As a celebration of Rotary Queensland's Centenary, Rotary Queensland has committed to raising sufficient funding to establish a perpetual chair and research funding in Neuroscience at the University of Queensland Brain Institute.
Prof Graeme Nimmo RFD is patron of the Break Through Project.
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Jeanette Johnstone, a retired Business Analyst and Project Manager from the Queensland Department of Education, has dedicated her post-retirement years to revolutionizing education in underserved regions.As a committed member of the Rotary Club of Paddington, Queensland, she founded the 'Teacher in a Box' (TIB) initiative, a testament to her unwavering commitment to global education.
The inception of TIB traces back to 2012 during a Rotary visit to Arusha, Tanzania.Jeanette observed firsthand the acute shortage of teaching resources in local schools and the challenges posed by unreliable and costly internet access.Determined to bridge this educational divide, she envisioned an offline solution to deliver quality educational content to these communities.
Collaborating with Patrick Hackett, an IT student and volunteer at Computers 4 Learning—a Rotary project—Jeanette transformed this vision into reality.Together, they repurposed donated laptops, equipping them with a vast array of educational materials, including videos, lessons, and books.These laptops, when connected to a small router, can share content with up to 100 devices, facilitating both classroom instruction and self-paced learning.This innovative approach ensures that students in remote areas, devoid of reliable internet connectivity, have access to invaluable educational resources.
Under Jeanette's leadership, TIB has expanded its reach, making a significant impact in countries such as Liberia, Tanzania, Kenya, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.Her dedication has not only provided essential tools for education but has also ignited a passion for learning among countless students.Jeanette's work exemplifies the profound impact of combining technological innovation with a heartfelt commitment to service.
The Rotary Club of Brisbane is proud to be supporting this initiative. With recent funding secured for nine new Teacher in a Box units, a team including Dickson, Ken, and others will soon travel to Papua New Guinea and other locations to install the systems and train local users. It’s a powerful example of Rotary collaboration, technology, and practical action coming together to open new doors for education.
I’d like to start by acknowledging some of our members who are unwell or unable to attend meetings at the moment. We miss you, and you are in our thoughts. As always, we name and acknowledge our absent friends in meetings, and it’s clear that everyone in the club deeply cares. We look forward to welcoming you back when you’re able.
A special mention to our Vice President, Bruce McNaught, who is heading off for a well-earned break, travelling around New Zealand with his wife, Cherryl. We wish them both a fantastic and relaxing time.
Club Goals Discussion
At our meeting on Monday, 24 February, we reviewed our club goals and achievements for the year.
Leadership Development – At least three of our newer members are already engaging in Rotary Action Groups, helping to build future leaders within our club.
This discussion will continue in future meetings, but I encourage all members to check out myrotary.org to track our club’s goals and see how we’re progressing.
After being approached by a corporate entity expressing general interest in supporting a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Grant project, we invite clubs to submit expressions of interest for potential projects in need of funding.
Projects need to meet the CSR Grant requirements including:
Alignment with a Rotary area of focus
Beneficiaries must be in some sort of distress or poverty
Project must relieve the distress of the beneficiaries (not just advocacy or education)
Minimum project cost US$20,000 (approx. A$32,000)
Project must be in Australia
Potential projects include:
Helping domestic violence sufferers
Providing mental health services (not self-help)
Laptops for vulnerable school kids
Targeted education programs for disadvantaged communities
Creating employment opportunities (training, apprenticeships) for indigenous youth
From the course: Rotary has no tolerance for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, or ageism. Agreeing to this with your fellow club members and working together to become more aware of biases and microaggressions will help you create an environment where everyone feels welcome and safe. This may include telling someone, in a supportive way, when they make a mistake, or pointing out discrepancies between someone's behavior and the club's shared values. At times, you may have to tell someone more firmly that their behavior isn't acceptable. But aim for improvement, not condemnation. Mistakes can happen even when we're working to improve. Reminding one another what's hurtful and what's better helps the whole community.
Free and recommended for all Rotarians and anyone who's registered for My Rotary
Fundraising Dinner for Windeward Bound. This is to support a Youth Development Sail Training Voyage for young people aged 14-17, who will learn about themselves, communication skills , team work and challenges while on a square-rigged tall ship. Tickets are selling fast, so please book now.
As a Rotarian the 2025 Rotary International Convention is an exceptional opportunity for you to discover fresh viewpoints, learn best practices, and immerse yourself in the global scale of Rotary.
From 21-25 June in Calgary, Canada, you can gather ideas and perspectives that will enhance your service projects, invigorate your meetings, and inspire you to create positive change in your club and community. REGISTER HERE
You can help promote peace in the world by encouraging peace and development leaders in your community to apply for the Rotary Peace Fellowship.
Each year, Rotary awards up to 130 fully funded fellowships for peacebuilders from diverse backgrounds to study at one of our peace centers located at leading universities around the world.
The Rotary Club of Salmaniya completed a coral reef rehabilitation project a couple of years ago. The artificial reef was completed in the shape of the Rotary wheel, and It’s still there until today. Recently it has been featured in a news article about a new resort opening in Bahrain.
A message from ROTI re relaunching their monthly fellowship magazine:
As many of you will be aware we have an editorial committee aiming to relaunch our fellowship magazine from July 2025. We had our first meeting recently and I'd like to outline some of the things we'd like to accomplish and how you can all help make the magazine and our fellowship a success.
or Scan the QR Code to Register and Attend Be part of the global conversations, connect, build your network and share friendships with hundreds of Rotarians Leaders, Peace builders , Districts, Clubs and friends of Rotary who are joining from over 50 countries around the world.
We were thrilled to have 512 people from 84* countries attend our Mega-Meeting co-hosted with Arthur Kanegis and Melanie Bennett of FutureWAVE, who host The People-Powered Planet Podcast. Arthur welcomed Rotary International President Stephanie Urchick and the Peacebuilders at the Carter School who are educating future generations in the Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding tools that Jimmy Carter championed. Watch the Replay at Mega-Meeting.com
Honolulu, Hawaii, no longer host city for 2027 Rotary International ConventionRegrettably, the 2027 Rotary International Convention will no longer be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, as planned. This is due to a recent decision by the Hawaii
9620 Kinross Cluster
The 9620 Kinross Cluster is a vibrant network of Rotary clubs covering parts of Brisbane/Meanjin and Moreton Bay. It’s all about teamwork, bringing clubs together to amplify their impact on local communities.
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In the spirit of reconciliation, the Rotary Club of Brisbane acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today
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102-2060 Winston Park Drive, Oakville, ON, L6H 5R7
From Monday 12 May 2025 we will meet 6:00 pm on Monday's at The Normanby Hotel.
Most meetings are also available live via Zoom.
No meeting on public holidays - check website for details.
A message from CSR Grants:
Applications for the 2026 
