to school, think of Algebra.
From its chartering as a club, St Johns Rotary has supported Rotary’s goal to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy including education for all children and literacy for children and adults.
Over the years we have engaged in many projects that have made a huge difference in our local community here in Auckland, in the Pacific and further afield. Our most significant current projects are the Rotary Dictionaries in Schools project among several Decile 1 local schools and the Onja initiative in Madagascar.
The club website is the foundation of club information and communication. The emails you get telling you of great opportunities, the fantastic Bulletin you enjoy, and so much more all originate from the website. The website is also an information and promotion hub you should be letting others know about so that they can see what we do and maybe join in. The carousel pictures on the Homepage have just been replaced and are interesting and well worth a look - go to www.rotarystjohns.club
Our connection with CAB Glen Innes has helped to assist yet another local family.
This time, Plunket (with offices right next door to CAB GI) introduced a struggling family to the services of the CAB. The Plunket contact was able to indicate that she had been to the family home many times and they had ‘nothing’.
Plunket are able to assist with some clothing for very young children and babies – but wondered if someone could help source some warm clothes for two of the older children.
We had money left over from helping the previous two families – so it was super to advise Patsy that once again – we could come to the rescue.
Our thanks to Helen Stephens for making time to shop for some brand new, appropriately sized and warm clothing for these children. Plunket is working closely with the family and will be delighted to deliver them.
We had another very productive session at the Sally Army FoodBank in Manukau last Tuesday. Seven of us were able to report for duty, with team numbers topped up with members from RC Newmarket.
We worked flat-out from 10am until 12:15 packing food boxes – until we ran out of boxes! After a short lunch break we spent another solid hour on tasks such as restocking shelves; repacking rice and flour into smaller bags; breaking down boxes; and anything else that looked like it needed doing.
We have been invited back for another Volunteer packing day on Tuesday 25th August. Here are some photos from our very busy day…
LAST CHANCE!!!! Just one table left plus a few individual seats.
This is your last chance to purchase a ticket and or a table, that will ensure a "sell out". Please contact IPP Robyn asap if you can help.
Sincere thanks also goes to all members for their support, and in particular to Donald and team for all the effort setting up the evening and the selling of tickets, which will ensure that the evening will be a great success.
With this month being Plastics-free July, our Science and Environment Director (Peter B) would like to bring this 3.5 minute video to our attention. It has been produced by the Royal Society of NZ and the Sustainable Business Network (Foodstuffs / New World Supermarkets are members) and can be viewed by clicking onto the following link: https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/major-issues-and-projects/plastics/video-turning-around-our-plastics-problem/
The video highlights both the quantity of plastics that we use, but also their value to us: "Plastic isn't the problem. It's what we do with it. And that means the onus is on us to be far smarter in how we use this miracle material." Globally, there is urgent need to minimise waste plastic getting into the environment. It fits well with this months worldwide Environmental focus to reduce/eliminate single-use plastics.
All members received a copy of the St Johns Rotary member lists as at 1 July, on 1 July. Please check your details are correct and update as needed by logging in, go to Admin and then to 'Edit my profile'.
If you do not have a photo of yourself please add one or the below will be used instead. The club's expert Photographer Kevin Kevany can be approached at a meeting for a new or updated profile picture to be taken and he will forward to Colin to upload for you.
If you need any help, call Colin on 021652801 . An updated copy will be circulated at the end of the month.
All website access permissions have been reviewed, but if you need access you do not currently have please contact Colin.
Due to the escalation of Covid-19 in South America the decision has been made to extract Lachlan from Chile as soon as feasible. He is currently registered for the return-leg of a Chilean government-organised charter flight for Chilean's from Melbourne. We all wish Lachlan safe travels for an incident free return to our side of the world! Here is his latest email report to the RYE D9920 Committee:
With a flight booking this last weekend, it looks like this will be my last monthly report. I'll use this opportunity to summarise my rather unconventional exchange.
Please click on "Read More", for Lachlan's full report.
Motutapu Is. trip, 28 June 2020 through the eyes of Peter Buchanan:
What better activity on a (mostly) fine Sunday than traveling overseas to Rangitoto, and on to Motutapu Is. – continuing Rotary’s 25+ year record of helping with restoration on the island.
Nine of us joined Bridget Winstone, (Motutapu Restoration Trust’s volunteer coordinator for 18 years, and John’s second cousin!) at the ferry terminal. On our arrival at Rangitoto we squeezed into a ‘troop carrier’ for the drive to the plant nursery on Motutapu.
There, we were set to work by Bridget on various tasks around the nursery – relocating plants; removal of large irrigation mats for later installation of overhead irrigation (that our club had earlier contributed funds for); weeding and sweeping; potting out seedlings into planter bags and valeting vehicles ahead of WOF inspections in Auckland.
All of this activity was accompanied by calls of tui and the swoop of kereru in flight. The heaviest shower was conveniently scheduled for our lunch break in the glasshouse, and Bridget made us all (Cheri, Michelle, Muriel, Prabha, Robyn, Avi & Kyle, John L, Peter B) feel most welcome. We will look for further opportunities to assist on Motutapu later this year.
The club's first opportunity to do good in the Community, following months of Lockdown and restricted activity, came by way of a Clean-up of Maybury Reserve and Creek in Glen Innes.
The Clean-up organised by Cheri was held yesterday at short notice and regrettably this probably had an impact on the number of helpers (6) who turned up to assist. However, despite the small number of volunteers the clean-up reaped a dozen bags of rubbish plus other bits and pieces as seen in the photos.
A big thank you to Cheri for her organisation and to the volunteers, (Cheri, President Robyn, Murray, John, PP Peter B and Peter W), who donned gloves and Rotary high-viz vests on a cool, but clear Sunday morning to get the job done.
Thank you Rotary Club of St Johns for your generosity. As announced at our meeting last week, members donated $460 to the Glen Innes Foodbank, which as a Club we agreed to top up to $1,000 for New World Stonefields to further supply stock.
We are delighted to advise that once again New World Stonefields are matching our donation!
So, GI Foodbank has access to a further $2,000 to keep stocks up. Heartfelt thanks to Graham Fabian who continues to liaise with the Foodbank to provide this stock at cost and transport to them free of charge!
Just to recap - GI Foodbank were recently, and very sadly, advised that they had lost their usual funding source. RCSJ quickly rolled out a plan of action to ensure our local Foodbank remains open and stocked in order to cater for a predictable surge of families needing them.
To date our response to GI Foodbank 'Feed the Need' has been:
$2K grocery/stock donated at cost, free delivery on 5 May
$2K grocery/stock donated at cost, free delivery (as of 21st May), order in progress
1 x boot-load of member donated grocery/stock delivered to Foodbank early May
1 x Foodbank Collection at New World Stonefields ‘ready to roll’ as soon as we move to Level 1 (usual collection provides 120+ boxes of stock which overfills the Foodbank)
due to the publicity, in the wings there is a potential collection via Remuera Rotary Club at New World Remuera
Many thanks to the Glen Innes CAB for keeping us in the loop on the Foodbank needs. At our Project Re-Boot meeting last week, membership agreed to make our local Foodbank a top project priority as there is every sign that the economic situation will continue to impact many in our community.
St Johns Rotary has a plan ... a very great plan. Not only have we done things well during Lockdown we have OPERATION REBOOT to propel us into the future. Read more about this exciting future below:
The club has a plan, in fact the club has a whole list of projects lined up waiting for the Covid-19 rules to allow St Johns Rotary members and volunteers to do what we do best - help those needing a hand up. The first project "off-the-rank", when we are able to gather, is to assist the GI Food Bank where the demand by families in adversity has skyrocketed. Special thanks to Stonefields New World for enabling this collection when the time comes. In the meantime for this project we have already had a member collection of non-perishables and some dollars to purchase same. Thanks so much.
Coming is our first post-Lockdown in-the-community project
Last weeks Bulletin summarised the clubs last Zoom Meeting which focused on the very successful "Online RYPEN".
Now its time to introduce you to our RYPEN online leadership team via a recording of the Zoom Evening Meeting. Grace Cussell, Henry Thomas-Kircher, Gabriel & Claire De Guzman shared their motivation and thinking and put together an innovative online programme during lockdown.
Here is the link to a recording of our Zoom evening meeting;
Pictorial update from PDG Stuart Batty, Executive Director, RNZWCS Limited (Rotary New Zealand): Delivery to those living in tents as their houses have been shattered. Pictures tell a thousand words. Thank you to all those Rotary supporters assisting today’s distribution in Tonga.
A very busy day. Thanks to Rotarian and RNZWCS Fiji ERKs Manager Bob Niranjan for coordinating the Rotary effort in Fiji with Rotarians, the NDMO and MFAT NZHC, as at the same time we in New Zealand were simultaneously coordinating the effort with MFAT in Wellington. The end result:
420 Rotary Emergency Response Kits, as requested by Fiji National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) have been released.
NDMO have arranged for Govt. personnel i.e. Military personnel etc. to ship to Kadavu and Lau with delivery being made by road by Rotary from Suva and Lautoka store to wharf in Suva. Central and Western Divisions to be undertaken by Rotary. NDMO requested the ERKs for the communities of Kadavu 140, Lau 110, Western Division 85, Central Division 85. Every household who have suffered damage will receive a kit.
The report from Sam below was received this past week. In this update he covers off; the status of the latest Global Grant request, the current Coding Course, COVID-19 in Madagascar and the opportunity for members to become a "Writing Mentor" for one of the students. Read on!
Global Grant
Thank you to the following key Rotarians, Districts and Clubs that have contributed to the crucial Rotary Global Grant that will fund operations for this year and push the project into the self-funding stage.
Nick Curry and DG Ros Kelly from D9630 - $10,000.00
David Campbell and DG Peter Maxwell form D9930 - $10,000.00
President Robyn Ingram and members from The Rotary club of St Johns - $5,000.00
PDG Trish Boyle and DG Tania Lowery form D9980 - $5,000.00
PDG Jennie Herring and DG Gary Langford from D9920 - $5,000.00
DG Ronald Degenhart and Allan Church from D9550 - $1,000.00
DG Jacqui Molyneux and Catherine Bush from D1030 - $1,000.00
And our crucial central committee from the Rotary Club of St Johns; Simon Jones, Gary Key and Kevin Kevany. They are the team who have made this happen and who we would be very lost without.
We are just so grateful to you all for your support and backing.
The application now sits with the Rotary Foundation for approval. It seems that the Covid-19 pandemic may increase the turnaround time however are hoping it wont be much longer now.
Become a writing mentor!
I am very excited to announce a super cool way for you to connect with and assist students:
Students are looking forward to becoming qualified web developers and slipping into distributed teams. With future colleagues dotted around the globe students will call heavily on their verbal and written English skills.
We are now looking for writing mentors to help students hone their literary abilities.
As a writing mentor you can assist by:
Correcting one or two written passages each week, typically just a couple of paragraphs. Mitantsoa, our English coordinator, will guide you on how to do this.
It would be great if you could also act as a penpal, sharing stories / interacting with your mentee too.
Note that you don't need to be a gifted writer yourself. So long as you have a native (or close) control of the English language, we would love to have your help. Ideally this will last until the end of this year.
Please contact Mitantsoa (mitantsoa@onja.org) if you would like to become a writing mentor or have any questions.
Become a writing mentor for a student!
Coding Course
As always, students are learning at a rapid rate. Sitting in class now, it's almost unthinkable that just a few months ago many couldn't use a computer: to the untrained eye they already look like pros, zipping between windows of code, forums, and website designs.
Students recently completed a project which involved building an instructional site to help others learn HTML. HTML is the backbone of the internet. It's nothing showy (hence the skeletal looking pages) but a strong understanding is key to becoming a web developer. Some example projects are linked below:
The class has now moved on to CSS, which adds colour and design to web pages.
It's also very encouraging to see that students become more and more comfortable with English and are starting to speak very well.
Covid-19
Any kind of communication would not be complete without a mention to this pandemic. As for so many, it is making things difficult for us but fortunately we can continue and believe this is the best option all around.
We are fortunate to have such a committed team. Spare a thought appreciation for Loïc and Shaun, our talented coding lecturers, from New Zealand and Belguim, who chose to stay on amid the tough times.
The pandemic is in it's early stages in Madagascar, however we expect that the nation faces some tough months ahead.
Just a few meters from Onja ... I can think of worse places to be stuck!
A Holiday
In February I travelled to India to see a good friend of mine get married. It was the first time in years that I really felt free from my work (I love it but also great to get a break sometimes!). A big thanks to my friends for getting me there and providing such good company!
It is time for good news and while we are seeing more good stories this issue of Rotary Down Under magazine will be a welcome relief.
The emphasis of the magazine around innovation is also very timely as our club seeks new ways of doing things to keep our members engaged and to plan for future engagement with our community. Hopefully, this issue will encourage our club and our committees to continue the quest for a future done better.
The magazine is online at http://epubs.media/rotarydownunder/ezine/2020/626/ - please note that most of you get your magazine by mail but very few, if any, are receiving mail at present and may not for some time to come.
Thank you St Johns Rotary. These are difficult time for sure. We know that there are people out there suffering yet with the Lockdown it is impossible for us as Rotarians to get out and help.
There is a bright light in that our recent Golf Tournament, under the team led by David Hartstone, not only squeaked in ahead of the restrictions by the thinnest of margins but made more that previous tournaments. Out of that outstanding success the club donated $22,316 to KidsCan, supporting their services at a time where there is extreme need.
KidsCan was feeding 34,000 children daily and now reports that with schools closed thousands of kids are going hungry. Just ahead of the Lockdown they were able to send to send food home for the kids via the schools but while hoping to be designated an essential service they have had to suspend operations. If they are unable to feed the children in need during the Lockdown the demand for their services immediately after this is lifted will be enormous
Well done to all who participated in the St Johns Rotary Tournament, St Johns Rotary and the major sponsor Freightways.
I am saddened to advise that this morning we agreed to suspend our regular Thursday meetings.
This decision has been made as a socially responsible reaction to the Covid-19 crisis and was made after consultation with the Board, and following discussion with members present at this morning’s meeting. As a club we do not wish to put any of our membership at risk and already a number of members are absenting themselves from social interaction on the advice of health professionals or at the request of employers.
The above graphic links to general updates, information and resources for Rotary in New Zealand and the Pacific and will be added to as new material comes to hand.
Information and notices to members will be emails and included into the club Bulletin (please read your emails!).
It is important to keep in mind that the club is in good heart. This crisis will end and we will be able to continue the fantastic contribution of the club to the community. In the meantime, stay in touch with each other and if you need a bit of a helping hand speak to your committee Director or President Robyn.
Your Board would like to bring the following information, from the NZ Ministry of Health, to the attention of all members!
Rotarians are a super-friendly lot which is why we enjoy our Rotary so much. There are many friendships made thanks to Rotary and at other times we just really enjoy the company of our fellow Rotarians, partners and supporters.
But it seems, just for the moment, the welcoming handshakes, hugs and hongi's may not be the best idea as mentioned here: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm… and increasingly in official advice.
So let's not lose the expressions of friendship and friendliness and find some other way ... for the moment. (and if you must shake hands then remember to wash them after ... we will all understand).
Last weekend our President Robyn attended the Rotaract Club of Auckland's 15th Anniversary Dinner and she has submitted the following story;
"It was super to attend a "Cultural Night" on Saturday, organised by the Rotaract Club of Auckland City to celebrate their 15 year Anniversary. Their President Elect is RCSJ member Shaun Peacock, so it was great to be able to show him our support at this multi-cultural evening showcasing ethnic food, fashion and dance.
The event had attendees from 15 other Rotary Clubs across Auckland including our very enthusiastic DG Gary, who is pictured proudly displaying the Rotary flag in the flag bearing finale. Congratulations to this active and inclusive Rotaract club for organising and hosting a lively and thoroughly enjoyable event."
Many of us will have the need for surgery at some stage in our lives, so the following is likely to be of interest to many.
This free event is being promoted by the club, as an acknowledgement of our appreciation of the University making available the high profile speaker who we have scheduled to speak at our Meeting on March 26th - ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR HELEN PETOUSIS-HARRIS.
