AUGUST MESSAGE from DISTRICT GOVERNOR Dr Daryl Moran
AUGUST in the world of Rotary is designated as MEMBERSHIP Month which is a time to focus our minds and Rotary activities on three Key Actions as regards our clubs and their programs.
How do we ATTRACT more new members?
This reminds us that we need to make it as easy as possible for potential members to know that we exist. We need to ensure that our ‘Public Face’ on all social media and in our public activities is portraying an active, inclusive and energetic club that would help new prospects to ‘do some good in the world.’
How do we ENGAGE our current members?
Research in the world of Rotary tells us that most new members leave Rotary in their first three years of membership, usually because the club atmosphere is unwelcoming, stale or inactive. But the other key reason, is that they have not been engaged in the clubs’ activities and their expectations about ‘doing good in the world ’are unmet.
How do we RETAIN our current members?
Because their expectations have not been achieved, they have not met their Rotary Retention Point. In essence, a Rotarians’ Retention Point is the moment when they decide that their Rotary club is absolutely ‘their tribe’ and they undertake a lifelong commitment to Rotary.
(I have written a brief article about Rotarians’ Retention Point which has been distributed to all Club Presidents and is printed elsewhere in this edition of ‘Change Maker.’)
Underpinning the importance of these three Key Actions, is the reality that the numbers of Rotarians in Australia has decreased by nearly 25% in the past ten years, as evidenced in the reduced numbers in our own District. No amount of Re-Districting will ensure Rotary’s long-term future, UNLESS each one of clubs seriously addresses these three KeyActions.
In addition, as a Baby Boomer myself, it has become more and more apparent, that we need to be building a Rotary organisation that is going to appeal to potential members from Gen Y or the Millennials. These young people who have become adults in this century, need to see that we are an organisation with clubs that are prepared to change with the times, that are adept with technology and are prepared to be flexible in their approach to meetings, commitments and activities. Our Rotaract Club members are a wonderful resource and we have much to learn from them about adapting to change and working with the younger generation.
As Jenny and I make our way around our District completing our DG Club Visits, it is good to see that some clubs are doing a great job at dealing with the three Key Actions, and in particular, are embracing new technology and a younger generation.
I encourage all of us to see that the future of our own Rotary Clubs rests on our ability to actively respond to the changing world around us. We need to ensure that all our clubs continue to find ways to ATTRACT, ENGAGE and RETAIN our Rotarians.
August is also the month when our District is staging a number of Seminars and Forums in key areas of our Rotary work as we join together to ‘Serve to Change Lives.’ I encourage you and your members, especially recently joined Rotarians, to attend these online events. More details about them are outlined in “Change Maker.’
It is pleasing that so many clubs are supporting the DG Partner Project with financial contributions and hearty thanks go to those clubs. News from Fiji is that a Days for Girls sewing group has been established with some local leaders completing their on-line training and the group has completed 100 kits that have been certified as ‘gold standard’. As this group is operating in the Lautoka region, where COVID is much less of an issue than in Suva, there will be a distribution of these kits to girls in the area. This group is operating under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Lautoka, which will make the transfer of funds very easy.
An exciting development is that Days for Girls is submitting a proposal to the Fiji Government for a trial within one school district where every girl will receive a Days for Girls kit.
If Rotarians are interested in supporting Days for Girls in ways apart from financial support, one easy way is to donate small hotel soaps to a local Chapter. I am happy to provide contact details for one that might be close to you.
For the first time since 2018, D9810 will be holding its own District Conference on 25th and 26th of March 2022. Friday 25th will be held online whilst Saturday 26th will be staged at in-person at the Caulfield Racecourse. Club Presidents will have a sneak preview of the program and arrangements at the monthly meeting with the DG on Friday 24th September and Registrations will open on 1st October. Find out more details in the short clip below, especially the theme for the Gala Dinner!
On the 9th & 10th June 2021 a weather event ripped through the Dandenong Ranges causing havoc and widespread disaster. Click the image to find out more information.
Our members, our clubs and our communities were left devastated.
After the initial emergency responders have left the area, volunteer help and $ are needed to help our communities rebuild.
Many clubs helped with emergency relief but with forethought IPDG Alma Reynolds and DG Daryl Moran set up an appeal to raise funds to help support the clubs in the area.
It will take years and many $ to get these communities back on their feet.
TO DATE THE APPEAL HAS RAISED IN EXCESS OF $80,000
A huge congratulations and thankyou to all the clubs that have contributed and a desperate appeal to the clubs that have not - PLEASE WE NEED YOUR HELP
The next steps
From early August the committee we will be asking the affected clubs to propose projects and make a grant application to receive funds from the appeal.
All projects will be driven by community and local club consultation.
Each grant will require the affected clubs to partner with another club in the district and where possible the extended Rotary family, to help with volunteers.
The grant will be considered by the committee members Alan Lunghusen, Bernadette Vanderwolde, Daryl Moran, Alma Reynolds and Brian Foley.
All projects will be communicated within the district so keep an eye out for updates.
