Welcome to Membership month. I have found in my travels around the District so far that attracting new members and supporting existing Members is of interest to every Rotary Club!
To assist you in building your Club membership the District is running Seminars on Membership Development. These have been complemented by Public Image Seminars that are being run jointly. So far we have had sessions in Kerang (May) and in Lara (3 August).
We have received excellent feedback on these sessions and I was delighted to hear 28 Rotarians attended Lara recently. More sessions to come – see details below.
We are also investigating an additional Membership Development session at Mt Gambier later in the year. Watch this space!
Don’t forget to check out the Rotary International Citation for Clubs this year. Some of the tasks include identifying to Rotary International your Membership Director and putting in place a Membership Committee of 5 members. Give it a go!
In addition to strengthening your existing Club, Rotary now offers flexibility in the types of Clubs that can be created including a Passport Club for either new or existing Clubs or you could introduce a Satellite Club. Come and find out the possibilities!
Purple House - DG's Project
You are invited to contribute to a project to support Purple House, an organisation that provides dialysis services to remote indigenous people in Central Australia.
Please provide to your Assistant Governor any of the following items that we will pass on to Purple House CEO Sarah Brown for delivery to clients in remote communities
Soaps, shampoos, conditioner, body lotion and toiletries including combs, brushes, toothpaste and tooth brushes (no sanitary items as they are sourced elsewhere).
Special recognition will be given to the Club that provides the top contribution.
Think about volunteering to assist Purple House if you are travelling in central Australia, eg to assist in building a new Purple House in Coober Pedy, or as a nurse on the Purple Bus or one of the Purple Houses. Click the image for more details or CLICK HERE to contact Purple House or phone 08 8953 6444.
DG Visits
I recently met with the seven Group 10 Clubs at Belmont and with half of the Group 9 Clubs in Ocean Grove. Both were great nights, well organised and included presentations from each President on their Club’s priorities for the coming year. There was quite a buzz in the room. No two Clubs are alike.
I was very impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of each Club for the activities they were planning. Attendees enjoyed meeting other Clubs and comparing notes on good projects.
The Assistant Governors supported me in facilitating these visits and I thank them for their assistance and the energy they put into their roles. They are a wonderful resource so please don’t hesitate to contact them if you are looking for some help.
Coming up this week are the joint Group 8 Clubs session in Ballarat as well as a joint session with St Arnaud and Charlton.
Visit by RI President Mark Maloney 24 September, Ballarat
Seats are selling fast so don’t delay in securing your spot! RI President Mark Maloney and his wife Gay will be coming to our District on 24 September 2019 and you and your partner are invited to dinner at the Mercure in Ballarat that evening, 6.30pm for 7pm start. Click on the link below and book your place. Bring yourselves, or even a car load of Rotarians to meet Mark Maloney, our International Rotary President.
Investing in Growing Rotary through Learning and Development
Take the opportunity to attend the Foundation Seminar on Grant Writing. It is being held in Ballarat on Saturday 17 August. CLICK HERE to register
District Board Meetings – 18 August
The first meeting of the District Leadership Team(DLT) will be held on Sunday 18 August, followed by the Board meeting in the afternoon.
To lift the District representatives’ IT skills, Howard Randall will be running a workshop at the DLT session on e-learning, Office 365 and use of the TEAMS (instead of Skype) application for holding meetings.
District Committee Vacancies - Opportunity Knocks
There are still a number of important activities that are available for interested Rotarians to participate in at the District level. These include vacancies on the following Committees:-
Youth Exchange: Needs an Admin person. So if you like keeping things organised and want to work with some dedicated people committed to giving Youth Exchange students a wonderful experience in country and overseas. Please contact Wendy James at chairye9780@gmail.comor on 0428 504 080
There are all wonderful activities to get involved in. Please consider putting in an expression of interest to the relevant contact listed above if you would like to be involved. A strong interest and a passion to serve Rotary are the main criteria!
Remember ‘Rotary Connects the World’.