St Pius X Catholic School had an official blessing last Friday to celebrate their new school buildings. RSJC has a long and close association with St Pius (Y1-8) via Dictionaries in Schools, Junior Citizen Awards, Guitar music programme; installation of a Defibrillator and, very recently, a team from RCSJ built two raised garden beds and helped to set up a garden water tank.
Miles, Ainie, Murray and Robyn attended the Blessing. It was a lovely occasion featuring the Most Rev Bishop Pat Dunn resplendent in his crimson robe, and other local dignitaries. The school currently has a roll of 104 pupils but with the new buildings, they are now ready for 200; with an eye in the future for double this capacity.
The children made the occasion special with lovely cultural performances filled with smiles, giggles and enthusiasm. Following the official blessing we were able to tour their new buildings, partake of a delicious afternoon tea and also check out the RCSJ raised garden – now waiting for our identification plaque and planting.
We will be returning to the school in a few weeks to make another donation of dictionaries to a specially selected class.
Every one of us as a member can help grow our club. It is easy but you do need to do some simple things.
On Saturday 8 February the club started a series of posts on the club Facebook page that shows the practical benefits of becoming a member using non-Rotary language. Please share these messages onto your own Facebook page. Please also give some thought as to who you could invite to one of our meetings. Often we are reluctant because we think these people will be pressured in some way ... not so. People can come along to look and experience a meeting with no expectation they have to take their look any further.
If you would like our club Membership Director, Donald Bowie, to help you invite people or to chat to someone who may be interested, please call him on 0274 752 473 / donald.bowie.dbc@gmail.com
If you see a visitor at a meeting please make sure they have the best possible St Johns Rotary experience by making sure they are well looked after.
Rotary Youth Exchange kept me on my Rotary-toes over January. On 15 January, I was very pleased to be part of the (ouch) 5:00am welcome contingent for a new Inbound RYE student.
Our first student in the District from Chile! Isidora will be hosted by the Rotary Club of Tuakau. Pictured here with her first host family (and me).
We also had Gonza departing on January 17. His departure coincided with a South Auckland Farm Weekend organised for the Inbounds in our district, so a trip to the airport to see Gonza off was added to the weekend agenda as he was an extremely popular member of their special group. Needless to say, a lot of tissues were required!
Our club's sponsored Outbound (Lachlan Kerr) finally got his Visa through for Chile - so he departed on January 19 with a small group of other South American bound students. We hope to receive regular updates from Lachlan once he settles into his Exchange adventure.
The 2020 St Johns Rotary Golf Tournament is coming up in less than a week, and your support is still needed. Please go to this DOCUMENT and have a look at the options available to you, your friends and those who wish to help us make a difference in our community.
A huge thanks goes to David Hartstone for the enormous effort he has put in to lead the planning and promotion of this event to ensure its financial success - lets make David look even better by selling the last of the sponsorship opportunities and team slots.
The following story has been written by our President, Robyn;
It was an absolute privilege to travel to Motutapu Island on Friday to meet three five-week old Kiwi that were ready for release.
The invite came from the Motutapu Restoration Trust via Eco-Warrior Peter B. Peter wasn’t able to attend the day so put a call-out to his Science & Environment team to go in his place (not so easy on a weekday). Avi, Kyle (Avi’s son) and I jumped at the opportunity. There were almost 200 people present, from various groups who have contributed in some way to the environmental work on Motutapu. It was amazing how quiet the group was (as per instructions) because excited-loud noise would have been too unsettling for the baby Kiwi. The Kiwi handlers let the birds nestle into them and calmly walked around us so that we could ‘ohhh and ahhh’ (ever so quietly) and take photographs. We weren’t allowed to touch the birds but just seeing them so close and in the light of day, was awesome. After a good half an hour of shy posing, the Kiwi babies (totally self sufficient within hours of hatching) were safely returned to nesting boxes for the handlers to spirit away for their private release at an undisclosed location on the Island.
This release marked Kiwi 100 (plus buddies) on Motutapu. The Trust advised the Island could support up to 200 Kiwi – so they have plenty more releases to plan for. Kiwi eggs are taken from birds in the Coromandel where survival has not been great. Eggs are then carefully incubated for successful hatching and release. Once maximum numbers are established on Motutapu, the plan is to release Kiwi back into the Coromandel to rebuild numbers there.
Rotary Clubs of Newmarket and St Johns got a special mention for their work on Motutapu. There was also an opportunity to walk up the track and check out areas where RCSJ has assisted with planting. Growth is looking very healthy! A superb way to spend a sunny, hot Friday leaving three human Kiwi’s from RCSJ feeling very fortunate.
Last Wednesday D9920s Inbound and Outbound Exchange Students experienced Auckland Day. This is a day of civic activities around Auckland city, arranged and chaperoned by our RYE District Committee and President Robyn, who accompanied Gonza, and submitted this story recapping the day.
We started early at the Central Fire Station for a talk and tour and some of our students got to put on the basic fire fighters kit and then attempt to try and walk (and look cool). We then got to watch a real team, effortlessly gear-up and head off to an emergency.
From there, a police convoy of five cars arrived to take us to the Auckland Harbour Bridge Police Station. The first time in a Police car for all of us! We enjoyed a comprehensive visit and got up-close and personal with Police motorcycles, cars, a ‘booze bus’, saw how a spike strip is used; watched a huge Police dog and his handler in action and met some fully kitted-out members of an armed response team. Our group of 15 were then Police-escorted back into the city and dropped off at the Mayor’s Office.
After passing through security, we were ushered some 20 floors up to meet with Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore who told us some great facts about our city and graciously answered questions as well as providing us with a much-appreciated chocolate biscuit fuel up.
Then it was off to a food court for lunch and a quick change into casual clothes for our students – who set off on a Great Auckland Race, which was a timed challenge requiring them to move around the city to answer a city-quiz and then ferry to Half Moon Bay to be transported to a BBQ.
This was the final event this group of RYE students would be all together with Gonza, so we used this occasion to formally farewell him. Gonza received his official RYE Completion Certificate from the RYE District Chair and we were able to announce that his fundraising efforts had met the target of $600 (in fact he was just over that amount – awesome effort Senor Pratto!) Gonza delivered a lovely speech and made his host parents, host councillor and host club feel extremely proud.
About a half of the one-hour long volunteer slots have been filled. We want ALL slots filled so that while we are eating well at Christmas Day we know that some of the less well off in our community are, at least, not going hungry.
Saturday 14 December, New World Stonefields, between 10am and 4pm in 1 hour slots.
Please find below a communication from District Governor Gary Langford regarding a call for action to Rotary Clubs and individual members to provide assistance in the present measles outbreak crisis in the Pacific. Please consider this request as urgent in the context of the ongoing catastrophe affecting so many in the Islands of District 9920.
Glendowie College has a large and engaged group of students participating in Interact and many initiatives have been completed in 2019 under the leadership of the team of year 12 students.
Fundraising started with the Easter egg initiative. Students at the college are encouraged to buy chocolate bunnies or eggs to send to their fellow students, friends, siblings or favourite teachers with a note attached. These were all “delivered” to form classes on the last day of term one.
The student body really enjoys this initiative and this year we sold more than 1,000 items raising an amazing six hundred dollars for Starship Children's Hospital.
Click on "Read More"for further detail from Interacts President Nina Harding.
Rotary Club of Newmarket urgently need at least 30 more Rotarian's to control the garden entrances and we would like to offer your club members the opportunity to support this project by agreeing to spend some time with us over the two days of the event. Family & friends are also welcome.
There is only one duty and that is to process visitors to the gardens at the gate entry point. There will someone else with them.
There are two time slots on each day AM – PM or they can stay ALL DAY.
The times are: 9.30 am to 12.30 pm and 12.30 pm to 4.00 pm and members can choose which slot they would like to attend.
The gardens are Located in: Auckland Central, Mt Eden / Sandringham, Epsom, One Tree Hill and Remuera / Orakei.
Your members can register directly with me via either phone or email.
We would really appreciate your clubs involvement in this project and I look forward to the phone calls and or emails.
Below is an update from the Interplast District Chair. RCSJ contributed $1,000 to this cause (approved September Board meeting).
Kiribati is a sovereign state in Micronesia in the central Pacific Ocean.
Kiribati’s population of just over 114,000 is scattered over an area larger than Australia – with 32 low lying atolls, one volcanic island and 3.5 million square kilometres of ocean
Kiribati has limited surgical capacity and no local plastic surgeon which means that patients go without treatment or in some cases are referred overseas for treatment
In June 2019 Interplast’s first Allied Health Training Program was conducted at the Tungaru Central Hospital, Tarawa, Kiribati, alongside a surgical program which conducted 22 surgeries for birth defects, burns injuries and trauma injuries for children and adults.
These patients were provided with life-changing medical procedures they would otherwise not have been able to access, and at the same time allied health training and mentoring was delivered to local physiotherapists, physiotherapy assistants, prosthetics and orthotics staff
Allied health treatment can be key to the patient’s recovery and ability to gain the best possible functionality post-surgery.
A key feature of all Interplast programs is our commitment to building sustainable medical outcomes for the communities we serve, as well as the individuals we are able to help.
With your support, during the 2020 program, volunteer physiotherapists/occupational therapists will work alongside the local physiotherapy team to build their skills, knowledge and confidence around providing rehabilitation treatment to patients including children, who have presented with burns injuries, lower and upper limb trauma and other surgical conditions related to reconstructive surgery.
The generous funding provided by the District: 9920 clubs will cover ground transport, insurances, training equipment and supplies, together with incidental costs and program coordination, monitoring and evaluation costs.
District 9920 has been an invaluable contributor to the work that Interplast is able to do in the Asia-Pacific region – we cannot thank you enough.
Together in Rotary Service,
Shefali Mehta QSM BEM JP
Rotary Club Auckland Harbourside President 2012-13
Rotary International District 9920
Interplast District Chair Interplast Australia & New Zealand
The format for both nights is to share information about RYLA 2020 including closing dates for applications. Any questions contact our own Tom Street who is intending to go to one of the meetings; or Mike Williamson 021 1680 231.
Kia ora, my name is Marie Jardine and I am a NZ Doctoral student. I have been involved in Rotaract in New Zealand and Germany. I have also participated in RYLA.
I am contacting you about my research, which aims to help older adults with swallowing problems. One of my PhD projects is the first NZ study on people’s opinions about their own swallowing (eating and drinking) and nutrition. I am looking for independent New Zealanders aged 65 years and older, who are willing to answer an online questionnaire (37 questions, about 10 minutes). People are eligible to participate whether they do or do not have swallowing problems.
The following update on the ERK assembly program. has been received from ADG Dennis Millard - FYI.
There were no tropical cyclones in the Pacific Islands last year (thankfully), so we have not needed to replenish ERK stocks this year. The cyclone season typically runs from 1st Nov – 30 April, so we await the coming ‘season’. Of course natural disasters can happen at any time so we must always be ready to respond.
The ERK assembly project is always welcomed by Clubs as members can actively participate in a very tangible, meaningful and relatable project. The ERK Team really appreciates the enthusiasm of Rotarians for this project.
When we next need to get the project underway I will be in contact with all D9920 (and some from D9910) Club Presidents and Secretaries calling for volunteers to assist.
At this point I would like to put in a plug in for ERK fundraising. If every Club can sponsor a few ERKs each year then funding becomes less of an issue and we can immediately start a re-stock program if needed. ERK contributions are $600 per ERK (which includes overheads of logistics, insurances, etc).
In case you didn't see it, the following story on Sam Lucas featured in the New Zealand Herald on August 17th:
Madagascar doesn't often feature in the headlines. Despite being the subject of a series of hit animated movies in recent years, some people would struggle to pinpoint the country on a map.
It's also one of the more unlikely countries where you would expect to find a New Zealander running his own social enterprise project. Located off the southeast coast of Africa and home to 5 per cent of the world's known biodiversity, including its famous population of lemurs, this former French colony also happens to be the world's fourth largest island.
It's also rated by the UN as one of the world's poorest countries, with an estimated 90 per cent of its 24 million residents living on less than $3 a day. For 29-year-old Sam Lucas, Madagascar has been his home since 2015, after launching an ambitious education and training social enterprise that is already improving the lives of a group of talented students. His is a story of perseverance and determination against the odds that began in 2009.
Our resident RYE Student Senor Gonzalo Pratto (from Argentina) did us proud for Cancer Societies Daffodil Day by having his long-locks cropped off! His golden locks are now back in Argentina having been donated to the Argentine equivalent of “Wigs for Kids”, a non-profit organisation which provides wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer therapy.
Gonza had to ensure his hair was nicely conditioned and well looked after. It also had to be at least 20cm long before cutting. Gonza admits he misses his locks, but he is grateful to help a child in adverse circumstances gain back a little of their former appearance. And he knows he can always grow his own hair back. Huge thanks to Jon at Abstract Hair Cutting in Marua Road, Ellerslie for agreeing to take on the challenge of the careful cut and then restyling what was left, for a hugely discounted rate. Abstract were also very patient with Gonza's Host Mum #3 (President Robyn) and Counsellor (Rosemary) as they fussed-about and took photos as the hair cropping took place.
Gonza's transformation was "revealed" at our August 29 meeting. Thanks to the generosity of one Club member who bought the right to 'reveal' Gonza's new hair cut; and also thanks to all other RCSJ members at our meeting that day who contributed to the Sunshine fund. Proceeds of this went 50/50 to Daffodil Day and to Gonza's RYE 'ERKs' fundraising challenge.
Gonza is still feeling self-conscious about the new hairstyle but we have assured him the general consensus is he looks very handsome! Gonza, we are all very proud of your commitment to help those in need and have a bit of fun as you do. Muchas Gracias.
The Rotary Club of Pakuranga, (one of our cluster clubs), have their Annual Trivia & Auction Night on Saturday 7 September. Celebrity Shane Cortez will be auctioning a fantastic variety of prizes including a luxury night for two at Castaways Resort. Supporting Life Education Trust Counties Manukau, Harold the Giraffe and other local Rotary projects. Attendees are challenged to come in outlandish and creative wearable art.
President Robyn is making up a table of family and friends and would love to see other RCSJ members there as well. For full list of exciting Auction items click "READ MORE".
Rotary Youth Exchange - the coming together of cultures
A rousing powhiri haka performed by NZ and overseas exchange students from Argentina, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands was the highlight of the Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) marae weekend attended by District Governor Gary and Jan. The marae weekend was held from 9 to 11 August. Click this link for the full feature https://www.rotarydistrict9920.org/Stories/rotary-youth-exchange-the-coming-together-of-cultures
A small number of members have reported receiving emails purporting to be from other members that were in fact scams. The text in these was: “hello where are you at the moment....I need you to do something".
The Rotary Oceania ICT Committee has confirmed that the Clubrunner website has NOT been hacked.
The information below is not comprehensive, but hopefully beneficial - certainly worth a read. (Click "Read more")
"In Breaking News; members of St Johns Rotary and residents of Auckland have been asked to look out their windows and doors into their back yards to see if the fruits of interest named in this case (Grapefruit and Lemon) are lurking on or under their citrus trees. If found, please approach and gather, if in good condition, and notify the nearest Dove Hospice/House so they can advise you of the nearest location to dispose of these. Isabella Tedcastle can also help in this regard."
"Further, if found in the back yards (we will even take front yards) of neighbours and friends, please add to those already secured."
Dove Hospice/House advise that the donated grapefruit and lemons will be pulped and frozen until they can be turned into jam for sale to help fund the running of Dove Hospice/House.
BOTLO (be on the look out) for Messrs Grapefruit and Lemon
Well done and congrats to IPP Allan, President Robyn, Brian, David and anyone else who had a part to play to ensure that we gave Allan the farewell he deserved, and Robyn the welcome she deserved! The evening was promoted as one of colour and the vibrancy that brought to the fore was brilliant. You just have to have a read ... click on the picture of the outgoing and incoming Boards below to access the full story including some great pictures.
I continue to be amazed just how quickly people can learn when they set their minds on something. Thanks to their devotion and commitment, our students can now hold real English conversations, and can communicate their thoughts with confidence.