As we begin to move out of another lockdown, some of our Youth Service programs are cautiously re-starting. Clubs that are sponsoring Earlyact and Interact clubs have begun to re-establish contact and are working with their various school communities and clubs to help maintain some level of purposeful activity. In conjunction with our District Interact Chair, Salwan Shahine (Doncaster), Geoff Logie-Smith (Waverley) is taking on the role of reconvening our Interact District Council. This body managed to meet just before the pandemic took hold, but hopefully can meet again and plan for greater co-operation and support for Interact programs across our District.
Some clubs have resumed their various Speech Competitions and here I would like to highlight RC Healesville which staged a wonderful on-line primary school speech competition last year. With that experience under their belt, plans are already underway to repeat the competition and perhaps even include some in-person aspects, conditions permitting.
The joint D9810 and D9820 committee for our Rotary Young Leaders Awards (RYLA) program is well underway with plans for this event to be staged in mid-January 2022. The RYLA flier with more information is below and I encourage all clubs to look to sponsor and support young people for this life-changing event. D9810 RYLA Chairs, Les Marton and Trish Carr (Box Hill Burwood), and their committee of Rex Carter, Trish Condon, Lucy Shao and D9810 Youth Service Chair, Malcolm Chiverton can provide more details.
As with some of our other District Youth Service programs, we always need volunteers to help to act as the Chair and to staff the committees. I am pleased to advise that after a hiatus of some time, our District Youth Service Chair, Malcolm Chiverton (Box Hill Central) will take on the role of District Chair of NYSF. A number of our clubs have supported this program in the past and now that NYSF has shown clarity about the program being in-person or on-line, our District is pleased that Malcom has taken on this additional role. He will also represent us at a national level with other Rotary District Chairs and help to co-ordinate the work of NYSF in D9810.
Sadly, our in-person Rotary Youth Exchange program will not take place during this Rotary year and whether it resumes in 2022-23 is yet to be decided. More information will be forthcoming from Rotary International about the future of the program at an appropriate time once the world pandemic situation becomes clearer.
However, a number of our popular Youth Service programs remain without District Chairs or Committees and I would especially encourage anyone who has an interest in being part of the Teams for Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) and the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) to contact D9810 Youth Service Chair Malcolm Chiverton to express your interest.
As we increasingly move into a virtual on-line world, advice from our District Youth Protection Chair, Ken Mirams (Beaumaris) is very timely indeed and these are printed below. If you or your club have questions about the Youth Protection protocols, may I suggest that you ask Ken to address your club.
D9810 YOUTH PROTECTION PROTOCOLS in an ON-LINE ENVIRONMENT
If Rotarians are communicating or interviewing students via zoom or other means, the advice would be it should be at least TWO Rotarians present if there is only ONE student online. Protocols for the on-line meeting should be that the host will terminate the call if it ends up one on one. Parents and Guardians may also be invited to be present during the call.
Prior to starting the activity:
1. Complete Volunteer Declaration for all Rotarian adults participating
2. Ensure all have WWCC
3. Ensure the Interviewers are trained in key elements of Youth Protection
4. Have the students’ parents/guardians sign an approval to participate
5. Keep a record of all participants and sessions held
Best wishes to D9810 members PDG Tony Monley OAM (Manningham) who is the Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer of RICON 23 and James Cunningham (Templestowe) who is heading up the RICON 23 House of Friendship Commercial and Creative team.
To see the Host Organisation Committee and to read more about RICON 23 click here
Hampton Farmers’ Market (Rotary Club of Sandringham)
March 2021 saw the first Hampton Farmers’ Market, hosted by the Rotary Club of Sandringham.
Since then we have gone from strength to strength thanks to club members’ support and planning, Bayside City Council, our stall holders, the shopping public and a lot of marketing!
Given its smaller size of approximately 40 stalls we aim to have no duplicate products on offer and a healthy bias towards primary producers, thus offering a great market experience for both shopper and stall holder alike.
Another goal (other than raising funds) is to bring foot traffic to Hampton after what was, undeniably, a difficult year last year for small businesses. Managing the market as a Rotary club takes some work but all of the profits go back to the community, no paying a third party.
We saw in excess of 1,400 folks pass through our market in June. “Staffed” by a team of 18, we’ve all been on a steep learning curve with regards to what it takes to attract both stallholders and shoppers and, more importantly how to keep them. There’s still fine tuning to be done, but that’s a part pf the journey.
We can be found on 3rd Sunday of each month in Willis Street carpark (behind Woolies), 0800hrs to 1300hrs.
We may only be in number 10 but our market has made it to the Top Ten Must Visit Markets in Victoria by the RACV!!
That is a goldmine of former recipients and participants of Rotary's youth and Foundation programs and scholarships. These individuals known as Rotary's Alumni can serve as guest speakers, consultants and/or collaborators for service projects and fundraising projects, sponsors/donors/partners (or via their employers/companies or Rotary or Rotaract Clubs) of our programs and service projects, act as advocates of Rotary's work by helping with our marketing and sharing of our work, participants of further Rotary opportunities and be potential members of our Clubs and Satellite Clubs.
