Wow what a month March is shaping up to be in getting the Rotary brand out there.
The common thing I heard as I travelled around the clubs, was that people don't know what Rotary is or what we do and that we need advertising. I said I would try to assist in getting the word out there. Well, we have started...
We have had a half page editorial in the Ballarat Courier regarding our District conference, plus a radio opportunity and newspaper advertising and the Courier are doing a story on one of our conference speakers, John Marsden, this Friday. This will now lead to follow up articles from conference where you get a chance to talk to your own local newspaper about a story.
Plus, we had 24 pages in the Rotary Down Under magazine showcasing our District covering an assortment of projects from many of our clubs including:
Multi club Northern Rivers Flood Assistance led by Alfredton club,
Defying the Drift with the Beaufort club,
Garden Designfest with Ballarat West and Kardinia clubs,
PNG Projects with the Geelong and Warrnambool clubs,
Community assistance raffle - Ballarat South,
Shelterbox - Kardinia club (silver champion award), Beaufort, Belmont, Grovedale Waurn Ponds, Horsham East, Ocean Grove and Warrnambool East (all bronze champions)
Books in Homes project - Mount Gambier club,
Community Book Fair - Mount Gambier club,
Nepal Student Scholarships - Ocean Grove club,
Community Markets - Ballarat South, Lara Districts, Swan Hill and Camperdown clubs,
Kilbur Domin Foundation Timor Leste - Mount Gambier Lakes and Casterton clubs,
Pets on Parade - Torquay club,
Banjari Project Tanzania - Port Fairy club,
Police Awards - Bellarine North, Bayside Geelong and Warrnambool clubs,
School Lunch Program - Portland club,
Aeromedical Transfer Station - Maryborough club,
Say No 2 Family Violence - Maryborough, Portland Bay & Portland clubs,
Science & Engineering challenge - Ballarat West & Alfredton clubs,
Park Bench - Bordertown club,
Music for Dementia - Mount Gambier West club,
Father of the Year Award - Warrnambool club,
Samaritan House Geelong - Kardinia club,
Vocational Training Team to Portugal - Ballarat South,
Surf Coast Trek - Kardinia club,
Use your printed copies of RDU to promote Rotary at any opportunity you get. We will have a flyer out to you soon with all these projects on so you can use in your own club marketing or for attracting members or taking to your own local media outlets as a promotion.
This week sees us having a Civic Reception in Ballarat with the Mayor, Counsellors and Politicians with media coverage. We have many Presidents and Assistant Governors from all around the District attending this event with the opportunity of talking to media about their own club projects. We are then taking the opportunity to have lunch together and share our ideas.
This week I will also be on radio talking about our conference and what Rotary is. We are also working on a new radio campaign to run throughout the district, kicking off in Millicent with their club doing a live interview.
If you are not one for talking on radio, we are producing a 30 sec advertisement and will take it out to your radio stations to promote Rotary in your own area. Please do some research and get back to us with your radio station/s contact details and we will do the rest.
We are now only days away from conference, with registration closing in a couple of days so make sure you have booked to come along and connect with our members from around the district, see some fabulous projects, learn some new things and have a bit of fun.
DG Kathy and the conference team are excited to welcome you to join in the fun in Ballarat in March and to invite your friends and family to join us on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday afternoon is open to the public, so spread the word that they can join us to hear Jelena and John speaking and even get a book signed, if they would like.
Scan the QR code or go to https://www.trybooking.com/CGDXK to book a ticket to the Saturday afternoon session. Bookings close 5pm 20 March.
Details about all of the fantastic Speakers are on the Conference website.
For more information about the conference program and venuesand to register for all or part, click here .
There are five types of tickets available. The first is a ticket for the whole conference including the Saturday night dinner. Below is the ticket selection page from the conference TryBooking site and I have highlighted the full conference ticket with a green rectangle. Note a booking for the full conference does not require any further bookings unless you are adding a booking for another person who cannot attend the whole conference.
If prospective registrants are unable to attend the whole conference then each of the four sections can be booked individually.
These tickets appear below the full conference ticket and I have highlighted these with a yellow rectangle. Any combination of the four can be booked.
Disasters can devastate a community without warning, leaving people in urgent need of medical care, housing, and other basics they need to survive. In response to recent earthquakes in the region, The Rotary Foundation invites contributions to the Turkey/Syria Disaster Response Fund to support member-led projects that provide supplies and health care to people who have been affected.
Together, we can offer our support to these communities. Here's how you can help:
Donate to the Turkey/Syria Disaster Response Fund.
Fundraise among your colleagues, friends, and family using Raise for Rotary .
Your gift will make priority funding available for disaster recovery and support for Turkey and Syria through disaster response grants.
When you donate to our Turkey/Syria Disaster Response Fund now through 31 March 2023, make priority funding available to support our members’ earthquake relief work through disaster response grants. If needs diminish, or if more funds are raised than are requested, surplus contributions may eventually be made available for disasters worldwide.
Our District has Assistant Governors who aid the District Governor by managing a specific area. Some assist clubs, some assist various District Committees and others manage a specific aspect of our District organisation. Each month we focus on a different Assistant Governor, and let you get to know them a little better.
This month we head to Geelong with a bit of information about Cats supporter and
Assistant Governor for Youth, Wendy James from Horsham East Rotary.
Here is her story:
Congratulations to all who received awards and honours on Australia Day
Several of our Rotary community we recognised on Australia Day for their community service.
(Apologies to those we have not been made aware of)
Keith & Sheila Mansfield from Highton and John McDonald late of Torquay Rotary were each awarded OAMs for their untiring commitment to their community.
Christine Dufty from Nhill received the Hindmarsh Shire Citizen of the Year award
Reminder to send information through to remember our fellow Rotarians
We have received a few details of friends and colleagues who have passed away, but are aware that there are many still to come. Please don't delay to send the information we need, to acknowledge each person we have lost.
At the District Conference, in Ballarat March 24-26, we will have a display featuring those friends and colleagues who have passed away since the District Conference last year in Port Fairy. For those of us who are not familiar with each Rotarian please send information that will help us know them. Not just their name. dates of birth/death and time in Rotary, but what they loved doing - favourite roles or projects, what your club members will remember them for, passions outside Rotary too. We also need a photo of them - preferably a great photo - of them participating in a Rotary project? doing something they loved? having fun? enjoying themselves? feeling proud of an award or achievement?
Don't forget - we need your photos or videos to display at Conference.
Photos should be either jpeg, png or compiled on PowerPoint pages, MP4 videos are OK too.
What is special about your club? What are you most proud of? Which projects would you like to tell people about? How do you have fun?
Any of these could be included in our PowerPoint/video presentation, which we would love to share in March at our District Conference in Ballarat.
Keep this in mind as you do your projects/fundraisers/social events - record what's happening with great action photos or videos. Then send it to DG Kathy, Kathy.Rivett@rotary9780.org or Deb Robertson Deb.Robertson@rotary9780.org so we can share your ideas and achievements with the whole District.
Update from District 9780 Environment and Sustainability Committee Chair, David Sanders.
This past quarter we asked clubs to get involved in a water or beach clean-up projects. It would be great to have photos or info if clubs have taken the challenge.
In Ballarat, I organised a clean-up at Kensington Creek , we were able to remove a lot of polystyrene & builders waste from the creek.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rotary in Australia in 2021 the Rotary Club of Balwyn promised to donate a significant portion of its annual income generated from its Camberwell Sunday Market to assist other Rotary Clubs in Australia in their humanitarian endeavours.
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