The following is an Update from Sam Lucas (9 June 2019)
The programme this year was again a stunning success for all the 20 schools who participated. There is no better way to illustrate this than to show some of the letters of thanks received from those who took part ... in this case from St Josephs Primary School ...
Many of our Club Members have remarked about Gonza’s glorious head of hair and suggested that he should consider a hair cut as a fundraiser (like we did for Henning). We asked Gonza about this and really hope you enjoy reading his response…
Almost every day I receive comments for my hair, luckily most of them are very good. Many adults tell me they do not like it and others tell me that they really like it. What people think will not change what I think and I do not say it selfishly.
Personally, I do not like long hair on myself but in the end it's just something I can change whenever I want. There's something that nobody thinks to ask and that's “Why do you have long hair?” I do not like to talk about this because I sincerely feel that I do not need to. I think things are done more by doing than by saying.
As I said, I do not like having long hair very much, sometimes it makes me tired as it's difficult to keep it healthy. Once a month I have to spend an hour putting special cream in my hair and once a week another special cream which takes about 20 minutes.
The one thing that gives me all the energy to do it is that is that there is a young child who going through chemotherapy waiting for my hair in Argentina. It's not a problem for me because I'm lucky that my hair grows, there are people who can't, so I decided to let my hair grow and I will donate it when I get back to Argentina next January.
Thanks for sharing this story with us Gonza – what a lovely thing to be able to do!
As revealed at District Conference - a select number of members now have their new polo shirts.
Feedback includes these comments "awesome, stylish, stunning and fetching".
This is your opportunity to join the elite and order your fabulous new club polo shirt. Make your order now so you can wear your shirt with pride at the next project. Or just wear it everywhere and prepare for the compliments!
Please advise your size (size chart below). $30 will be charged to your account.
The beautiful weather made for a great RYE Selection Weekend (24-26 May) held at Kokako Lodge, Hunua. Over the weekend, Kiwi applicants for our Rotary Youth Exchange programme spend time with current Inbound RYE's, ROTEX (returned Kiwi RYE's) and the RYE District Committee. The idea is to interact and get to know the applicants, tell them and their parents more about the programme and after the weekend, make the 'final' selection.
Our five Inbounds (Argentina, Germany, Austria, Denmark, France) were all there and had the important and fun job of interacting with the six applicants to get some 'peer-intel' on whether they would measure up as potential RYEs. They also got to promote their home Country and try and entice applicants to make their Country first choice. To start the weekend, the Inbounds and Outbound applicants had a high ropes challenge. It was great to see how quickly they assisted and encouraged each other - even though they had only met 20 minutes prior to the challenge.
The only downside of the weekend was that we didn't have more applicants. If you are aware of a great all-round student who is aged between 15-18 years (at January 2020); they are still eligible to make a late application for Exchange, departing January 2020. Contact Robyn for further info.
LETs took place on Sunday and had a great attendance from clubs throughout our District. The seminar is an excellent opportunity for upcoming Club Leaders to attend sessions aimed to assist with Strategic Planning, Publicity, Membership Retention, Projects etc. PE Robyn attended with Gary (our club Foundation 'Guru') and Megan joined us for the afternoon sessions. St Johns was superbly represented in the presentation line-up with Rosemary contributing as part of the Public Image Awareness Panel; Ainie presented the Interact session and explained the link between RotaKids, Interact and Rotaract; Colin presented on Public Image and Awareness, and Beryl was also in attendance as part of the hard-working event-organisation team. Great presence all round for St Johns.
If you would like one of the fancy shirts that Gary is wearing in the photo, please contact PE Robyn. Sizes for both men and women available.
Glen Taylor School hosted another successful Discovery programme last Thursday and Friday. A large number of specially selected students from local primary schools attended and were supported by Discovery staff and team leaders from Tamaki College. The children were busy, engaged and enthusiastic. Another great programme roll-out, thank you Discovery Team.
We had a great turnout for our Fellowship event on Friday night. Not sure if it was the lure of the delicious meal or the challenge of Bingo? Caller-Kevany kept us listening hard to his bingo-lingo: including Dancing Queen (17); Winnie the Pooh (42) and Goodbye Teens (19). And those were just some of the "clean" calls! After intense concentration - Gonza won the first game. Two further games ensued with "lines" in hot contention before full cards were achieved. Thanks Ainie and Michelle for organising such a fun event.
I was delighted to accompany three of our Rotary Youth Exchange students to an evening meet at Auckland Harbourside last Wednesday. Maria (from Denmark) and Viki (from Austria) have been in New Zealand now for 9 months, so they gave really great presentations and very confidently answered questions afterward. Gonza came along to see how the girls managed and to get some tips for his own presentation skills.
As President Allan has noted above, a great night last Thursday for our Dinner Meeting where St. Johns hosted our friends from Auckland East Rotary for the annual debate.
A total of 65 members and guests were present to support the two teams and clearly, despite accusations that the adjudicator was biased and had been bribed, St. Johns was very clearly the winner on the night and big congratulations to our team - Angus, Penny and Murray!
Its May! That must mean the St. Johns Rotary sponsored, New Zealand Yachting programme, "Have a Go Sailing", is now under way.
Conditions were near perfect for the first week of Have a Go Sailing for 2019; mainly cloudless skies, flat water and a gentle southerly making Okahu Bay a great location for new sailors.
First up were 18 sailors (years 5 & 6) from Panmure Bridge School who were treated to two days sailing. Day one started by heading west under the shelter of the Orakei Marina before venturing into more wind in Mechanics Bay.
As President Allan has mentioned above, a very successful breakfast last Thursday and one that is becoming a highlight on the St. Johns Rotary Calendar. Many thanks to all who attended.
Our very own Mr. Community, Community Director Miles Cain had a big Community Rotary day last Friday, planting out the garden outside the Glen Innes Citizen Advice Bureau, with Nandina shrubs that he had purchased the day before at the Kings Plant Barn sale.
Miles led a small group of St Johns volunteers last December to prepare the very overgrown garden for the big "Plant-Out", day. He also donated a hose with fittings so there will be no excuse for the CAB staff not to water, although they have been let off the hook today!
Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please remember to RSVP your attendance to our Evening meetings!
Catering is ordered and seating set-up based on RSVP numbers and we want to avoid any embarrassment by under-catering and squeezing unexpected guests in. Please ensure you RSVP promptly as each month's evening meet comes around.
Club Services Director (Brian Fergus) is looking for Guest Speaker ideas. If you have recently heard (or heard of) a guest speaker who you think would appeal to our membership - please let Brian know. Email: b.fergus@xtra.co.nz
Although many of us have had limited Rotary activity since our very active year end last year, some have been fully immersed over the holidays. Our IPP Peter B has been one of those who has continued to raise our flag high. One event Peter has been very involved in was the Rotary National Science & Technology Forum, which was held at AUT in January. This was a fortnight of amazing experiences for 170 of NZ's top Year 13 science & technology students, brought together via Rotary clubs from throughout NZ.
The fortnight offered the students visits to many university departments, examples of industry, and other agencies - to assist them to decide on their future studies and careers in science and tech, and to have heaps of fun along the way. During the Forum the students lived together in a university hostel.
Apart from providing Peter B, The Rotary Club of St Johns also sponsored a student from each of our partner schools, Glendowie College and Sacred Heart. The photo below is of Alvaro Nola-Dodd, who RCSJ sponsored from Glendowie College last year. At that 2018 Forum, Alvaro received one of the 2 top student awards that enabled him to participate in the London Science Forum.
Alvaro also volunteered to be an Advisor at the 2019 Forum, and he will also be an Advisor in London for their Forum later this year.
Alvaro has already spoken once at our Club, and has offered to do so again to talk of his experiences in London, and how he finds this year's Forum experience in his 'giving back' capacity. He is a great role model for other students at the Forum. We look forward to hearing from him soon.
Not a golfer, a golfer, just want to help your community through sponsorship. This is the event for you. Click on picture for PDF Brochure download for all details and how to register.
All can be involved in this year's premier Golf Tournament
In association with the Citizens advice Bureau of Glen Inness and with the assistance of New World St Johns, located in Lunn avenue members of Rotary St Johns were able to successfully work with an amazing community and over the day packed 116 boxes of donated food for the Glen Inness and Tamaki food banks. Co-ordinator Miles Cain plus CAB manager Patsy Sim were overwhelmed by the generosity of shoppers who gladly supported those in need to be able to make a difference within the community.
PE Robyn had the pleasure of spending last Friday with our Rotary Youth Exchange Students - five Inbounds and six 2019 Outbounds, on their annual Auckland Day.
Students and chaperones had a blast visiting the Auckland Central Fire Station, The Mayor's Office and Auckland Central Police Station. Highlights included an audience with Mayor Phil Goff - where he took the time to speak with all of us; meeting a Police Puppy; and getting some inside intel on our Armed Offenders Squad.
Once released from the Police visit, we lunched in the city and then sent RYE's on a "discover the City" quest which completed with them all catching a ferry to Half Moon Bay and a traditional Kiwi BBQ.
We were delighted to be asked to supply volunteer helpers for the weekend ‘Ride for Life Motorcycle Show’ which is an annual MEGA-event put on by Papakura Rotary Club each year and held at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane.
We had a healthy roster of 10+ volunteers from St John’s for each day where our duties included assisting inside at the Rotary info stand or patrolling exit doors; and outside, directing motorbike parking.
The show is the largest motorcycle event in Auckland and generally attracts a crowd of some 3000 each day and nets the Papakura Club approx. $140K!!!
The wet weather impacted on crowd numbers – but it was still a very busy event. Bikes on show inside were amazing and equally awesome were the bikes and their riders parking everywhere outside. Assisting with this show will net our Club a very handy $5K – so heartfelt thanks to members who made themselves available to do this: Ingram's x 4; Peter W, Ruth, Gary, Peter B, Tricia, Eddie, Brian, Kevin, Murray, David, Lesley and Ainie.
Chris Herlihy, Club Member and Principal of Glen Taylor School, was last week’s guest speaker and gave us an enthusiastic and informative report on a Teachers Delegation to China, which he was delighted to be part of.
The object of the trip was to explore the possibility of engaging a Mandarin learning assistant which Glen Taylor School would potentially share with other schools in the area.
Highlights of the trip included: exploring the Birds Nest (Beijing National Stadium); visiting the Great Wall; Shanghai at night; and trying to get their guide to let them explore the local bars (mostly unsuccessful). Xie xie Chris.
Four cheerful senior students (Year 8s) from Glen Taylor School joined us for breakfast last week. They were very proud to report about their ongoing efforts to support Mr Amos in Tavenui – raising $170 by holding a mufti day.
The students all took turns to speak and thanked the club for our ongoing support.
Travis Mann from Hanford (California) visited our Club last week and exchanged banners. Travis is a Rural Banker and loves NZ and (amazingly?) advised he felt very "at home" at our club! Well done St John's for making an unexpected overseas guest feel so welcome.
Our Club has been given the great opportunity to earn a quick $5K (yes, five thousand) simply by assisting Papakura Rotary Club with their annual and extremely popular motorcycle show. They are looking for around 10 (ten) Rotary helpers at the ASB Showgrounds on Saturday 24 & on Sunday 25 November.
They need us to man doors, guide parking and man a Rotary booth. Shifts would probably be four hours. Could members who can help please email Robyn ASAP who will coordinate a schedule. Email: Robyn.ingram@outlook.com
This is Waisea Karikaritu. He is a very brave 5 year old boy. Waisea came with grandma from Taveuni to have his eyes looked at by the good surgeons. The number of lives have changed and touched with their sight restored is humbling. Do join Ainie this Thursday, 8 Nov 2018 where she will share with you the amazing project that have been running for 13 successful years and how we can help, plus also other Taveuni projects that have been completed and the upcoming Build Project planned for next year.
A very emotional day today with not a dry eye in the closing ceremony - now people know why I continue coming back. After such a high point we celebrated with a cruise boat dinnner at the end of which the skies opened up with a torrential downpour!
An engaging and witty speaker right from the beginning to the end of his talk peppered with various digressions. Rod began his work in the world of satire as a cartoonist in 1987 to “keep the bastards honest”. Rod is also a talented editorial cartoonist, caricaturist and gifted painter. He knew that he could draw but he also had a notorious streak in telling jokes. He’s done a lot in his time such as has being the editorial cartoonist for the New Zealand Herald since 2003. Previously, he was editorial cartoonist for APN News & Media (Australia), based in Queensland. His cartoons were syndicated to newspapers in three states.
One could say Rod has ruffled many a feather in his lively career.
He's satirised politicians, the powerful and recently the coach Michael Cheika of the Australian rugby side, who took exception to being drawn as a clown and he wasn’t laughing when Rod dressed him up as a clown before the Bledisloe Test. Rod’s brief was to needle him just a little bit.
Rod explained his work isn’t just about humour - it's a social commentary that pulls no punches, even when people threaten to punch him. Rod was delighted when Donald Trump entered the race to become US President because only he said only the cartoonist will benefit from him being President.
The Environment & Science Committee would like to invite you to join us for the Maybury Reserve Stream clean up on Saturday, 17th November.
Start time is 9 am, gloves and bags will be provided and please bring your gumboots (if you have a pair). Further details will be posted as to where to park, etc., closer to the date. Save the date!
From a bridge over the stream you can immediately see some road cones in the stream and rubbish on the banks and from the other side is a supermarket trolley in the stream bed. Definitely needs a clean up - this reserve is actually quite charming with its open areas and walkways right in the center of Glen Innes with the library backing onto the start of this reserve. All are welcome including interested people from the GI community.
St Johns Rotary member Sam LUCAS has just been honoured as one of Auckland University’s top “40 under 40” Alumni.
Note Sam was interviewed and this profile was written by Auckland University prior to him learning that ONJA’s Rotary Global Grant Application had been successful.
From the Blood Pressure Awareness Day at New World, Lunn Ave - with Jane Belthazar and prospective new member Pagutharavin Manimaran helping John and Jonathan from (the other) "St John".
In the last 10 years, St Johns Rotary has grown its number of members by 79.49%, from a starting figure of 39 members (using the initial compared to this year's figures supplied as at February 2018 - there will of course be some fluctuation to the present situation). This made us the 4th largest club in our Rotary District 9920. Well done and thanks for the proactive membership development guidance of Beryl over 5 years, followed by Allan last Rotary year, and now Robyn.
Within NZ Pacific Rotary, only 5 other clubs grew greater percentage than this, and they are: Port Vila; Henderson; Apia; New Plymouth North; and Oamaru. There are currently 264 Rotary clubs throughout NZ Pacific, with an average club membership of 31 Rotarians.
Unfortunately, total membership in NZ Pacific Rotary has dropped by 20% over this 10 year period, with 75% of clubs declining in numbers, and 30% of all clubs have less than 20 members. For this reason, there is a Rotary Modernisation Exploration Project underway that is looking at the structure of Rotary in NZ Pacific, such as how many Rotary districts are best for the future, and what needs to be done to arrest the decline in total member numbers.
While the decline in the number of NZ Pacific Rotarians is of serious concern, this is regarded as an opportunity, rather than a “woe is me” situation by the Rotary Modernisation Exploration Project. Full information about the membership situation and the modernisation options to address this was circulated to all Rotary clubs earlier this year.
In the meantime, our Rotary club needs to keep on growing our membership via new quality people being introduced, and also make sure that our existing members are happy and fulfilled in their Rotary membership experience, so membership is up to all of us!
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.
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.
I first Joined Rotary because of Mary Ann D. several years ago I can't remember which year but Bruce Hancock was the president then and it is the first time I have joined anything like this. I was impressed with the good humour of all the members and their caring attitude. The meetings are fun and interesting and well run. Everyone made an effort to welcome me as a member which is great.
I am single (actually divorced) with no kids and no family in NZ at the moment. I have a brother who travels away a lot and my mother recently passed away.
In the last two weeks there have been two small but hugely successful projects - the Beach Clean-up and the ERK Packing. Were these popular - nothing beats the cameraderie of a hands-on project!
It seemed like a 'half the club' turned up there was such a good group. This mornings beach clean up at Tahuna Torea Reserve was great fun and quite invigorating just to enjoy a very pleasant and beautiful place. More in the next club bulletin so make sure you have a good read. Thanks to Nick for organising.
