Rotary Club of Brisbane Bulletin 24th November, 2018 (Nov 25, 2018)

22nd November 2018

Dear Fellow Rotarians and Friends of the Club,

Our Club Assembly meeting on 19November was treated to a most imaginative and thoughtful presentation by Dan Adler on an original concept which he has developed to promote Rotary and encourage membership, not just for our club but perhaps even worldwide. The board meeting which followed discussed Dan’s ideas at length and we are keen to help the concept evolve into a practical program which will work for us and all other clubs which are interested in using it.

I was very sorry that I missed seeing and hearing Stan Francis at the meeting on 12 November and our thoughts are with you Stan. Dymphna and I did have a very interesting and enjoyable trip to the Swain’s and even managed to catch a reasonable number of ‘keepers’. We snorkeled on a different reef each morning, the high being an absolutely magnificent reef in the Green Zone where all fishing had been banned for over 30 years and the low being a reef totally destroyed by ‘Crown of Thorns” starfish. Even the Green Zone reef, however, had some dead coral on its surface aspect which was probably the result of coral bleaching.

Keith Watts, Ryan Muller, Mark Williams Dymphna and myself attended the Rotary Foundation AGM and Seminar on 18 November. It was both educational and socially enjoyable and we were given excellent insights into the achievements of Rotary, particularly with the recent polio outbreak in PNG and, on a smaller scale, a relatively simple but very effective clean water project in the highlands of PNG. Because of its international footprint and networks, Rotary’s varied membership and contacts can achieve results which probably no other organization in the world can. Perhaps we should be sub-titled

“Benefactors without Borders”.

We were also reminded of the need to donate to the Rotary Foundation, which uses only about 1.7% of its income for administration, in order for it to continue to do its wonderful work.. It is one of the most effective charities in the world and encourages all Rotarians to donate between $20US to $1000US per year on a regular basis. 7% of Rotarians worldwide donate $1000US per year which makes them members of the prestigious Paul Harris Society.

Don O’Donoghue has once again most generously donated what would have been 6 months of his meeting costs to the PAF and this will be used for both the Drought Appeal and our Kyeema Foundation project in PNG. The PAF has donated $3000 to Kyeema to help Donna Harvey Hall with her AIDS orphans prior to commencement of the chicken breeding project and $5000 to Donations-in-Kind to assist with its relocation to the new warehouse at Kingston. Donations to the Clubs Drought Appeal are still open. While on the subject of donations, I noted in a recent “Australian” that our ex-member, Trevor St Baker, has donated $1.5 million to the University of Qld. to boost research into how countries can move more quickly to electric-powered cars. This followed on from his extremely generous donation to the St Vincent de Paul society earlier this year.

The Club would like to sponsor two people aged between 18 and 25 years for RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, and welcomes any recommendations. The program occupies a week from 4^th to 10 May 2019.

Thanks to Graeme Whitmore for masterminding another successful Melbourne Cup fundraiser and to Denise Schellbach for hosting the successful 9 November meeting at the United Service Club. Please try to attend our meeting on 26 November when we will be visited by District Governor Wendy Protheroe.

Yours in Rotary

Chris

Rotary Learning Center

You may or may not know that Rotary has a learning center attached to the rotary.org website. Unless you have visited it recently, you will definitely not be aware how much new material has been put up in the last year or so. There is content directed at all aspects of being a Rotarian, from membership and committee basics to how to be President of your club. Click to the right or below to have a look. You will need your my.rotary.org login in order to be able to access the material. Let me know if you are having trouble accessing this and I'll either be able to help you directly or broker help with Rotary's IT support.

-mark

Try the Learning Center

Nov 26, 2018

Wendy Protheroe

Rotary District 9600 District Governor

Mar 06, 2019

Professor Margaret Sheil AO

Achieving diversity, the experience of the Queensland University of Technology

Mar 06, 2019

Councillor Adrian Schrinner

Achieving diversity, the experience of the Brisbane City Council

View entire list

Lunch Meeting - DG Visit

The Brisbane Club

Nov 26, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Lunch Meeting Cancelled due to Cocktail Meeting

Dec 03, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Christmas Celebration - United Service Club

United Service Club

Dec 07, 2018
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

2019 Rotary International Women's Day Breakfast

United Service Club

Mar 06, 2019
7:00 AM – 8:45 AM

District 9600 Annual Conference

Grand Chancellor Hotel & Events Centre

Mar 22, 2019 – Mar 24, 2019

UQ Peace Centre Peace Symposium

The University of Queensland

Apr 13, 2019
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Rotary Club of Taipei Tatong 35th Anniversary

Apr 16, 2019 – Apr 18, 2019

26 November - Meeting

Chairperson

GIBSON, Cameron

Minutes Secretary

DE LACY, Jaqui

10 December - Meeting

Chairperson

GRESHAM, Phil

Minutes Secretary

WILLIAMS, Mark

17 December - Meeting

Chairperson

HOLTMANN, Gerald

Minutes Secretary

SHEPHERD, Clive

Meeting Notes 19th November, 2018

Chair for the day was James Delahunty, who opened the meeting with the usual toasts and grace before inviting President Chris to address the assembled multitude.

Chris welcomed Mark Scanlan who was visiting the club with a view to joining Rotary and then made many members green with envy by giving a report on his recent fishing trip on the Great Barrier Reef. More from Chris in the President's report above.

