Welcome to another issue of our District 9810 Monthly Newsletter
The current, and past Bulletins can always be accessed here.
If you wish to contact the Editor, please see details at the bottom of this Bulletin.
Hello again my fellow Rotarians,
Well of course it's been another busy month for me as I visit the clubs in our District. When possible, Helen has tried to join me but I hope you understand that she often cannot as her work commitments make it difficult, especially as meetings are either during the day or commence a little too early in the evening. Many clubs meetings are at venues an hour to an hour and a half from where we live in Bayside. She has asked me to pass on her sincere thanks to all the clubs which have shown support for End Polio. It makes her feel so proud to be a Rotarian every time I return form a meeting and tell her of yet another donation. October is, of course, End Polio Month and many clubs are focusing their efforts this month. I am hoping to be able to include a few articles next month showcasing some of the events.
I have had the pleasure of participating in a number of new member inductions as I do my visits which is always an honour and a pleasure. My congratulations to all those clubs.
There have been a number of events I, and sometimes Helen, have been able to attend other than my official visits. I have included an article in this newsletter regarding the Dog Day Out, RC Healesville. In addition, Helen and I attended another great night with the Springvale City Club at the Sandown Greyhounds for their literacy fundraiser and I had another opportunity to hear Frida Umuhoza speak at a special meeting of the Boronia Club. (Frida was awarded a PHF by the Club).
My sincerest congratulations to all clubs for your efforts. Without exception all clubs are really making an effort to create an impact. As the weather (tries at least) improves I know there are many annual events like art shows, golf days, markets, car events etc gathering momentum. I wish you success with all your efforts and hope to catch up with you at as many as I can.
The International – Foundation Professional Development Seminar was held at the Melbourne Baseball Club, Surrey Road Box Hill on Monday 18 September, 2023. The seminar focused on ‘Sustainability’ to ensure that the benefits of District and Global Grants projects are achieved long after the Rotary funding has ended. Sustainability addresses 6 inter-linked issues:
Start with the community
Encourage local ownership
Provide training
Buy local
Find local funding
Measure your success
Take link to read more and get links to downloads.
As we know only 2 countries remain endemic with wild polio in 2023 - namely Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It appears that so far this year there have been a total of seven cases reported (6 and one respectively).
Rotary remains a key player in the mission to eradicate polio and I congratulate the Clubs of District 9810 for recognising the month of October as End Polio month and arranging events accordingly.
Success in eradicating polio will mean that no more children will have to experience the devastating effects of the disease. Failure to eradicate polio could cause poliovirus to reappear around the world with an estimated 150,000-200,000 new cases expected every year within 10 years.
For a great article about where we are and where we've come from in regards to Polio eradication, click here
The Polio Plus Society, is a fundraising and recognition program specifically to support the worldwide effort to eradicate polio. Members pledge to donate at least US$100 ($160AUD) annually to the PolioPlus Fund until polio is eliminated from the world.
Rotarians are encouraged to be part of this initiative.
Helen's project continues to receive great support from the Clubs in our District. As I am completing my visits I am so encouraged by the commitment and and support Rotarians show for the End Polio Now initiative.
So since my last update we've received contributions from the following Clubs: The Rotary Clubs of Glen Waverley incl Wheelers Hill, Rowville-Lysterfield, Noble Park - Dingley (thanks to Val Glenn and her team), Monash, Knox (further contribution) and Doncaster. Just a reminder that club contributions to Helen's project are till included as part of a Club's total annual contribution.
It's worth mentioning that many clubs are making two contributions to the End Polio Fund at the same time, reflecting the fact that their contribution via the Partner Project is additional to their original commitment.
A reminder that if you would like to make a personal, tax deductible donation, please go here. Your donation will be credited against you, as a Rotarian and your Club. Just make sure that the email address you use, matches the address in MyRotary. Donations from non-Rotarians are, of course, also welcome and can also be made through this portal.
If you are representing a club, please make the contribution by the normal channels but flag it as DG Project and drop DG Ian or Helen an email. Banking details for Clubs can be found here.
As of mid October, her project has received from Rotary members, Rotary Clubs and some non Rotarians a total of AUS$19,260.
Pakistan’s female vaccinators are doing more than helping end a disease.
Women make up two-thirds of Pakistan’s polio workforce. It’s a startling statistic for a nation that ranks 145th out of 146 countries for gender parity in economic participation and opportunity, according to a World Economic Forum gender inequality index.
A letter was circulated to all members this week by David Grieve bringing us up to date with contributions by clubs to the End Polio Now campaign so far this year.
In addition, David encourages clubs to raise awareness of the End Polio campaign during the month of October and even host a fund raising event.
Here is a link to the End Polio Resource Centre where there are videos, materials, banners, posters, and in particular, materials focusing on World Polio day.
For those of you who missed David's letter, take the link here to Read More.
Helen and I had the pleasure of attending the Rotary Club of Healesville's Dog Day Out on Sunday, October 15. Also in attendance was PDG and Assistant Governor, Shia Smart and Duncan with their wire haired Dachshund, Sherlock.
Helen and I had our own dog, Billy the cavoodle and his friend who was with us following a sleepover, Alfie.
This has been a major event for the Club over the years but has been on hold due to COVID.
My congratulations to Vinay and all the members of the Healesville Rotary Club. What a great opportunity to showcase your Club.
Last month, 14 Rotaractors from Monash and Whitehorse participated in STEPtember. The funds raised from this challenge support a wide range of initiatives, helping people with cerebral palsy to live their best lives. You can donate to our fundraiser at: https://www.steptember.org.au/fundraisers/RotaractDistrict9810. We're only $75 away from meeting our goal of raising $1000, so we'd appreciate your donation!