Packed and ready to go. Thanks to the enthusiastic club team that joined those from other clubs for today's Emergency Response Kit packing.
What an effort!
For those who have not done this before this is precision operation to get exactly the right items packed so they will fit the box … there is almost not enough room for air.The end result is a supply of ERKs that ultimately will be 'life savers' for families in dire need in time of disaster in the Pacific.
Tahuna Torea is a beautiful nature reserve and wetland (salt marsh and freshwater habitat) in Glendowie that we do our bit to keep pristine. Bring yourself, your family and friends, rope in your neighbours and help with the clean up - it is really great fun. Open to all.
The Environment & Science Committee would like to invite you to join us for the Tahuna Torea Nature Reserve clean up next Sunday, 8th July.
Start time is 9am at the car park at the bottom of West Tamaki Road. Gloves and bags will be provided, bring your woolies.
If the weather is not favourable the postponement date is Sunday, July 22. Queries to Nick Goddard.
Tahuna Torea Nature Reserve Clean Up Excitement Builds
We all have a great story of our lives to tell and while we may not necessarily want to tell it all, placing some of the more relevant parts into a Bio helps our fellow members get to know us.
This is exceptionally easy.
Just login into the club's ClubRunner site and behind the Member Area at the top of the Admin list is 'Edit Profile' - go into this and click on the 'Biography' tab - there are two options of which one makes your Bio visible to other Rotarians in District 9920 and the other has visibility to club members only - your choice.
Last week, President Allan Smith hosted his first meeting. He arranged for Assistant Governor (AG) Pam Clarke to facilitate a “discussion” meeting where members were invited to talk about all aspects of St John’s Rotary Club “moving forward”. (Thanks Pam for your great work leading this very productive meeting). Five topics were quickly established and agreed for discussion.
Meeting Programme
Projects
Funding
Membership
Social
Due to time constraint, only the first four topics were covered. President-Elect Robyn and Bulletin co-editor Alan Mayne, worked as scribes for the meeting and recorded the following main points. Click Read More for a recap on what is important to us…
Every project the club does or event it holds is important and for every one of these we want to succeed to its maximum potential. It is a strange thing, but this does not happen if we do not tell people about these club activities, yet it is so easy to do so.
So, for EVERY project and event, no matter how small or big, MUST go onto the club calendar in the website. There are two options depending on complexity that need to be done:
As members of this wonderfully vibrant Rotary club we need to know each other and we need to be able to EASILY communicate with each other. To find out how ...
It's been another exciting and demanding three months. Thanks to many of you, momentum continues to build, and we take another step closer to getting the school open!
St John's Club Member Gary Key is delighted to announce that discussions with Orakei Marina have "successfully" concluded. They have agreed to make a "significant" donation to support the "Have A Go" Sailing Program.
The Rotary Club of St John's extends sincere thanks to Orakei Marina and also to the Chenery Trust for their ongoing support of the superb "Have A Go" sailing program.
The weekend weather forecast of heavy rain and thunder did not dampen of those involved in organising another fun and inspirational RYPEN program held at Sir Peter Blake Marine Educational Reserve Centre, Long Bay Auckland. The 68 students from 25 schools including 5 students from International Youth Exchange Programs attended the weekend camp. Our speakers for the weekend include MP for Tamaki, Simon O’Connor, Lee Warn and Nick Tuatasi with the students engaging with the speakers with vigour and thought provoking questions. During the day, the team from MERC were exuberant in encouraging the students in team building exercise and in perseverance and cooperation. Thank you the Rotaractors for getting involved as team leaders and the members of Rotary Club of St Johns for their enthusiasm in making the RYPEN camp a memorable weekend for the students.
The Z gas station in Glen Innes has selected RYDA as one of their charities for the Good in the Hood programme. Voting for this happens during May so if you ever use this station please vote for RYDA with their token. Any money raised from this will go towards the Glendowie and Tamaki College RYDA programme days.
Rotary Club of Somerville hosted a 'Women in Rotary High Tea' on Saturday, with a Hats and Handbags theme. A glass of bubbles at the door set the tone (served by the only men at the event) as women arrived decked out in a huge variety of hats.
Well, what hasn’t Sang done? Sang took us on a global, whirlwind and humourous journey: NZ, USA, Korea, back to NZ. But let’s first back up the truck…Sang arrived in NZ from Korea as a 7 year old who spoke absolutely no English.
Three information evenings are coming up for students and families to find out more about Rotary Youth Exchange - an awesome programme! If you have family or friends in this age group - come along to an info evening and find out about this well-respected; world-respected Youth Exchange Scheme.
Ideal for Secondary Students aged 16-18 years in 2019 (current Y10-13s).
“Action of Choice” reflects what Rotary is all about and as members of a great Rotary club I was somewhat surprised at the lack of willingness to be involved in the management of the club. For those who have indicated their willingness to take on a role we thank you. 😊
Often, I hear from members that there appears to be a divide between the old members and the new. I can understand that but by being involved it can help breakdown this divide. Since I have been involved on the Board I have felt a compelling understanding of what Rotary is about and how we can be an important part of the community. Great friendships also develop.
We appreciate that members belong for many reasons both socially and project community actions locally and internationally. However, Robyn and I need help to finalise the team to support the club over the next 12 months / 2 years.
What we need help with are the following:
Management of the Bulletin (2 x person/s makes this job easier and Robyn will assist)
Website / Facebook management
Social fellowship
Special Projects convenor
These are important to the club functioning well and if you can assist please give me a ring.
How often have you said “Yes” when offered an opportunity even if you really knew little or even nothing about what was involved?
The response from those who can answer “Yes” is that it brought countless amazing people into their lives, an incredible array of experiences they would never otherwise have participated in and all this has helped them to become the happy, successful people they are today.
Be exciting, be adventurous, and Rotary will be rewarding for you. Say “YES” when offered the chance to participate. Everyone will help you succeed such is the goodwill of your fellow members so have a go when asked.
For those of us interested in hearing the progress of our Club’s initiative we spoke about at the evening meeting, the club will be hosting some of the most brilliant intelligent members from all walks of Auckland and beyond for the Taveuni Trivia Night on 1 March 2018 at Glen Taylor School, West Tamaki Road. If you have not purchased your ticket, I suggest you do so quickly as we are inviting friends and members from other districts to join us on the evening.
Clubrunner is the website platform we all use for Rotary in New Zealand and the pacific including our districts and clubs. The following will help you as a member to access these. Note that the login you have is the same at Rotary Oceania, district and club levels.
Fun run, walk or dance to support our local community and especially our young people by raising suicide prevention and awareness. A great way to support a local cause and connect with our Pt England GI community. Suitable for all ages and fitnesses.
Club member Toni Millar [Orakei Board] pictured with Desley Simpson [Auckland Council] and Denise Lee [MP Maungakieke] at the opening of Stonefields Heritage trail.
Located along the cliffs on the south-west side of the old Mt Wellington Quarry, the trail runs along existing basalt benches and a short section of open terrain, and traverses a proposed stair and boardwalk structure. Click Read More for another photograph...
It's almost the end of the year and we thought it would be a good time to have one last social fling before we all head into the festive season. Come along and enjoy the best Malaysian food in Auckland, BYO and banter with fellow Rotarians. Plus one's welcome. A few moderately cringing Thanksgiving practices may take place!
When: Thursday 23 November at 6:30pm
Venue: KK Malaysia Cuisine, 463A Manukau Road, Epsom
If you didn't make the meeting last week, you missed seeing Elf Robyn, correctly dressed and diligently at elfin-work urging members to get their name on the Elf Supervision Rosters. If you haven’t put your name down for a shift - be warned - you may well find yourself on the “naughty” list!
Only 35 more sleeps until Christmas!
St John’s Rotary and Glendowie College Interact Club are combining Elf resources at Sylvia Park this Christmas Season to man the “Gold Coin Donation Christmas Gift Wrapping” booths. Based on last year's donations this fundraiser could potentially raise up to $21K. (Click Read more for How it will Work...)
Many of us will be following the team via posts from Miles on Journi and Ainie's posts on Facebook. Miles reports they all arrived safely and their accommodation is at Club Magnolia. Mornings start gently with Tai Chi at 7:15am led by Hunter (one of the team members). Miles stated they are all “an uncoordinated bunch of misfits”. Breakfast follows at 7:30am and then a bus takes them 30 minutes to get to the build site (with a stop on the way to buy fresh bananas). Safety boots for locals are jandals or bare feet, whereas Team Habitat has standard issue closed footwear.
Timely communication within Rotary is important in order for us to be an effective club and also to minimise time-waste. For this reason the following are available to you:
Club Member Individual Contacts: 1) Go to 'Rotarians Area' and select Member Directory, 2) Login to Clubrunner, 3) go to desired member
Club member Directory: 1) Login to Clubrunner, 2) Go to Member area, 3) Go to Reports then eDirectory Reports 2, then scroll down to Standing Reports and Generate what you need - this will email you a copy that you can file to your computer Desktop for easy access.
St Johns Rotary has been given the opportunity to do a major fundraiser for the Club, and at the same time we can have fun and get into the spirit of Christmas giving!
Our job for this fundraiser will be to supervisegift wrapping booths located at Sylvia Park Shopping Mall. We will be assisted by Glendowie College Interact Club (our Interact Club) who will do the actual wrapping. All funds raised from the service go to projects for those in need of a helping hand in a local community.
Rotary Supervisors are required from 4 - 24 December. Rosters with shifts/times will be available at the next meeting. Don't hold back, dig out your Elf hat and sign-up to help please! For more info on this fun and festive project...
Another two months has passed and I am still in Antananarivo, however we have made some good progress, and I (finally) leave for Mahanoro today!
Key Progress
Simon's presentation: I think most will know that Simon presented Onja to the club and high power Rotarian visitors. I'm told Simon worked his magic and the visitors want to see Onja happen. That should give our grant proposal a good boost! Thank you everyone and in particular Simon for going out of your way to make that happen.
St Johns Commitment: Thank you for openly and thoughtfully considering the project, and for being some of the very first people to recognise its potential. This is very rare in a space I have found to be pretty sheepish (both in the way people and entities follow one another, and are overly adverse to measured risk). St Johns has committed to investing 15 NZD over 3 years. It is a real milestone and I cannot thank you all enough.
I am very pleased to report that today (Monday 9 October) we completed our project , waterproofing an old “War bunker” that is used to store equipment for the Motutapu Restoration Trust. It was through Bunnings Mt Wellington generous donation of materials that made this possible. So a BIG thanks you from St Johns Rotary and the Motutapu Restoration Trust.
I am so delighted to say that St Johns Rotary collected a total of $1836.90 from the Sergeants round and both collection points at Meadowbank and New World Lunn Ave on Red Nose Day. This is an amazing amount – I am so proud of our club. ($745 of this came from Meadowbank where we only collected for 4 hours). Amazing effort, deserving of mention in the newsletter.
We were advised at our last evening meeting about Drug Free Sport NZ calling for applicants for the role of Chaperone. Here are full details. Please feel free to alert appropriate family, friends and colleagues to the details:
About the Organisation
Drug Free Sport NZ (DFSNZ) is a crown entity with the responsibility to implement and apply the World Anti-Doping Code in New Zealand. Our mission is to work with the New Zealand sporting community and to ensure all levels of New Zealand sport is clean and drug free.
Your role – Chaperone
Your role will be to; notify athletes of their selection for doping-control, chaperone the athletes until the test mission is complete and to witness the passing of the sample (from the athlete).
Last week was Rotary Alumni Reconnect Week but in reality every day presents a new chance to speak to someone you may know who has taken part in one of Rotary's programmes and suggest they come along to Rotary and see if it is for them. Most Alumni have never been asked yet they owe so much for the experiences - often life-changing experiences - they gained through Rotary. At our recent evening meeting, we heard of the experiences of our RYLA awardees and at least one was so impressed with our club that he immediately signed a new member application form and at least one other was going to seriously consider the same - the power of ASKING. Offer others the chance to enrich their lives through the Rotary experience.
This report contains words and information some members may find disturbing!!!
Graeme opened by explaining the Prostate Cancer Foundation in NZ has been in existence for around 20 years and started as a voluntary organisation. Around five years ago the Board made a strategic decision to establish a National office in Auckland. The original team of two has now grown to six. The Foundation deals not just with Prostate Cancer (known as an ‘older men’s disease’) but also Testicular Cancer (‘younger men’s disease’). To generate awareness of Testicular Cancer, for the first time this year the “Go Balls Out” campaign was rolled out. The campaign asked the public to create cock and ball maps across the New Zealand landscape by using an exercise app such as MapMyWalk. Once the walk (aka cock and ball masterpiece) was created, the idea was to take a screenshot of it and share this with the hashtag #goballsout and tag goballsout.org.nz. Thanks to social media the campaign went viral (reaching 190 countries) and created superb awareness of this particular cancer which kills more young Kiwi men than any other cancer. (We dare you to Click onto the link for more...)
Alan Smith attended Future Leaders Forum and described it as an outstanding event where he was able to listen to inspiring speakers on a number of interesting yet specific topics, and then to discuss this with the other participants using a "World Cafe" table discussion format.
Beryl and Colin made mention of the fact that the format of the Rotary Symposium weekend was an example of the positive change that is occurring within Rotary at present. Beryl was involved on the committee that created Future Leaders a few years ago at the Brisbane Rotary Institute, bring and establishing the highly successful initiative back in New Zealand. Now it is all moving to a new stage as is Rotary and this is explained further at http://www.rotaryoceania.zone/Stories/the-challenge-is-change
Club member Simon Jones took the floor to tell our guests about Sam Lucas and his Onja project. We can report that Simon's presentation generated some strong interest and comments from special visitor John Hewko (General Secretary of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation) and some of the other influential Rotarians.
Rotary Club of St Johns very proudly hosted many international Rotary guests (and extra's from around Auckland) at our recent 'full house' evening meeting.
Setting the tone for the evening was the Kapa Haka group from Glen Taylor School. Resplendent in their new uniforms, they gave a strong performance and the boys Haka was thoroughly enjoyed by our international guests. It was great to hear from their Principal (and club member) Chris Herlihy, who cleverly took the opportunity to promote the schools big raffle.
This performance was followed by students from St Piux X Catholic School who sang beautifully, accompanying themselves on guitar. They started with a well know kiwi classic (Ten Guitars) and also sang a Tongan number, in celebration of Tongan language week. It is always a delight to host students and staff from this school.
Henning has sent us an update (via FaceBook Messenger)
Good Day, here I’m again!
I arrived good in Germany, but missed one flight in Dubai, so I arrived few hours later than I expected. After that I did do an internship for four weeks at an carpentry company, but they didn’t want to take me, so I called at one day with 20 companies to get an apprenticeship training position as soon as possible. And one company said that I could come around the next day to talk with the boss.
We were honoured to host a very large party of visiting Rotarian’s who were in Auckland to attend the Rotary Symposium taking place primarily at Waipuna Lodge from 8-10 September. The symposium combined two events, ‘Institute’ and ‘Future Leaders Seminar’.
‘Institute’ is an annual event where each Rotary International Director convenes a meeting of senior leaders in Zone (past, present and incoming) to share information, ideas and resources, build new connections and reacquaint with old friends, and exchange ideas about Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.
The ‘Future Leaders’ seminar was open to any Rotarian wanting to learn more about Rotary from a leadership perspective. The symposium was preceded by pre-Institute events including Governor-Elect and Governor-Nominee training, Governors Forum and the best little club in the Biosphere (St John’s) hosting a joint meeting.
Our guest speaker was Rotary Foundation Trustee Mike Webb from England. To open, Mike told us his Rotary Club meets in the village of Cheddar, and how Cheddar (the Village) got its name. He then went on to talk about the Rotary Foundation.
In support of the Mental Health Foundation, an "elite" group of club members enjoyed a wine tasting hosted at the Ingram Residence on Saturday evening. Superb wines were provided by Roger Garrett who divided us into four teams and coached us through a challenging game to see which team was best at identifying each wine's country of origin, grape variety, age and alcohol content.