There are almost 2000 Alumni already accessible and at our fingertips who are registered with Rotary International as being sponsored, hosted or that reside within our District and there are thousands more that we have assisted over the District's 39 year history. Our Alumni can often be Rotary's most passionate advocates of our work and impact and can be particularly motivated following their Rotary experience to continue their relationship with Rotary, take on further available opportunities, collaborate with Rotarians and fellow Alumni and make positive and lasting change, However, statistics show that only 2.9% of current Rotarians are program alumni and there is generally a lack of ongoing engagement with our Alumni.
The District's Alumni Committee will be undertaking a number of ventures to assist Rotarians, Rotary and Rotaract Clubs and Rotary Program Leaders in re-engaging and re-connecting with Rotary's Alumni. We encourage you to review the resources available via the District website, attend the District Workshop on this topic on 6 September 2021 and connect with the DistrictAlumni Committee for further assistance and/or to speak at your Club. If you are interested in joining the Alumni Committee and/or have appointed an Club Alumni Liaison please contact us. We urge you to re-connect, re-engage and maintain engagement with Rotary's Alumni - why wouldn't you when you have gold at your fingertips!?
Mont Albert and Surrey Hills (MASH) Rotary club is enthused at the prospect of putting Peace Poles in primary and a secondary school with which we work on several different programs.
This Peace Pole program started as the centenary project of Rotary Club of Canberra Burley Griffin. That club’s intent was to locate 100 poles in 100 different schools. The success of the program is evidenced by already more than 168 poles having been erected.
What is a Peace Pole? It is either wooden or made of aluminium. It’s 5 feet high (150cm) and has 4 equal sides of 9cm. One side has the words ‘ May Peace Prevail on Earth’ on one side in English with the same message on the other sides in 3 different foreign languages - these languages being languages taught at the school or languages spoken by a significant number of families at the school.
The Peace Poles program aligns well with Rotary’s Peace and Conflict Resolution area of focus. The program also aligns nicely with World Peace Day which is celebrated in the 3rd week of September. RC of Canberra Burley Griffin has prepared a format for a short ceremony on that day which is performed by the school’s students and a representative of the sponsoring Rotary club.
The Rotary year of 2021-22 marks the 40th year of District 9810 having been officially launched with an inaugural dinner at Pitrone’s Function Centre, Keysborough on 16th July 1982. District 981, as it was then known, was founded with 39 clubs and a membership of over 1500 Rotarians and although small geographically, was formed from territory ceded by Districts 979, 980 and 982. Plans are afoot to mark our 40th Birthday in July 2022.
FROM the DISTRICT 9810 ARCHIVES
1983-84. The Rotary Club of Glen Waverley was awarded the D9810 Service Award in 1993-4 for a project which involved the funding and erecting of a new building for the Christian Alternative Remand Accommodation Centre (CARA) at Syndal. This facility provided accommodation for girls who had been before the courts for minor offences and/or were victims of family breakdown. Beginning in 1983, the club took on the task of clearing the site, funding the construction and outfitting of the facility to the tune of some $30,000. Although the club was assisted by Jennings Industries Ltd and apprentice engineers for Box Hill College of TAFE, the vast majority of the work was carried out by Rotaractors and Rotarians from the Glen Waverley club.
1988. The Rotary Club of Lilydale assisted a local businessman, Phil McDonald who rode 15,500km around Australia from April to August in 1988 on a penny farthing bicycle to raise funds for PolioPlus. The Lilydale club provided logistical backup to the ride and Rotary clubs along the route provided accommodation, meals and personal encouragement. The ride averaged 130 km per day, riding seven days a week with the only rest days being in capital cities. On arrival back in Melbourne on 1st September, Phil and the Lilydale support team were welcomed by the Victorian premier, John Cain and it was announced that the ride had raised $100,000.
1988. The Rotary Club of Belgrave was thrilled to be awarded the prestigious Shire of Sherbrooke Community Service Award in recognition of the Club’s many years of community service, especially as it was the first time that a service club had been presented with this award.
Your Rotary, Rotaract, or Interact club can earn a Rotary Citation for achieving goals that strengthen Rotary and your club. Goals include increasing club membership, developing sustainable service projects, giving to The Rotary Foundation, and building awareness of Rotary in your community. Club Presidents might choose to use the Citation as a good way of helping to direct their thoughts and plans during their Rotary year.
Follow the link below to find out more information.
Join us to showcase the amazing community projects in our district.
If you want to show off your clubs amazing project/s or if you are looking for some inspiring idea’s for your club, then this community showcase session is for you.
Just a reminder that in 2021/22 the District Governors Newsletter will now again be a monthly edition.So please send me your photos and articles to highlights9810@gmail.com prior to the next edition which will be sent out on the 6th September.
If you would like to see any Newsletters from the current or previous years click here.
Also Please remember that "Highlights" will be sent out on the third Monday of every month with the next edition being on the 16th August. Please send me any events & functions that you have planned in 2021/2022.
In the meantime you can view all the current events here