District 9810/9820 held an interdistrict minigolf social on 7 October. While there was fantastic turnout from Monash Rotaract, unfortunately, it was poorly attended by the other clubs. We're planning to host a holiday picnic celebration in December.
Whitehorse Rotaract hosted their Post-Apocalyptic Murder Mystery Night as a social event on Friday the 13th of October. They raised $330 for FORaMEAL. FORaMEAL, a project of the Rotary Club of Canterbury, is an initiative to help provide emergency relief meals for those impacted by natural disasters.
Finally, RYLA Oceania held the RYLA Awards Ceremony on 15 October. District 9810/9820 won two of the District Program Awards: Best Community Engagement and Greatest Improvement or Innovation. Congratulations to all involved!
As you may recall I sent out a plea on behalf of Glenn Tippett of the Boronia Club to find a worthwhile home for some surplus PPE that was headed to landfill.
A number of clubs responded indicating they would investigate different options and my thanks to all those clubs who responded.
A big big thank you goes to the Moorabbin Club and its President, Anita Bayros who, through her contacts at the Australian Animal Protection Society in Keysborough, was able to find a worthwhile recipient.
On 3 October the Regionalisation Pilot announced the candidates for the first Regional Council in Zone 8 - that is Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
Roles on the Regional Council
Chair
Chair-Elect
Portfolio Lead: Major Fundraising and Grants
Portfolio Lead: Learning and Development
Portfolio Lead: Membership
Portfolio Lead: Public Image and Partnerships
Portfolio Lead: Service Projects and Programs
Rotaract Nominee (only Rotaract clubs are eligible to vote for this role)
The full list of candidates and their promotional statements here.
Voting for the Regional Council
Presidents on behalf of their clubs will vote for candidates via a preferential voting system. More information can be found here about voting.
More information on the Regional Council can be found here.
A reminder of the Regionalisation Website, Creating Tomorrow here.
I hear of so many great projects being undertaken by all our Clubs as I do my visits.
On my recent visit to the Mt Waverley Club I learnt about the Shelterbags project addressing the needs of the homeless in our communities. Shelterbags* provide our Homeless people with some dignity, plus warmth and shelter from the rain, wind and cold.
You can support this RAWCS endorsed project either as an individual or Club.
My thanks to Ann Grant from the RC of Mt Waverley for supplying this information.
There are a number of articles and advertisements concerning Rotary in the Eastern Suburbs..... P13 Mont Albert Market Advert. -Patt G P13 Vic Police, Neighbourhood Watch and Rotary working towards a Safer Community - GGrant P14 Whitehorse Art Show Advert- Simon W P14. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) - GGrant P15 Christmas at Blackburn Station Art and Craft Market - Advert -John Mc Phee P16 Model United Nations Assembly ( MUNA) prizes for local students - GGrant P13 Mont Albert Market Advert. -Patt G P13 Vic Police, Neighbourhood Watch and Rotary working towards a Safer Community - GGrant P14 Whitehorse Art Show Advert- Simon W P14. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) - GGrant P15 Christmas at Blackburn Station Art and Craft Market - Advert -John Mc Phee P16 Model United Nations Assembly ( MUNA) prizes for local students - GGrant
Well done Glenys for helping Rotary gain this exposure.
2023 Zone 8 Conference will be held on-line this year and all Rotarians are invited to attend.
Past District Governors Leanne Jaggs from the Rotary Club of Manukau Sunrise and Karen Purdue from the Rotary Club of Invercargill Sunrise, New Zealand will co-chair the virtual event, themed ‘Moments that Matter’.
Along with bringing Rotarians, Rotaractors and the wider community together, this virtual event will create an environment to share ideas and learn from our members about the matters that are important to them.
Our global keynote speakers will share examples of tangible steps, you can take back to your club to increase our Ability to Adapt.
I have received a request from Rotarian Roger Leask, Royce Abbey Award Committee in District 9810 to extend an invitation to members of District 9810 to attend their 500th Royce Abbey Award evening on the 17th November.
Venue will be The Windy Hill Venue, Cnr. Napier & Brewster Sts. Essendon, VIC - 3040
Guest Speaker - PDG Murray Verso, End Polio Now Coordinator - Zone 8 (2022-2025).
The Rotary convention is where friendship and learning come together to inspire you. In Singapore you’ll connect with people of action from around the globe at Rotary’s biggest event of the year.
The 2024 Rotary International Convention, will be be held 25-29 May in Singapore.
Here are a couple of stories to help inspire you to register.
Just a reminder to all members, but especially Presidents, committee chairs and event organisers to get your event into the District Event Newsletter, Highlights, edited by Michael Ellinger.
This will also ensure it gets included in the District Event Calendar on the website, link here.
To publish your event and/or function please send it to Michael in either a word document or PDF file format at highlights9810@gmail.com
Get all District 9810 events automatically added to your calendar.
From the Calendar page here you can subscribe to the District's event calendar.
This will result in the District's calendar being added to your existing calendar subscriptions, thus ensuring that as an event is added (or modified) to the District's calendar, it will appear on your phone, tablet etc. Calendars supported are Outlook, Google and Apple.
Take the link, Subscribe to Calendar, from the Calendar Page here.
You can view the newsletter from your email or take the link at the top, and open it in your browser. Generally the content of the newsletter will be in the form of "stories". The first paragraph and a small image will appear here, on this page. By clicking on the "read more" link, you will be taken, via a separate tab in your browser, to the full story, with more pictures, within the District website. You can then return to where you were viewing this page, in your email or browser. If you wish to submit an article, please read preferred format at the bottom of this page.
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Ian Ballantine