The teams, aptly named: Que Syrah Syrah; Wineskis, Wine Knot and Gewurty Old Men grew amazingly more confident as the evening progressed! The Wineskis unexpectedly won the evening with a last minute run on the reds.
The funds Roger makes from these special wine tastings are part of his commitment to the Kilimanjaro Challenge 2017. Roger is one of 25 individuals registered for this 12 day adventure, culminating in a climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Led by Ultramarathon Runner, Mal Law (who has partnered with the Mental Health Foundation) each individual registered is set a fundraising target of $4,000. Collectively (so far) the group have raised over $100,000 for the Mental Health Foundation. Departure date for the challenge is September 13. We look forward to hearing back from Roger on how this epic adventure goes.
The exuberant, energised and youthful Chloe Swarbrick was our guest speaker this week. Chloe came to our notice last year when at age 22, she decided to run for the Auckland Mayoralty. Why? Because after interviewing the top four candidates for a radio show, she was genuinely uninspired by their vision and then got "really worked up" when she learned that voter turnout was sitting at only 34%.
A quick google search on "How to Run for Mayor" told her what she needed to do and thus began her political experiment to see if she could get more people engaged in the campaign and actually turning out to vote. Despite joining the race much later than the other candidates, Chloe came in third with 30,000 votes.
Her back story: Chloe attended Epsom Girls Grammar, but disenchanted with High School, left in Year 12 and went to University of Auckland one year earlier than normal. Stating she "likes to rush through things" Chloe fast tracked a six-year conjoint Bachelor of Arts (in Philosophy) and Law into just four-and-a-half years.
Hello, My name is Jessie Alison and I was the recipient of the Peter McKenzie Scholarship via Glendowie College in 2007. Being a decade ago now, I thought to write and keep you updated! The Scholarship went towards my first year of studies at the University of Auckland in 2008 where I studied Commerce. After this, I took a few years off studies and for personal reasons moved to Whangarei, Northland.
Our team arrived safely in Fiji and are already hard at work.
Pictured (left), Past President Ainie Kwok at the resident of Geoff Amos (President of Taveuni Rotary Club and one of our guest speakers last week).
Also pictured (right) is the Teacher's House the team are currently painting (interior and outside). Awesome work everyone! Look out for their updates on Facebook.
A few of our club members attended The Annual Musical Gala Concert by Glendowie College. It was held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell and the acoustics at the venue enhanced the superb, entertaining and highly talented performances from Glendowie students.
One of the solo pianist's was Deanna Louis, president of the Interact Club. Deanna is in Year 12 and is a very talented, and organised young woman. She is a good communicator and a potential leader for the School. Deanna performed “La Plus Que Lente” by Claude Debussy. She is also a percussionist in the concert band. Definitely a future leader in the making!
Since the last update almost two months ago now I have been stuck in Antananarivo, the capital city, mainly waiting for information from the government. It's been a little frustrating but has also given me a chance to work on many of the smaller things that I have not got around to doing.
Key Progress:
Hiang, one of our former web teachers in NZ has improved our website onja.org so that we can now accept donations. This was much more work than I anticipated and Hiang did a great job. She is a computer science graduate currently looking for a job in IT in case anyone knows of any openings!
10 Aug An exciting TBA. Watch the Bulletin for updates
17 Aug Malini Raghwan (District Governor) and Geoffrey Amos (Taveuni, Fiji)
24 Aug Chloe Swarbrick (Green Party list candidate)
31 Aug Raewynne Jacobs (Foundation North previously as the ASB Community Trust) Foundation North provide the main funding for the Manaiakalani Education Trust which the schools our club supports are part of.
7 Sep Rotary Institute Hosting 40 international Rotary delegates
Tricia has been a member of St John’s Rotary almost six months and reports very much enjoying being part of the best little Rotary Club in the Biosphere.
Tricia has worked at Sacred Heart College for 19 years, 15 of those years in her current position as Fees Manager (Finance Department). She is in charge of collecting school and boarding fees and also works closely with families in their school community who need financial assistance.
19 Aug Dove Hospice Garage Sale 8:00 am until 12 noon – this sale takes place every third Saturday of the month at their Distribution Centre, Corner of Eric Paton Way & Elizabeth Knox Place, Glen Innes. Rotary volunteers always happily utilised to assist with the sale.
19 Aug Taveuni House building team departs for Fiji
20 Aug Tree Planting and Nursery work on Motutapu
1-2 Sep MS Society Street Appeal – collection at New World, Stonefields
2 Sep Motutapu Makeover (working on the bunker, small team required)
Our club has been invited to take over this annual event from Auckland East club. This is a very popular, fun, family focused community and school event. Have a look at this promotional video to get an idea of how “big” this event already is: https://www.facebook.com/Auckland-East-Rotary-108550902498374
Rotary Ramble
Dates TBA
New event offered to us in conjunction with three other clubs. The ramble is promoted as a cross between a ‘treasure hunt’ and an ‘amazing race’ where teams get to explore the City whilst competing for prizes. Currently being successfully run in Perth. President Peter will have more information soon.
We are delighted to report this evening event will be a FULL HOUSE with 106 attending (so no stragglers permitted). To meet the high ticket demand, tables will be cozy but stretched to seat nine per table. Please arrive by 6:00 pm to allow time to order drinks and select a table. Be ready to be seated by 6:25 pm, where to ease catering congestion we will be invited to the buffet table-by-table.
This will be a scintillating and entertaining evening featuring NZ's voice of the America's Cup (since 2002) and New Zealand Yachtsman of the year in 1977 and 1987.
For more about Peter Lester, please click the link...
Our Club is a great supporter of the RYE programme, hosting every second year. Our most recent exchange student Henning (from Germany) returned home just last month and many of us miss watching him work his way through three rounds of breakfast! Henning's hosting families are also enjoying (via Messenger) his cheeky updates on life back at home. St Johns members who have welcomed and hosted exchange students will be very aware how enriching the hosting experience is. Other members not in the position to host, have still enjoyed the fun of whisking away our student for weekend excursions; sharing day outings; or simply having "our student" for a meal in their home.
We know this programme is life changing for the students we host, and for the students our District sends out. We also know that RYE participants are put through a very stringent selection process and are incredibly well prepared for their exchange. Really sadly, because of the difficulty in securing host clubs and families, RYE District Committee is extremely worried (and somewhat shamed) that the RYE programme is struggling to survive in Auckland.
Simon is a regular visitor to our club. Having paid careful attention to Nick’s “snap chat”, Simon suggested he might need Nick’s advice on how to work with difficult leaders (such as Winston Peters).
Since presenting to us last, Simon has married Rachel and gained five children (three of them at home) and one crazy barking dog. His days of returning from work to a silent house, putting up his feet and watching the history channel have now been replaced with a household where homework takes priority, and teenaged “angst” is very real.
He was delighted to discover we had a team travelling to Taveuni and was able to share that he lived and worked in Taveuni for two years and is well acquainted with Geoff Amos. He described his time there as being two of the most amazing years of his life!
Nick was still in shock from his recent and successful completion of the week long RYLA camp (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). He described the first three days of the camp as full of inspirational speakers from whom he learned interpersonal skills and the nuances of relationship building.
Thanks to inside knowledge (unwittingly shared with him) he knew he would be forced out of his comfort zone and was not disappointed when Army supervisors called a 3AM muster, broke up previously comfortable groups alliances and allocated camp participants into totally new groups for the journey to Rangitoto. Nick then reported surviving 22 hours of “forming, storming and performing” physical and mental challenges, all of which were completed whilst totally drenched, thanks to torrential rain.
Roger is the guest speaker on 20 July. He was was born in South Taranaki 65 years ago, and eventually settled in Auckland in the 1980’s. His Mother created a huge and very beautiful country garden, and it is no coincidence that Roger made his career in the garden and nursery industry. Milne’s Plant Link, a complete plant supply service, was the major focus in the 1990’s, and this business eventually sold in 2006. The sport of rowing keeps the Milnes busy, and Roger was a rowing umpire at the Rio Olympic Games. He has been a Rotarian at Pakuranga for 5 years, and has been managing Trees for Survival for the last 2 1/2. He will give an update on Trees for Survival, and a glimpse of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
It was a beautiful graduation dinner attended by over 150 guests at Willow Park Christian Convention Center. The RYLArians awardees had a warm glow and was clearly elated with their achievement over the 8 days/7 nights camp. Our club was fortunate to be able to send 8 fine young men and women to RYLA and no doubt we will hear from them, including Nick Goddard in the next few months to share their stories and experiences.
David finally arrived following high jinks in the sky (thunder and lightning). He meaningfully spoke of how grateful he was of Rotary’s engagement with polio immunisation and eradiation. His late mother contracted polio as 6-month-old baby following a polio vaccination. She did recover, became a Pharmacist and a pro-vaccine supporter. David presented two topics - Charter Schools and Assisted Dying (Euthanasia) Bill.
David spoke of his passion for Charter Schools and said that following the end of schooling 1 in 4 students are not in employment and pointed out with no education, there are no jobs. David said New Zealand has the best and worst education system in the OECD. In his view, ACT bought about Charter Schools also termed Partnership Schools. Those currently operating span from a military academy, to project-based inquiry learning, to Steiner and to Maori. Partnership Schools Policy allows communities, iwi, philanthropists and business organisations to partner with educators to open new innovative schools. These schools are highly accountable as they contract with the Government to meet specified, rigorous educational standards in return for the freedom to innovate. David mentioned such a school in Albany with small class sizes of 15 students and providing good teacher salaries. It is one of the top ten schools achieving Level 2 NCEA.
David then went on to talk to about the Assisted Dying (Euthanasia) Bill. He had read the book on Lecretia Seales and believes as a society we’re failing about 25% of the time and said the motivation for this Bill is compassion. It’s about the significant minority of people with terminal illness or who are grievously and irremediably ill, as they anticipate the prospect of intolerable suffering and the indignity of the final few days and weeks of their lives.
This is an interesting story; one that our honorary member David Stone is passionate about. I am sharing the article with you as I myself finds it interesting and important.
Fondly referred to by some as “Dots’, New Zealand dotterels are appealing little shore birds, their sharp ‘cheep’ call signalling their constant alertness to possible danger. They need to be watchful. Dotterels nest on the ground, where the camouflage of their colouring gives some protection against aerial predators but not against mammals. Camouflage isn’t much of an obstacle to predators with a strong sense of smell.
The NZ dotterel is endemic to New Zealand and their numbers are threatened and yet they often live and breed in close proximity to human communities. On Omaha Spit in Rodney District, north of Auckland, David Stone, a trustee of the Omaha Shorebird Protection Trust, estimates that the closest housing is now only about 80 metres away from the Shorebird Sanctuary. That’s close – very close! Sections in the adjacent subdivision have been sold and there is constant building activity.
Thanks to Phil, we now know that Qantas is one of the oldest airlines in the world (some 98 years in fact) and they have been operating in NZ continuously for over 80 years, two years longer than Air New Zealand!
Via his engaging presentation, we learned that the Qantas Frequent Flyer programme has been running for 30 years this year, and has just under 12 million members with some 10,000 new joins per week. Phil touched on how points and credits can be earned and utilised via store rewards, or for flights, with 11 airlines to now utilise.
Phil talked about how loyalty programmes have become a huge business, particularly in NZ. We have three major loyalty programmes in contention: Fly Buys, AA Smartfuel and Air Points. There is a lot of movement within these three programmes who battle it out for a staggering $61 million market.
Above (left to right) is President 2016-2017 Ainie and Club Service Director Peter, our Speaker Coordinator Namrata, President 2017-2018 Peter and our Guest Speaker, Dr Siouxsie Wikes.
The theme for the evening was Green evoked by light with a predominant wavelength of roughly 495–570 nm and representative of growth and nature. Introduced as the "Doctor of Fungus", our Incoming President, Dr Peter Buchanan, revealed an evening that was revealing, fun and very educational; Why? ... well read on ...Peter introduced guests including his family and the theme for the evening of sustainability. To that end the menu was on screen to save a whole lot of paper but there is more ... "payment" for dessert was to be four fingers in a petrie dish and in two weeks it will be revealed who has the fingers with the most bacteria on them from the fungal growth! Exciting!
This week was my last proper school week, because this week I have exam week and not really school. Friday was the day where I was with my mates together at lunch time and had my last ESL lesson. It's kind of sad when you realise that the exchange is almost over and that you are doing things for the last time. I was on the weekend with the other Inbounds on the Selection Weekend, where 9 Outbounds were which want to go this year abroad. The Inbounds hold few Presentations about their Country and at the End 2 Outbounds wanted to go to Germany. In few Weeks we will see who from them two will come to Germany.
Yeah this is my Last week! :( I don't want to leave.
See you at the Changeover Night, my Last night in New Zealand.
Henning
Henning's Fact for the week:
When Germany won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, it was the first time as a united country. The three previous times, the soccer World Cup was won by West Germany.
Henning's phrase for the week:
“The last time you're doing something- knowing you're doing it for the last- makes it even more alive then the first.”
Our June 8th meeting was a well attended and superb evening for outgoing President Ainie Kwok, celebrating completion of an extremely positive and enjoyable year leading the “irreverent” Rotary Club of St John’s. Ainie opened the evening and expressed gratitude to the club for supporting her through a very busy and successful year. She explained how she felt she had really grown into the President role; recommended the leadership experience to new members to consider; and personally thanked a number of key mentors who had provided ongoing support and prodigious advice throughout her year as President.
Proceeds from the evening are to go to the Taveuni Rotary Club in Fiji, specifically to utilise for their many building projects. Jefferey Amos is the President of the Taveuni Rotary Club. He presented at this year’s District Conference in May and received a Rotary Legend award. His approach and commitment is inspirational. The Taveuni Club do an enormous amount of work for the community which is totally disproportional to their membership (reported at 11 members). They are supported in this work by other Rotary Clubs in NZ and Australia. Chris Ward joined us from Rotary Club of Pakuranga and explained how they have been sending working teams to Taveuni for some years. His PowerPoint outlined the projects they help with and showed photographs of the building work they have completed, rebuilding teachers houses and schools. It is heart-warming to learn that Rotary is the only organisation rebuilding teachers houses and schools in Taveuni after any disaster.
Kevin Roberts former Saatchi & Saatchi World Wide CEO is speaking to Rotary Newmarket on 20th June and we are extending an invitation to all Rotary Clubs to join us.
Kevin is an inspirational speaker and internationally acclaimed marketer, best- selling business author and business man. He is a passionate rugby fan & is in NZ for the Lions tour so we have been fortunate to get him to speak which is one of his few speaking engagements during his trip.
This is a great opportunity to attend, bring your clients or friends.
We have already had registrations from a number of Rotarians from other clubs so I would appreciate if you can advise your members & get them to contact me to register.
This is an update email from Geoff Amos, president of Rotary Club of Taveuni.
Hello Ainie It seems ages since we met at the Conference. My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. On the Mon after the conference I went to hospital for surgery, came out the next day, took a few days to be active again. We flew back to Taveuni on the Saturday, from there on it has been a race to catch up. We had a week of rain which put our building program for two teachers houses back a week, a call from the hospital to upgrade a doctor's house due to lack of maintenance, blame Min of Health, we are doing the job because we need doctors at the hospital. I thought your offer to invite all to your changeover was amazing, unbelievable and incredible. Thank you most sincerely. We do need all the help we can get. The wants are many and varied. However the two most important are our focus on Women's projects and the rebuilding of TC Winston destroyed classrooms and teachers houses. Last Monday the Chairman, Bob Fulton and 3 Directors of Fulton Hogan Hiways flew from Dunedin to Taveuni to be present at the official opening of the Vuna Primary School. This was the first school to be rebuilt after the Cyclone, no Govt help. Our major partners were Fulton Hogan Hiways, RC MOSGIEL and RAWCS/RNZWCS. Yes,we would like to work with RC St. John's, we have all sorts of health and educational projects. Let's get started. Thank you again, it was very heartening to hear how well your Club is doing. With best wishes to you and your members, Geoffrey Amos Rotary Club of Taveuni Island, Fiji
Wendy and Alex delivered pencils, pencil sharpeners and rubbers, that the club paid for, to the year 1 children. They were very pleased to receive them.