Rosanne Kava
District Governor
Membership Development & Public Image Seminars
The second of five Membership Development and Public Image Seminars was held in Geelong this month.
28 Rotarians from Grovedale Waurn Ponds, Ocean Grove, Geelong Central, Highton, Bayside Geelong, Geelong, Geelong East, Belmont, Lara, Kardinia, Torquay, Drysdale, Colac West and Portland Bay, joined in a day of sharing ideas group discussions and learning new ways to think about Membership Development, and how to effectively get our message out to prospective new members.
The next Seminar will be held in Horsham on 5thOctober, followed by Ballarat on 2nd November and Port Fairy on 23 November.
These seminars are thought provoking and challenging, providing participants with the tools to re think our approach to attracting new members, existing member development, and promoting the work of Rotary in our own communities and globally.
Rotary’s literacy month is coming up next month. Many Clubs and Rotarians in District 9780 do wonderful work in this area.
Each Club should encourage their members or Club to be involved with a literacy program during the month
Some of the programs Rotarians in District 9780 involving Literacy include
Providing Books for Babies and Maternal Child Care Centres.
Assisting students and migrants to read through mentoring programs
Involvement with talking newspapers for people who are vision impaired
Donating books to be sent overseas via Donations In Kind
Providing scholarships for students so they can purchase books
Providing story telling and reading at the local library
Providing year three students with their own non pictorial dictionary
Libby Furner is the District’s Literacy Resource Co-ordinator and would like to hear from your Club’s involvement in Literacy Resources. Libby would like to hear about your Literacy Resource program on libby.furner43@gmail.com
Zone 8 Rotary Conference Christchurch NZ
In September the Zone 8 Rotary Conference will be held in Christchurch New Zealand from 20th – 22nd September 2019.
Previously known as the Zone Institute this Zone 8 Conference is open to all Rotarians to attend and participate in. You will be able to meet and make new friends, and learn more about the amazing work of Rotary. This will also be an opportunity show your support for the people of Christchurch especially after the earthquake and the recent tragic events that impacted so many people. It will be a time to see how Christchurch has been reinvigorated and what it is continuing to do after the earthquake.
The Organising Committee have done an excellent job in getting together a fantastic programme of presenters who you will find inspiring and challenging. The breakout groups on Saturday afternoon will also be very special. The then President of Rotary International Mark Maloney and his wife Gay will be present and Mark will be talking about his vision for the future of Rotary.
It promises to be a great weekend. I would urge you to attend, below are the links to register. By attending you are supporting not just Rotary but the people of Christchurch who have had some challenging time over the last few years.
CLICK HERE for program details, registration and a copy of the latest newsletter
PRID Noel Trevaskis
Ride the Bellarine - End Polio Project 2015-18
The Ride the Bellarine-End Polio Now event, was an incredibly successful joint project of all Clubs in Groups 9 & 10 of District 9780. It was a recreational family bike ride over a shorter or a longer distance which took in the beautiful sights of the Bellarine Peninsula. Held annually between 2015 to 2018, the event raised approximately $135,000, and when matched by 2 for1 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, totalled over $400,000. This enabled the purchase of approximately 675,000 doses of oral polio vaccine.
The organizing committee was made up of representatives from 8 different Clubs and more than 100 volunteers came from every Club in Groups 9 & 10 each year to make the event happen on the day. It was well supported by local businesses and riders from all over Victoria.
Recently, members of the organizing committee re-convened to reminisce about the extraordinary success of this project. Pictured are Murray MacDonald (Bayside Geelong), Tony Stewart (ex Geelong Central), Ross Taylor (Geelong East), John Paton (Ocean Grove), Peter Codd (Grovedale Waurn Ponds), and Ray Dunn (ex Highton) Missing from the picture David Sykes (Geelong East), Pauline Stewart (Highton), Greg Plumridge (Torquay)
By working together, 15 Clubs from Geelong and District over 4 years, helped to make a difference in the fight to End Polio Now.
Click the link below for current information from Rotary partners
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