Chair James then called for spots:

Graeme Whitmore gave a final wrap-up of the Melbourne Cup trifecta activity which raised over $2000 for the club. He also raised members' spirits with the news that the All-Blacks lost and the Wallabies had a win, very much against the run of recent history.
Graeme also reported that planning was already underway for the 2019 Golf day. Quotes had been solicited from multiple clubs, and to date responses were favouring the day being held at Virginia Golf Club again.
Denise Schellbach passed around signup lists for Eddie's Van which will commence on the 31st December and will run on weekdays until the end of January.

After a few minutes for fellowship, the meeting went on to the club assembly.

The only substantive report delivered at the club assembly was the membership committee's report, with other directors either not present or waiving their right to present in favour of a long and very important membership committee report. VP Keith Watts introduced the slot with a brief rundown of the membership year so far. As a club we now have 36 members with only a 17% female contingent. Members are being sought diligently, with several people who might join being engaged, but there are likely to be one or two resignations in the coming months so the outlook is stable. 2 members are currently enjoying leave of absence but are expected to return to active status in the new year.

The bulk of the club assembly was spent addressing a proposal for membership attraction and membership engagement project that would be aimed at mentoring new charities and humanitarian projects put forward by young people. Dan Adler presented a project outline and publicity brief that was overwhelmingly well received by members. Lively discussion followed, and the club assembled commended the brief to the board which was to meet immediately following the meeting.

Wal Bishop was the holder of the teaser ticket in the raffle, but he was unable to catch the joker from the pack. The jackpot is still paltry in any event.

President Chris closed the meeting with the singing of the national anthem at 13:52.

Painting the way to peace

By Yesenia Uribe, Rotaract Club of Juárez Integra, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Members of the Rotaract Club of Juárez Integra in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, by one of the 10 murals they painted in public spaces.

I have always been concerned about the situation in my city. Ciudad Juarez is sadly known for a high crime rate and violence related to drug trafficking which creates an atmosphere of insecurity.

I wanted to learn more about how I could implement peace in my community, so I applied to participate in a workshop called A Stronger Mexico: Pillars of Positive Peace organized by the Institute for Economics and Peace. I learned that peace starts in small communities and that we cannot think about global peace if we do not work on it from the roots.

Art for peace

I live in a city with many abandoned and vandalized parks. My Rotaract club decided to create peace murals in each park to unite communities through art and rehabilitate these common spaces. We needed to recover public spaces so the community has a place to gather in a healthy environment and coexist in parks that are in good condition.

At first, we were afraid to make a single mural. We thought it was going to be expensive. And our neighbors were apathetic. Many people didn’t want to help because they didn’t get something in return. But we were determined. We secured sponsors and some club members also contributed. After we painted one mural, we saw how easy it was – nobody could stop us.

Little by little, more participants joined us. First, it was our neighbors, and then other organizations and even local artists offered to paint murals. They saw the results of what we were achieving and wanted to be a part of it.

It took us practically a year to paint 10 murals. (See a video of one project.) Each park’s mural has a different design, but they all focus on peace and leave a positive message.

What it takes to create lasting change

The project has had a huge impact on our community. Places that looked totally abandoned and vandalized have become meeting spaces for the community. We continue to rehabilitate parks and leave peace murals in each of them.

When I joined Rotaract I had a desire to do something concrete for the world. Thanks to the Positive Peace workshop, I learned a lot about how to use the tools at my disposal to achieve my goals. I learned that carrying out projects with lasting change doesn’t take much, only a firm conviction, clear objectives, and a good team.

I invite all young people to get involved in social projects, to be agents of change in your communities, and leave the world a better place than how we found it. Rotaract provides us with an impressive platform to bring our ideas to reality and to start generating innovative projects with great impact.

Yesenia Uribe is a member of the Rotaract Club of Juárez Integra in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. She is a social entrepreneur, concerned about the current situation in her country and her city. Read this post in Spanish.

Learn more about Rotary’s partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace

Source: Rotary Voices

Why I love YEO Preconvention

By Viktorija Trimbel, District 1462 (Lithuania) Youth Exchange Chair, and Governor nominee for 2020-2021

Viktorija Trimbel and her daughter, Gabija, a 2010 Rotary Youth Exchange student.

Days before the Rotary Convention, over 500 Youth Exchange Officers (YEOs) from all over the world get together to learn and share best practices. The YEO Preconvention is my favorite Rotary meeting. From my past experience, I have found the challenges of youth exchange are pretty universal – selecting students, overseeing behavior, finding host families, and involving Rotary clubs. It is very interesting to learn solutions from other districts.

I believe that personal networking with YEOs from partner countries is one of the main pillars of running successful Youth Exchange programs. Knowing your foreign exchange partners personally makes it so much easier to handle any potential issues. You understand their point of view, can find the right approach to convey your message, trust their decisions, especially for early returns, and effectively communicate with parents and students.

My district implemented a policy to send one or two YEOs to international meetings every year. The district budgets for this as an investment in the program. Attending these meetings is a part of the officer’s responsibility, not a free vacation. Many officers choose to invite family members or extend their trip to travel on their own expense.

Additionally, we send YEOs to the preconvention to expand the geographic reach of our partnerships. For example, we had potential participants who already spoke Japanese and we were keen to establish exchange with Japan. Therefore, the YEO Preconvention in Seoul was a perfect opportunity to build networks with nearby countries.

In general, the YEO Preconvention stands out among any other conferences because of the atmosphere and people attending. Volunteering to be a Youth Exchange Officer means you are a special kind of youthful and cheerful personality, enjoy cultural differences, and readily handle any issues in life. Attending the YEO Preconvention is like seeing 250 friends again and making 250 new, lasting friendships. You immediately feel welcome and can connect on so many aspects from your personal experience.

I can’t wait to see you all in Hamburg!

Source: Rotary Voices