We are planning on visiting Mwanahawa and her parents in the next 2 weeks. It is graduation week this week so the staff that arrange home visits are very busy at the moment.
This week several of the students involved in the Rotary Programmes at Glendowie College came to the club meeting and provided an enthusiastic and very articulate update of their involvement in the Interact Club, RYPEN and the Rotary Science and Technology Forum. It was very clear that they were grateful for the opportunities provided to them through these programmes and were making the most of these. Below is a summary of each from the student's perspective.
‘Onja’ as an organisation is committed to unlocking opportunity to the world’s poor on an unprecedented scale. Onja is a social enterprise empowering gifted students to code their way out of poverty – Highly intelligent teenagers from extremely poor communities learn to code, increase their earning power by a factor of 25, and later pay forward education...
Ben Lucas is the Founder of Onja and joined St Johns Rotary recently. He spoke of his vision and the club also became a supporter of this and is exploring whether a Rotary Foundation Global Grant is possible. The following is a copy of two recent emails that provide the club with an update:
Please support our District's program "Trees For Survival". This year, we will be planting on 25 May 2017, 581 Clevedon-Kawakawa Bay Road. We will be accompanying students from Glendowie Primary School for the day. It is a great day out and a sumptious lunch provided as well as transport to and from Glendowie Primary School.
Trees For Survival is looking at local planting in the future.
If you have not been involved, please contact Murray Hutchinson (murrayh1@orcon.net.nz) for more details.
From Geoffrey Amos, president of Rotary Club of Taveuni Island
To be a vibrant club we need inspirational projects, projects that excite and challenge, build fellowship and enthusiasm in our community and with other clubs. We aim to achieve $50,000 of projects per member per year. We have a plan, we work our plan, we review and update our plan. We delete completed projects and add new ones. Last and most important and pressing is the rebuild following Cyclone Winston. The cyclone came out of the blue and changed our project plans. It hit us on 20 Feb 2016. We had every Aid agency, NGO and local and overseas government on the island. Doing what? Fluoro jacket, clipboard, a plastic envelope with ID all asking the same questions, "what do you need, what do you want, what can we do". One Head Teacher replied, "If you can't see you should not be here, deliver tarpaulins tents food and disappear".
For your information Rotary is the only organisation rebuilding teachers houses and schools. The rest have disappeared to the next disaster. Now is the tough time. 6 months later, little home grown food, replacement crops still being planted, little to sell, virtually no income, financial obligations to village, church and schools not fulfilled - no crops - no income. All schools except one are owned by the communities. Communities provide the houses for teachers. We have 3 teams rebuilding - support coming from Clubs in NZ & Australia, RNZWCS & RAWCS. We have built 3 teachers houses, a school ablution block and completed a damaged computer/library room. I would like to read a quote before I finish. "Being a Rotarian means that if someone needs help and you can give that help. You don't turn your back. You say, I am here for you, I will do whatever I can and I know whatever I do, I know I am not doing it alone, I am doing it with Rotary serving humanity, I am doing it with all of you"
This week I went again to school, did some important things for the last five weeks of my exchange.
Friday I drove with the bus up North to Kerikeri, to visit Katrina, a German Exchange Student. During the day we walked through Kerikeri and in the afternoon some Taiaha in front of the Stone Store.
I drove in the evening with Belinda (Jonathans (Exchange Student who was in Germany)Mother) to Taipa. During the next two days, we went to Kaitaia, went fishing for one day and relaxed in the beautiful summer weather.
Henning's Fact for the week:
Prison escape is not punishable by law in Germany – German law maintains that it’s a basic human instinct to be free and therefore, prisoners have the right to escape jail. Escapes, however, rarely go unpunished because prisoners are held liable if they cause damage to property or inflict bodily harm against any individual upon their breakout.
Henning's phrase for the week:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” -Albert Einstein
A huge thank you for your support of our Helping Hands Build. Out team have really enjoyed working with you all, and your contribution has been massive in building this home for the Nikora family. We have also raised almost $100,000 in gifts in kind, sponsorship and cash donations. All has gone towards building this home, and will be recycled back into Habitat over the next 8 years as the family pay for their home and then finally purchase.
Thing is, we haven’t quite finished. So we are looking for anyone who may have time this week Monday15th – Friday 19th to help us complete the internal fit out. Shelving, kitchen, architrave, skirting boards, painting and general finishing all on the menu for anyone willing.
If you have any time, please contact Andrew Baker on 021922007 and let him know when you can help.
I have attached a short video from NZ Herald taken on site this week. Think it says very well what we do, why we do it, and what you have all achieved.
The great debate: Moot was "that Donald Trump is the greatest US president of the 21st Century" and the Affirmative was allocated to St Johns Rotary (a bit of a challenge!).
In the immortal words of our second speaker, Ben “We were definitely of extent, amount, intensity and eminence considerably above Auckland East!” Aka Greatest!
From the presentation of the affirmative debating team resplendent with red caps emblazoned with “Make America Great Again” and Donaldesuqe hairdos the opposition in frumpy attire had no chance.
The extent and enormity of the overwhelming evidence of the affirmative case presented with eloquence, panache and flair from statues to statistics and the man’s own diatribe the Case was firmly established and needed no defence!!
Eleven club members had a fantastic time at the District Conference on the weekend of 5-7 May 2017, but even better the club received the following Awards:
Jack Smallfield Bulletin Award
Rangitoto Trophy for best contribution to the environment through projects
ChangeMaker Award - for the club making the greatest positive change over the last Rotary year
A fantastic recognition for a fast growing and very progressive club.
Monday and Tuesday I went to Motat, AKL Museum, Victoria Park Market and many other places in and around the city. I did that to complete the Facebook Easter Challenge which Sue created for me Later last week.
Allan and Sue were until Wednesday at the South Island for hiking.
Until they arrived Debbie, my host sister took care of me.
On the day Allan and Sue arrived I “surprised” the whole Smith family with a German 2 course Menu.
I went after the Thursday morning Rotary meeting to the Ingram's to work there a little bit, to talk with my hostsister and Robyn and to walk the Dog Kobi.
At Lunch Time I took the Bus to Sylvia Park to meet there some friends from school and to watch “The Fate of the Furious”.
Saturday Morning I watched Zac playing Rugby League, afterwards we drove down to Whangamata to meet there Family from Allan and Sue. We went to the beach, did Buggy boarding and Sunday we just relaxed, because the weather was nasty.
Henning's Fact for the week:
Karl Marx, the author of the Communist Manifesto, was born in the Rhineland city of Trier and was a keen member of the Trier Tavern Club drinking society (Landsmannschaft der Treveraner).
Henning's phrase for the week:
“Die Religion... ist das Opium des Volkes” - Karl Marx 1818-1883
This is a small update for Rotary members to track Onja's progress. I intend to send one out every few months, detailing our progress and key challenges.
Key Progress:
I presented at 5 rotary clubs in New Zealand over the past couple of months, and am now a member of the st Johns club!
We are now working towards an international rotary grant through the st Johns club. Rotary New Market have quite extensive experience in creating international grants and have indicated their willingness to help out where needed.
I spoke about Onja at my local church too, and a professional videographer who heard me speak offered to help. He made a this short video to supplement the crowdfunding video: https://vimeo.com/209855616
We've almost completed a 25 page proposal that we can serve as a base for the international grant proposal, and for information for donors.
I had a little bit of time off in New Zealand, and managed to go surfing once a week or so!
Key Challenges:
I've just landed in San Francisco, the idea being to continue fundraising here. I'm hoping to speak at rotary clubs and also talk with companies, and individual donors. I have very little in the way of connections to kick this process off. Simon Jones is working on a connection through rotary, but if anyone else has any personal connections to rotarians, or other people around San Francisco who might just be a lead to something then please let me know!
Loren O'Sullivan from Neustros Pequeños Hermanos New Zealand (NPHNZ)
Loren is the Director of Neustros Pequeños Hermanos New Zealand (NPHNZ), which is Spanish for ‘Our Little Brothers & Sisters’ – an organisation that helps over 3000 throughout Latin America who have been orphaned, abused or abandoned. They support nine orphanages through fundraising initiatives in New Zealand, by providing education, healthcare and homes. Loren is a former teacher who chose a posting in Honduras, where she stayed for two years teaching middle school English. On her return to New Zealand, Loren resumed teaching for a year before she realised working for NPH was what she really wanted to do, knowing first-hand how donations can help. "In my mind, I was like, this is only a dollar, and we can give a healthy snack to 20 of my students, who would then focus better in class and have more energy during the day."
Starring: Larry Morris, Fiona McDonald, Shane Cortese, Mike Chunn, Peter Urlich, Jordan Luck and many more will be taking the stage, to celebrate difference and recognize talent and courage with songs like - I Feel Good, Why Does Love Do This To Me,Let’s Think Of Something, Stuff And Nonsense, Blackbird, Rust In My Car.
We aim to, not only raise community awareness for Autism but, to also provide funds for Autism NZ’s Employment Program a program that assists people with autism to find suitable, paid employment in mainstream settings.
Venue:Sacred Heart College Auditorium, 250 West Tamaki Rd, Glendowie
Date: Saturday 13 May 2017
Time: 6pm for festive family food and refreshments (cash)
7pm Doors for show (with intermission concludes by 10pm)
The RC of Harbourside is hosting an International Dinner on Wednesday 5 April at the Remuera Club, 27-33 Ohinerau St, Remuera to celebrate the birth and development of Rotary. Their chosen country this year is the USA with a theme of Gatsby Style to celebrate the centenary of The Rotary Foundation. It will be a fun evening and it would be great if you and some of your members can support President Harjeet and his club. A flyer is attached and payment details are outlined below:
Anyone interested may register attendance with Helen Parker:- hparker@orcon.net.nz
including names of those attending please.
And please pay directly into our Auckland Harbourside club account - referencing a name:-
ANZ 01 102 00687309 00
Please support this and respond directly to Helen Parker.
Our "Have A Go!" Sailing Program continues with Glen Innes School and we have been fortunate to have Gavin Gilmer assisting us deliver this amazing program. Here is an account of the day with Glen Innes School by Gavin.
The group was supported by Aimie (one of their teachers)throughout the two days , however the principal Jono and the deputy were there on the first day. The training was conducted by Reuben from Yachting NZ.
The kids were very apprehensive and cautious of the water but after Reuben told them about the importance of wearing life jackets they felt more confident . They were taught about the basic parts of the Oppie and showed how to rig them. This was also tested on the second day to see what they remembered.
They were paired up into two kids an Oppie and instructed on three particular sail settings and basic wind direction
After sailing in the shelter of the marina they were showed how to right the yachts after capsizing them.This exercise soon became a favourite as they (students)requested to do this on the second day as well.
Venturing into the channel was daunting as the water was a lot rougher , but many of them wanted to do it again on the second day.
A truly fun filled weekend for 68 students from all over Auckland. Thanks to all the club members, George Wilson, Peter Wilcock, Hilary Prior, Jon Atkinson, Mike Turner and Todd Hanlon. Not forgetting our sponsor Lolliesonline (http://lolliesonline.co.nz/) for the jellybeans and chocolates given to the students in their pack on arrival.
All your efforts and enthusiasm have made RYPEN 2017 Willow Park possible after the cancellation of Camp Adair a week before. We managed to pull through a program within 24 hours and at the end of the camp, to see the smiles and gratitudes from the students - absolutely magical. See you all at RYPEN 2018.
A great fund raising day with 110 golfers participating in the action packed fun filled event. Megan and Warwick Jaffe (Ray White Remuera) are the very generous sponsors of this event that raised $40,000.00 for our Club’s activities.
A big thank you to all that helped and contributed prizes … a great result.
Over the weekend, we hosted 68 students from all high schools and colleges in Auckland to a 2 day RYPEN Camp.
The Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) is a Youth Leadership over a weekend long camp for Year 12 and 13 students, aged between 14 - 17 years old, designed at developing young people’s potential through a mixture of lecture style sessions and adventure-based learning.
RYPEN is designed for students who are seen as the upcoming leaders in your school, not those students who are already leading and achieving amazing things or those at the bottom end, but those students who just need a bit of a push and a confidence boost to start achieving at their full potential.
RYPEN has as its principal aim, to communicate to young people taking part in the program a series of ideas, problems and social experiences which will assist them in forming their own values and moral standards and allow them to broaden their horizons culturally, socially and academically. Nothing is forced upon the young people – they are free to discuss and interpret what they experience and above all, the Rotarians or Leaders who are involved in running the conference do not patronise them.
The week long course is open to anyone aged 20 – 28 with the desire to be a leader of the future, the will to invest in their own growth and the passion to be the best they can. You will need to be fit and active to complete this course.
This Friday Zac (grandson of Allan and Sue) came around to stay over night at our home.
So I played with Zac at Saturday, what I really enjoyed. We played rugby, played with Lego, with Carerra and other stuff. Tonight I went early to bed, because the next day I woke up at 5:45 am to get picked up by a friend at Greenlane at 6:30 am. We drove to Albany to attend the Colour Run with other Exchange Students from D9910 and D9920. It was so much fun, we walked 5k and got every 1k colour thrown in the “face” and at the end there was a big Party with more Colour!
At the evening Zac and Renee came around for dinner.
Henning's Fact for the week:
Germany was once a cluster of small kingdoms, duchies and principalities – which were unified as the German Reich (Deutsches Reich) in 1871. Later it became the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich (National Socialism), and in 1949 the nation divided into the Soviet-supported East Germany (German Democratic Republic) and the democratic West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany). On October 3rd 1990, East and West were reunited.
Henning's phrase for the week:
What is the sunshine for nature is the colours for our environment.
Members of our Club pit their intellects against teams from the Glenfield Rotary Club Quiz Night yesterday. "Steelers" came in 2nd overall. Thanks to Emma Stuart who came up with the name, Steele Gibson and Namrata.
We all know that NZ economy is dominated by small firms and this week, we will hear from young man Jimmy Li, co-founder of MyTuition. Jimmy together with Roy Lin will explain how the company helps students through the challenge of high school succeed academically by connecting high school students with high achieving university students who have recently been through what these young students are going through and then work behind the scenes to make sure everything is on track. This is a model of mentorships and help bridge the knowledge and experience gap between generations and tutoring is a great way to do that.
We are the greatest! People are flocking to our membership because of this but there is more to our club than that. We WANT people just to know more about us because, yes we like new members, but also YES we like people to support our projects by taking part, to be sponsors and to refer others to us.
You can help very easily! Really, it is so easy.
First you 'Like' our club Facebook page - even if you have Facebook and don't use it much / at all. To do this click on the big blue " f " to the left.
Second, as you see posts from the club - and they will be interesting - you can 'Share' these (the 'Share' is at the bottom of each post) and, this is important, if you can just add your own personal 'take' or thoughts about the post to the top - all will be obvious when you do this.
In Sharing you are telling a whole new bunch of people about our club and because the Share comes from you, they will read it because the trust YOU.
Since I left in August, I travelled through Russia and eastern Europe, arrived in Oxford and promptly got lost in my new house (which has parts dating back to the 11th century) I joined the ballroom dancing team and competed at Blackpool (probably the most famous ballroom in the world).
I started rowing with my college novice crew, which came 2nd out of 62 crews in the novice regatta and was afterwards drafted into the M1 senior college boat. We just rowed at Henley two weeks ago, and have our big Oxford races (Torpids) this week.
I also joined what turns out to be the top student a cappella group in the UK (Out of the Blue Oxford), and went on a 2 week UK tour with them, running singing workshops in schools and performing all over England. Rather a surprise given I hadn’t sung in public before coming here!
On a different note, I figured that I’d gotten my bad luck out of the way early: after a (literal) team of friends managed to get my road bike here from NZ, it was stolen 33 hours after arriving in England, and after a hard decision to invest a lot of my remaining savings in replacing it, when I withdrew the money for it my bank card was hacked and my savings emptied!
The Oxford community and the Rhodes community within it are absolutely lovely and supportive and friendly. Part of me was definitely concerned that it would be awash with aristocratic and snobbish people, but I haven’t found that at all (with some notable exceptions). Everyone has been hugely welcoming (within a day of having my card emptied my college chaplain, college, the Rhodes trust and a number of my friends had offered to lend me money to get through!), and it is fascinating listening to others’ backgrounds and points of view.
I’ve been remiss with Rotary, and haven’t gotten around to meeting the clubs over here yet, but I will look forward to exploring them in 2017.
I hope everyone is well back home, and enjoying the summer! I have enjoyed keeping up with the notices, and following a little of what has been happening. My invitation is certainly open for the next 3 years, if anyone is visiting nearby, I would love to show you around some of the special places I have found in Oxford.
This week was a special week, I have only less than 4 months until I go back to Germany and I changed Thursday my Family, I went from the Peach's to the Smith's. We ate at this evening all together a lovely dinner at Smith's place. Allan's and Sue's grandson Zach took also part.
The evening before Heather and Blair cooked for us (Gran, Heather, Blair and me) a lovely dinner with a really tasty tarte with macaroon base with chocolate and raspberry filling.
It was good that I got Sue and Allan already to know, when I came to them.
Saturday I flew with them to Nelson to visit there their friends, who lived in Nelson since 6 weeks.
Kevin Kevany you SO deserve your Paul Harris Fellowship!. .. in recognition of years of committed service to the Rotary Club of St Johns, our community and our projects. You're the best MC and a true friend to so many people.
It was a special evening with the Club welcoming Roger, Liz, Muriel and Ruth to our Club. I look forward to getting to know you and welcome you to the Club.
The course is open to anyone aged 20 – 28 with the desire to be a leader of the future, the will to invest in their own growth and the passion to be the best they can. You will need to be fit and active to complete this course.
RYLA candidates to submit their application by 31st March – forms available on www.ryla.co.nz
Following my motor-scooter accident last Monday 20th, I've had one operation to install an external fixative (scaffolding) that holds the leg, ankle, and foot in alignment. But the real operation needed is internal, and this can only occur once the swelling reduces. I was scheduled to have that operation today, but that plan was postponed this morning - until tomorrow or maybe Wednesday 1 March. The swelling is still evident.
Knowing that I'll need 2-3 days post-operation in hospital, I beginning to doubt if I will be out of hospital on Friday. So in the meantime, I am keeping myself busy electronically and reading.
Sam is a clever, qualified engineer who is focussed and passionate about supporting disadvantaged young people in Madagascar. Sam is the founder of Onja (translated as ‘waves’ in the Madagascar language of Malagasy),a non-profit organisation that teaches English and computer programming to Madagascar's high achieving, disadvantaged young people then offers them outsourcing work. Sam had previously volunteered as an English teacher in Cambodia five years ago and saw no employment opportunities for young people. One year after this, Sam and two former students and Sam’s friends set up web sites for the international market.
So why Madagascar? The country is twice the size of New Zealand with 22 million people with 92% of the population living in extreme poverty. The country has low costs and good internet meaning it is reliable and affordable. Sam lived in a rural Malagasy village for a year and now speaks Malagasy.
Welcome to Tricia Gerrald, Fee Manager at Sacred Heart College. Tricia works with families who struggle financially. Tricia had been thinking about joining a community group for quite some time. The decision to join our Club was cemented when she watched the commitment of the Rotary members in the pouring rain at last year’s Stonefields’ fair followed by shopping at New World Stonefields and saw the Rotary Club of St Johns flag!
Nick has had a very interesting life as a young fella growing up in Port Moresby, PNG for the first 6 years of his life with his expat parents. He attended Victoria Primary, Remuera Intermediate and Auckland Boys Grammar then completed a law degree at Otago University…then he left law as he hated it! Not knowing anything about his next job, he became an Estimator at a demolition company which he was passionate about. He then decided to pursue a Master’s in Business Management while continuing to work part time. That didn’t work out so Nick resigned and is now a full time student while figuring out what he wants to do next.
President Elect Peter Buchanan presented the Club's objectives and plan for 2017/18 titled ' Looking Ahead To: 1 July 2017 – 30 June 2018. Peter provided some background to the establishment of a new committee - the 'Environment and Science Committee'. Peter referred to Ian Riseley, Rotary International President-Elect and the 2017/18 presidential theme of Rotary: Making a Difference stating that ''the time is long past when environmental sustainability can be dismissed as not Rotary’s concern. It is, and must be, everyone’s''.
The new vision includes a new committee setup "Environment & Science" which amongst other projects will be:
Environment - Acting Locally
Restore Motutapu Island - weeding, planting, renovation and painting
Restore Waiatarua Reserve - annual planting
Clean up Tamaki beaches
School involvement in Trees for Survival Program
Environment - Acting Globally
Our club is also one of the first few clubs to be inducted into The Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG). http://esrag.org/
Sciences
National Science & Technology Forum - D9920 coordination
Sir Paul Callaghan Eureka Awards - Auckland Region coordination
Only two days left, until I must go after 3 months holidays again to school.
Monday I arrived in Auckland from my trip to Taupo and Whangamata, and Tuesday I prepared myself for school and I went to the Barber. The next day I woke up at 7am and went with the bus to school to find out that the school starts Thursday. So I drove back and had then a full day with relaxing in front of me.
The last two days of the school week I found out that a friend of mine is driving with the same bus to school.
I got this year two new subject: Hospitality (cooking) and Outdooreducation (doing crazy sports).
At the weekend I cooked the German dishes “Maultaschensuppe” and “Schwarzwaelderkirschtorte” for my guestfamily.
I also went to a BBQ from a Inbound, what was a nice opportunity to meet her and her friends.Monday morning I went with my mum to Waiheke to visit the “headlands sculpture on the gulf” walk. It was pretty nice to see the different Art sculptures!
Sam Lucas is a talented, recently qualified engineer who is focussed and passionate about supporting disadvantaged young people in Madagascar.
Sam is the founder of Onja, a non profit organisation that teaches English and computer programming to Madagascar's most intelligent, disadvantaged young people then offers them outsourcing work.
Rotary will be partnering with other service organizations in an International Week of Service, 25-31 March 2017. All over the world, volunteers like you are working to improve their communities. In the spirit of Rotary Serving Humanity, I ask you to invite another local service group to volunteer with you. Information and resources for this event can be found at weekofservice.org. Visit the International Week of Service 2017 Facebook event page to RSVP and see what other clubs are planning.
Organizations participating in this event include: Lions Clubs International, Rotary International, Optimist International, Junior Chamber International, Kiwanis International, Moose International, Soroptimist, Y’s Men International, Pilot International, and Sertoma Inc.
To participate, your club can work with one or more other area service groups to do something together for your community. They can join you in a pre-planned event, or you can plan a new event together. Find a fellow service organization in your community here. Share your photos and videos at weekofservice.org, on the event page, and on social media using #weekofservice2017. To promote your activities locally, we’ve provided you with a
As covered in Gary's "Presidents Pen" column above, another very successful collection for the GI Food Bank was undertaken last Saturday. Considering the current high inflation rate and the impact on so many in the community, this didn't detract from the generosity of New World shoppers. Once again Colin was very active recording the activity at New World. You can view one of his many Face Book Posts by clicking on he following link; 
“So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye”
Have you noticed 'TBA' in the Upcoming Speaker list? Well, it's not there to create mystery and suspense! TBA generally means we are having difficulty securing a speaker for that date. If you have any ideas, hints or leads for possible Guest Speakers for our morning and evening meetings, please let your Club Services Director (Robyn) know.
It could be said that the club had just had a very busy couple of weeks - well even if that was the case, that didn't stop 16 club and family members turning up yesterday, in a very pleasant Autumn morning, to assist three Auckland Council Volunteers, Nanda, Ken and Roger, (who many of our members had worked with on Motutapu Island in years gone by), to assist in preparing an area for the planting of another 600 native trees in this small but attractive reserve, situated between Apirana Ave and the main trunk railway line. 
The next picture is a view of the "working bees" hard at work, with the last photo being the group enjoying a well deserved coffee and muffin at a nearby cafe' at the end of the working bee.
Super cool to have a team of seven of us last week, teaming up with RC Newmarket for our designated Tuesday to pack food boxes for the Salvation Army Foodbank. There was chatter time, which mostly consisted of nudging each other to 'get a move along'. Such was our 'packing prowess' we packed over 200 boxes and kept the shelf re-stockers on their toes sourcing replacement stock as quickly as possible. 
As many of you know, Isi was the last Rotary Youth Exchange Student left in our District, with the usual July intake from Europe cancelled thanks to Covid. Our South American students exchange from January, so come July of last year we just had Isi from Chile, with South American exchanges running January - January.
Isi has experienced a year of contrast! Hosted by Tuakau Rotary Club, she attended Tuakau College and lived in Tuakau. This was a HUGE change for city-girl Isi, who grew up in Santiago, one of the largest cities in the America's. She exchanged with our Club's sponsored Outbound student, Lachlan Kerr, who very happily left for Chile in January 2020 (just as Isi arrived her), but as you will be aware, Lachlan returned to NZ in June 2020 after only six months on exchange. Like many around the world, Lachlan's exchange was 'different' and totally disrupted by Covid. He spent around four months in Lockdown in Chile and with no improvement in sight and that countries healthcare severely overrun, the decision was made to return to NZ, luckily via an Australian repatriation flight. Via Zoom, Lachlan presented to us while travelling the South Island and is very much looking forward to presenting to us 'in person' once our meetings resume this year.
The next day, lucky Isi was picked up by Muriel and Phil and whisked off to Waitomo Caves for a day of tours! Isi reported to me on WhatsApp that Waitomo Caves was AMAZING and sent this really lovely photo. Thank you Muriel and Phil for taking special time out to provide this unexpected experience for Isi. 
On December 1, CureKids CEO, Frances Benge, launched the first 'State of Child Health in Aotearoa NZ' report in Parliament. The aim of the report is to help identify the most urgent priorities for child health research. It provides a 'snapshot' of children's health in New Zealand and this inaugural edition focuses on the latest published data concerning three specific areas: dental disease, respiratory conditions and skin infections.
Members Murray, Prabha and Robyn; and Isi (Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Chile) enjoyed a solid morning of work, helping out at the Salvation Army Foodbank (Manukau) last Tuesday. This is an ongoing project headed by Peter Ross, and many Rotary Clubs have been rotating through rostered 'help' days. This week we enjoyed the company of Rotarians from RC's of Newmarket and Half Moon Bay.
Murray was kept busy organising boxes and restocking shelves, while we girls blitzed the re-bagging of huge sacks of flour, rice and semolina into smaller more manageable packages. We were driven hard by Mr Ross (D9920 Special Programme Events Leaders Chair) who kept us going with the promise of a lovely lunch, supplied by Sally Army staff as a Christmas thank you for the awesome work Rotarians are doing at the Centre. 
Meeting Responsibilities - Making our meetings and meeting-space welcoming each week requires background work aka Meeting Responsibilities. If you are assigned a Meeting Responsibility and are not sure what this entails - please ask your Rotary Buddy, or click onto this helpful 
A few of the Club's trusted Directors managed to wave the RC of St Johns flag on Sunday, at the first Stonefields Family Market Day. This market was promoted as an 'unmissable community event for the whole family' and was proudly supported by the Stonefields Residents Association.
President Hugh (behind the camera), IPP Robyn and Membership Director John L also put in an appearance and can be seen here brainstorming marketing ideas for next year's Market Day opportunity. These three were also lucky enough to have a long chat with a 'prospect' from the local Indian Motorcycle Club.
The Story below featured in last weeks Bulletin and the Editor would like to clarify that the funds to cover this sponsorship came from the "Brian Gibbs Memorial Trust".
From its chartering as a club, St Johns Rotary has supported Rotary’s goal to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy including education for all children and literacy for children and adults. 
Our connection with CAB Glen Innes has helped to assist yet another local family.
We had money left over from helping the previous two families – so it was super to advise Patsy that once again – we could come to the rescue.
With this month being Plastics-free July, our Science and Environment Director (Peter B) would like to bring this 3.5 minute video to our attention. It has been produced by the Royal Society of NZ and the Sustainable Business Network (Foodstuffs / New World Supermarkets are members) and can be viewed by clicking onto the following link: 
The Clean-up organised by Cheri was held yesterday at short notice and regrettably this probably had an impact on the number of helpers (6) who turned up to assist. However, despite the small number of volunteers the clean-up reaped a dozen bags of rubbish plus other bits and pieces as seen in the photos.
Thank you Rotary Club of St Johns for your generosity. As announced at our meeting last week, members donated $460 to the Glen Innes Foodbank, which as a Club we agreed to top up to $1,000 for New World Stonefields to further supply stock. 
Last weeks Bulletin summarised the clubs last Zoom Meeting which focused on the very successful "Online RYPEN". 
Have a go at this simple Rotary cross word:
Last weekend our President Robyn attended the Rotaract Club of Auckland's 15th Anniversary Dinner and she has submitted the following story;
Rotary Youth Exchange kept me on my Rotary-toes over January. On 15 January, I was very pleased to be part of the (ouch) 5:00am welcome contingent for a new Inbound RYE student.
We also had Gonza departing on January 17. His departure coincided with a South Auckland Farm Weekend organised for the Inbounds in our district, so a trip to the airport to see Gonza off was added to the weekend agenda as he was an extremely popular member of their special group. Needless to say, a lot of tissues were required!
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This release marked Kiwi 100 (plus buddies) on Motutapu. The Trust advised the Island could support up to 200 Kiwi – so they have plenty more releases to plan for. Kiwi eggs are taken from birds in the Coromandel where survival has not been great. Eggs are then carefully incubated for successful hatching and release. Once maximum numbers are established on Motutapu, the plan is to release Kiwi back into the Coromandel to rebuild numbers there.
We started early at the Central Fire Station for a talk and tour and some of our students got to put on the basic fire fighters kit and then attempt to try and walk (and look cool). We then got to watch a real team, effortlessly gear-up and head off to an emergency.
Then it was off to a food court for lunch and a quick change into casual clothes for our students – who set off on a Great Auckland Race, which was a timed challenge requiring them to move around the city to answer a city-quiz and then ferry to Half Moon Bay to be transported to a BBQ.
Please find below a communication from District Governor Gary Langford regarding a call for action to Rotary Clubs and individual members to provide assistance in the present measles outbreak crisis in the Pacific. Please consider this request as urgent in the context of the ongoing catastrophe affecting so many in the Islands of District 9920. 
Glendowie College has a large and engaged group of students participating in Interact and many initiatives have been completed in 2019 under the leadership of the team of year 12 students.
The following update on the ERK assembly program. has been received from ADG Dennis Millard - FYI.
Our resident RYE Student Senor Gonzalo Pratto (from Argentina) did us proud for Cancer Societies Daffodil Day by having his long-locks cropped off! His golden locks are now back in Argentina having been donated to the Argentine equivalent of “Wigs for Kids”, a non-profit organisation which provides wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer therapy. 
Gonza's transformation was "revealed" at our August 29 meeting. Thanks to the generosity of one Club member who bought the right to 'reveal' Gonza's new hair cut; and also thanks to all other RCSJ members at our meeting that day who contributed to the Sunshine fund. Proceeds of this went 50/50 to Daffodil Day and to Gonza's RYE 'ERKs' fundraising challenge..jpg)
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Ever wondered how to contact the Rotary club down the road? .JPG)
All members are Challenged to wear “yellow” or something “yellow” at this weeks meeting - Thursday 29th of August. 
I continue to be amazed just how quickly people can learn when they set their minds on something. Thanks to their devotion and commitment, our students can now hold real English conversations, and can communicate their thoughts with confidence..jpg)
Almost every day I receive comments for my hair, luckily most of them are very good. Many adults tell me they do not like it and others tell me that they really like it. What people think will not change what I think and I do not say it selfishly.
As revealed at District Conference - a select number of members now have their new polo shirts. 
The beautiful weather made for a great RYE Selection Weekend (24-26 May) held at Kokako Lodge, Hunua. Over the weekend, Kiwi applicants for our Rotary Youth Exchange programme spend time with current Inbound RYE's, ROTEX (returned Kiwi RYE's) and the RYE District Committee. The idea is to interact and get to know the applicants, tell them and their parents more about the programme and after the weekend, make the 'final' selection.
ETs took place on Sunday and had a great attendance from clubs throughout our District. The seminar is an excellent opportunity for upcoming Club Leaders to attend sessions aimed to assist with Strategic Planning, Publicity, Membership Retention, Projects etc. PE Robyn attended with Gary (our club Foundation 'Guru') and Megan joined us for the afternoon sessions. St Johns was superbly represented in the presentation line-up with Rosemary contributing as part of the Public Image Awareness Panel; Ainie presented the Interact session and explained the link between RotaKids, Interact and Rotaract; Colin presented on Public Image and Awareness, and Beryl was also in attendance as part of the hard-working event-organisation team. Great presence all round for St Johns.
Glen Taylor School hosted another successful Discovery programme last Thursday and Friday. A large number of specially selected students from local primary schools attended and were supported by Discovery staff and team leaders from Tamaki College. The children were busy, engaged and enthusiastic. Another great programme roll-out, thank you Discovery Team.
We had a great turnout for our Fellowship event on Friday night. Not sure if it was the lure of the delicious meal or the challenge of Bingo? Caller-Kevany kept us listening hard to his bingo-lingo: including Dancing Queen (17); Winnie the Pooh (42) and Goodbye Teens (19). And those were just some of the "clean" calls! After intense concentration - Gonza won the first game. Two further games ensued with "lines" in hot contention before full cards were achieved. Thanks Ainie and Michelle for organising such a fun event.
I was delighted to accompany three of our Rotary Youth Exchange students to an evening meet at Auckland Harbourside last Wednesday. Maria (from Denmark) and Viki (from Austria) have been in New Zealand now for 9 months, so they gave really great presentations and very confidently answered questions afterward. Gonza came along to see how the girls managed and to get some tips for his own presentation skills. .jpg)
esident Allan has noted above, a great night last Thursday for our Dinner Meeting where St. Johns hosted our friends from Auckland East Rotary for the annual debate.
Its May! That must mean the St. Johns Rotary sponsored, New Zealand Yachting programme, "Have a Go Sailing", is now under way. 
As President Allan has mentioned above, a very successful breakfast last Thursday and one that is becoming a highlight on the St. Johns Rotary Calendar. Many thanks to all who attended. 
Our very own Mr. Community, Community Director Miles Cain had a big Community Rotary day last Friday, planting out the garden outside the Glen Innes Citizen Advice Bureau, with Nandina shrubs that he had purchased the day before at the Kings Plant Barn sale. .jpg)
Club Services Director (Brian Fergus) is looking for Guest Speaker ideas. If you have recently heard (or heard of) a guest speaker who you think would appeal to our membership - please let Brian know. Email: b.fergus@xtra.co.nz
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In association with the Citizens advice Bureau of Glen Inness and with the assistance of New World St Johns, located in Lunn avenue members of Rotary St Johns were able to successfully work with an amazing community and over the day packed 116 boxes of donated food for the Glen Inness and Tamaki food banks. Co-ordinator Miles Cain plus CAB manager Patsy Sim were overwhelmed by the generosity of shoppers who gladly supported those in need to be able to make a difference within the community.
Students and chaperones had a blast visiting the Auckland Central Fire Station, The Mayor's Office and Auckland Central Police Station. Highlights included an audience with Mayor Phil Goff - where he took the time to speak with all of us; meeting a Police Puppy; and getting some inside intel on our Armed Offenders Squad.
We were delighted to be asked to supply volunteer helpers for the weekend ‘Ride for Life Motorcycle Show’ which is an annual MEGA-event put on by Papakura Rotary Club each year and held at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane.
The show is the largest motorcycle event in Auckland and generally attracts a crowd of some 3000 each day and nets the Papakura Club approx. $140K!!!.jpg)
The wet weather impacted on crowd numbers – but it was still a very busy event. Bikes on show inside were amazing and equally awesome were the bikes and their riders parking everywhere outside. Assisting with this show will net our Club a very handy $5K – so heartfelt thanks to members who made themselves available to do this: Ingram's x 4; Peter W, Ruth, Gary, Peter B, Tricia, Eddie, Brian, Kevin, Murray, David, Lesley and Ainie. 
Chris Herlihy, Club Member and Principal of Glen Taylor School, was last week’s guest speaker and gave us an enthusiastic and informative report on a Teachers Delegation to China, which he was delighted to be part of.
This is Waisea Karikaritu. He is a very brave 5 year old boy. Waisea came with grandma from Taveuni to have his eyes looked at by the good surgeons. The number of lives have changed and touched with their sight restored is humbling. Do join Ainie this Thursday, 8 Nov 2018 where she will share with you the amazing project that have been running for 13 successful years and how we can help, plus also other Taveuni projects that have been completed and the upcoming Build Project planned for next year.
A very emotional day today with not a dry eye in the closing ceremony - now people know why I continue coming back. After such a high point we celebrated with a cruise boat dinnner at the end of which the skies opened up with a torrential downpour!
An engaging and witty speaker right from the beginning to the end of his talk peppered with various digressions. Rod began his work in the world of satire as a cartoonist in 1987 to “keep the bastards honest”. Rod is also a talented editorial cartoonist, caricaturist and gifted painter. He knew that he could draw but he also had a notorious streak in telling jokes. He’s done a lot in his time such as has being the editorial cartoonist for the New Zealand Herald since 2003. Previously, he was editorial cartoonist for APN News & Media (Australia), based in Queensland. His cartoons were syndicated to newspapers in three states.
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Sunday 30th September
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.
Namrata means kindness and politeness.
We all have a great story of our lives to tell and while we may not necessarily want to tell it all, placing some of the more relevant parts into a Bio helps our fellow members get to know us.
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It's been another exciting and demanding three months. Thanks to many of you, momentum continues to build, and we take another step closer to getting the school open!.png){kind=logo}
St John's Club Member Gary Key is delighted to announce that discussions with Orakei Marina have "successfully" concluded. They have agreed to make a "significant" donation to support the "Have A Go" Sailing Program. 
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The Z gas station in Glen Innes has selected RYDA as one of their charities for the Good in the Hood programme. Voting for this happens during May so if you ever use this station please vote for RYDA with their token. Any money raised from this will go towards the Glendowie and Tamaki College RYDA programme days.
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Well, what hasn’t Sang done? Sang took us on a global, whirlwind and humourous journey: NZ, USA, Korea, back to NZ. But let’s first back up the truck…Sang arrived in NZ from Korea as a 7 year old who spoke absolutely no English. 
“Action of Choice” reflects what Rotary is all about and as members of a great Rotary club I was somewhat surprised at the lack of willingness to be involved in the management of the club. For those who have indicated their willingness to take on a role we thank you. 😊
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Clubrunner is the website platform we all use for Rotary in New Zealand and the pacific including our districts and clubs. The following will help you as a member to access these. Note that the login you have is the same at Rotary Oceania, district and club levels.
Located along the cliffs on the south-west side of the old Mt Wellington Quarry, the trail runs along existing basalt benches and a short section of open terrain, and traverses a proposed stair and boardwalk structure. Click Read More for another photograph...
Dear Peter and Penny,
We were advised at our last evening meeting about Drug Free Sport NZ calling for applicants for the role of Chaperone. Here are full details. Please feel free to alert appropriate family, friends and colleagues to the details:
Alan Smith attended Future Leaders Forum and described it as an outstanding event where he was able to listen to inspiring speakers on a number of interesting yet specific topics, and then to discuss this with the other participants using a "World Cafe" table discussion format.
Rotary Club of St Johns very proudly hosted many international Rotary guests (and extra's from around Auckland) at our recent 'full house' evening meeting. 
This performance was followed by students from St Piux X Catholic School who sang beautifully, accompanying themselves on guitar. They started with a well know kiwi classic (Ten Guitars) and also sang a Tongan number, in celebration of Tongan language week. It is always a delight to host students and staff from this school.
Club members were happy to support the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Awareness Week collection over the weekend. 
Following a Doodle Poll, the date for the next Combined Committee Meetings will be Monday 11 September, 6:30pm at Remuera Golf Course Clubrooms.
In support of the Mental Health Foundation, an "elite" group of club members enjoyed a wine tasting hosted at the Ingram Residence on Saturday evening. Superb wines were provided by Roger Garrett who divided us into four teams and coached us through a challenging game to see which team was best at identifying each wine's country of origin, grape variety, age and alcohol content. 
The exuberant, energised and youthful Chloe Swarbrick was our guest speaker this week. Chloe came to our notice last year when at age 22, she decided to run for the Auckland Mayoralty. Why? Because after interviewing the top four candidates for a radio show, she was genuinely uninspired by their vision and then got "really worked up" when she learned that voter turnout was sitting at only 34%. 
arrived safely in Fiji and are already hard at work. 
Tricia has been a member of St John’s Rotary almost six months and reports very much enjoying being part of the best little Rotary Club in the Biosphere. 
Our Club is a great supporter of the RYE programme, hosting every second year. Our most recent exchange student Henning (from Germany) returned home just last month and many of us miss watching him work his way through three rounds of breakfast! Henning's hosting families are also enjoying (via Messenger) his cheeky updates on life back at home. St Johns members who have welcomed and hosted exchange students will be very aware how enriching the hosting experience is. Other members not in the position to host, have still enjoyed the fun of whisking away our student for weekend excursions; sharing day outings; or simply having "our student" for a meal in their home.
Simon is a regular visitor to our club. Having paid careful attention to Nick’s “snap chat”, Simon suggested he might need Nick’s advice on how to work with difficult leaders (such as Winston Peters).
Nick was still in shock from his recent and successful completion of the week long RYLA camp (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). He described the first three days of the camp as full of inspirational speakers from whom he learned interpersonal skills and the nuances of relationship building. 
It was a beautiful graduation dinner attended by over 150 guests at Willow Park Christian Convention Center. The RYLArians awardees had a warm glow and was clearly elated with their achievement over the 8 days/7 nights camp. Our club was fortunate to be able to send 8 fine young men and women to RYLA and no doubt we will hear from them, including Nick Goddard in the next few months to share their stories and experiences.
David finally arrived following high jinks in the sky (thunder and lightning). He meaningfully spoke of how grateful he was of Rotary’s engagement with polio immunisation and eradiation. His late mother contracted polio as 6-month-old baby following a polio vaccination. She did recover, became a Pharmacist and a pro-vaccine supporter. David presented two topics - Charter Schools and Assisted Dying (Euthanasia) Bill. 
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This week was my last proper school week, because this week I have exam week and not really school. Friday was the day where I was with my mates together at lunch time and had my last ESL lesson. It's kind of sad when you realise that the exchange is almost over and that you are doing things for the last time. I was on the weekend with the other Inbounds on the Selection Weekend, where 9 Outbounds were which want to go this year abroad. The Inbounds hold few Presentations about their Country and at the End 2 Outbounds wanted to go to Germany. In few Weeks we will see who from them two will come to Germany.
Our June 8th meeting was a well attended and superb evening for outgoing President Ainie Kwok, celebrating completion of an extremely positive and enjoyable year leading the “irreverent” Rotary Club of St John’s. Ainie opened the evening and expressed gratitude to the club for supporting her through a very busy and successful year. She explained how she felt she had really grown into the President role; recommended the leadership experience to new members to consider; and personally thanked a number of key mentors who had provided ongoing support and prodigious advice throughout her year as President. 
Kevin Roberts former Saatchi & Saatchi World Wide CEO is speaking to Rotary Newmarket on 20th June and we are extending an invitation to all Rotary Clubs to join us.
This is an update email from Geoff Amos, president of Rotary Club of Taveuni.
Wendy and Alex delivered
pencils, pencil sharpeners and rubbers, that the club paid for, to the year 1 children. They were very pleased to receive them.
Please support our District's program "Trees For Survival". This year, we will be planting on 25 May 2017, 581 Clevedon-Kawakawa Bay Road. We will be accompanying students from Glendowie Primary School for the day. It is a great day out and a sumptious lunch provided as well as transport to and from Glendowie Primary School. 
A huge thank you for your support of our Helping Hands Build. Out team have really enjoyed working with you all, and your contribution has been massive in building this home for the Nikora family. We have also raised almost $100,000 in gifts in kind, sponsorship and cash donations. All has gone towards building this home, and will be recycled back into Habitat over the next 8 years as the family pay for their home and then finally purchase.
The great debate: Moot was "that Donald Trump is the greatest US president of the 21st Century" and the Affirmative was allocated to St Johns Rotary (a bit of a challenge!).
Monday and Tuesday I went to Motat, AKL Museum, Victoria Park Market and many other places in and around the city. I did that to complete the Facebook Easter Challenge which Sue created for me Later last week.
This is a small update for Rotary members to track Onja's progress. I intend to send one out every few months, detailing our progress and key challenges. 
Loren O'Sullivan from Neustros Pequeños Hermanos New Zealand (NPHNZ)
Our "Have A Go!" Sailing Program continues with Glen Innes School and we have been fortunate to have Gavin Gilmer assisting us deliver this amazing program. Here is an account of the day with Glen Innes School by Gavin.
A truly fun filled weekend for 68 students from all over Auckland. Thanks to all the club members, George Wilson, Peter Wilcock, Hilary Prior, Jon Atkinson, Mike Turner and Todd Hanlon. Not forgetting our sponsor Lolliesonline (
A great fund raising day with 110 golfers participating in the action packed fun filled event. Megan and Warwick Jaffe (Ray White Remuera) are the very generous sponsors of this event that raised $40,000.00 for our Club’s activities.
Over the weekend, we hosted 68 students from all high schools and colleges in Auckland to a 2 day RYPEN Camp.
This Friday Zac (grandson of Allan and Sue) came around to stay over night at our home. 
Since I left in August, I travelled through Russia and eastern Europe, arrived in Oxford and promptly got lost in my new house (which has parts dating back to the 11th century) I joined the ballroom dancing team and competed at Blackpool (probably the most famous ballroom in the world). 
I also joined what turns out to be the top student a cappella group in the UK (Out of the Blue Oxford), and went on a 2 week UK tour with them, running singing workshops in schools and performing all over England. Rather a surprise given I hadn’t sung in public before coming here!
On a different note, I figured that I’d gotten my bad luck out of the way early: after a (literal) team of friends managed to get my road bike here from NZ, it was stolen 33 hours after arriving in England, and after a hard decision to invest a lot of my remaining savings in replacing it, when I withdrew the money for it my bank card was hacked and my savings emptied!
This week was a special week, I have only less than 4 months until I go back to Germany and I changed Thursday my Family, I went from the Peach's to the Smith's. We ate at this evening all together a lovely dinner at Smith's place. Allan's and Sue's grandson Zach took also part.
Kevin Kevany you SO deserve your Paul Harris Fellowship!. .. in recognition of years of committed service to the Rotary Club of St Johns, our community and our projects. You're the best MC and a true friend to so many people.
It was a special evening with the Club welcoming Roger, Liz, Muriel and Ruth to our Club. I look forward to getting to know you and welcome you to the Club.
Attention : Seeking applications for RYLA 2017.
Following my motor-scooter accident last Monday 20th, I've had one operation to install an external fixative (scaffolding) that holds the leg, ankle, and foot in alignment. But the real operation needed is internal, and this can only occur once the swelling reduces. I was scheduled to have that operation today, but that plan was postponed this morning - until tomorrow or maybe Wednesday 1 March. The swelling is still evident.
Welcome to Tricia Gerrald, Fee Manager at Sacred Heart College. Tricia works with families who struggle financially. Tricia had been thinking about joining a community group for quite some time. The decision to join our Club was cemented when she watched the commitment of the Rotary members in the pouring rain at last year’s Stonefields’ fair followed by shopping at New World Stonefields and saw the Rotary Club of St Johns flag!
Nick has had a very interesting life as a young fella growing up in Port Moresby, PNG for the first 6 years of his life with his expat parents. He attended Victoria Primary, Remuera Intermediate and Auckland Boys Grammar then completed a law degree at Otago University…then he left law as he hated it! Not knowing anything about his next job, he became an Estimator at a demolition company which he was passionate about. He then decided to pursue a Master’s in Business Management while continuing to work part time. That didn’t work out so Nick resigned and is now a full time student while figuring out what he wants to do next.
Only two days left, until I must go after 3 months holidays again to school.