An anniversary, an engagement, a second chance on life, and a tale about adventures abroad. Who would have thought a Rotary breakfast could be filled with so much excitement!
The anniversary is of course Rotary's 114th! The first Rotary Club was established by attorney Paul Harris and 3 of his mates (Gustave - a mining engineer, Sylvester- a coal merchant, and Hiram- a tailor) in a downtown Chicago office on the 23rd February 1905.
During our Sargent's session, Dr. Bill surprised us all with his announcement that he and Ruth are now engaged! What a lovely Valentine's Day surprise for Ruth. Enquiring minds want to know when the big day is.. stay tuned for more.
Our guest speaker this week was Stephen Te Waiti who shared a personal experience of surviving a heart attack. A seemingly normal and healthy man, Stephen one day felt unwell at work. Instead of visiting one of the hospitals close to his workplace, Stephen drove all the way back to the North Shore closer to home where he was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with having had a severe heart attack. After complicated major surgery was performed, Stephen he left the hospital a few weeks later with a repaired heart and a new perspective on life.
At the end of our meeting we had a banner exchange and heard some short stories from members Mike Campbell, Graham Hendry and Greg Moyle who visited Rotary Clubs in Sikkim, Darjeeling, and Calcutta Endeavour. Read more in the following "stories" section by Mike Campbell.
A big THANK YOU to the 43 members who provided feedback on our strategic fundraising project and brand tagline. Overall 86% of members who responded are supportive of the Wild in Art fundraising event and 93% of members are willing to help either by being part of the organising team, event logistics, event attendance, referring friends and contacts to the event, or by asking their company to help sponsor. I am proud of our Club's willingness to rally around this major event and to help in which ever way they can.
Our Board has reviewed the survey results and had a Q&A session with the previous organiser to learn more about the details of running such an event. We are awaiting a few more pieces of information and are positive about the prospects. Stay tuned for more information.
Our speaker next week is Angela Caughey - mother of member Phil Caughey and author of two books on dementia. Angela will be speaking with us about Dementia Prevention. With the dramatic increase in cases of dementia and as many of us have seen parents or loved ones afflicted by this condition, this is an opportunity for us to learn and take action.
A last word on Mal's challenge, as of today I'm pleased to report that 17 members have generously contributed amounts ranging from $200-$5000 and in total we have reached $43,200 of our $50,000 goal. We still need $6,800within the next 6 weeks in order to capture Mal's total $50K contribution. This is a Club-wide membership initiative so please show your support and help us leave a legacy.
Have a great weekend ahead & see you next Tuesday.
Downtowners Mike Campbell, Graham Hendry & Greg Moyle were part of a group of 14 Rotarians and 5 friends of members who joined forces on a 28 day tour of Sri Lanka, India, Sikkim and Nepal. Mike & Sheryl extended their trip to 36 days so they could include other regions such as Rajastan & Mumbai. While Mike states the purpose was to enjoy 36 days of curry, the highlights show otherwise. Read more below.
(Report by Mike Campbell)
Travelling with a group of likeminded people, we had a very good tour leader and the trip was very well organised by the travel company. (I was the only one to lose my bags – on the first transfer from Hotel 1 on day 1 to Hotel 2 day 2 – but nothing a 6 hour taxi drive couldn’t fix.)
Amongst my personal highlights of the trip were:
appreciating a different culture, seeing their problems first hand and coming to an understand as to why the poverty exists to the extent it does.
observing Sheryl’s Mother Theresa attitude change over time (I think she realised she couldn’t save all the beggars who approached her).
seeing and understanding the achievements of past cultures of this part of the world, the buildings and architectural monuments have to be seen to be appreciated.
We attend an evening Rotary Meeting in Kolkata, a smaller club with 40 or so members who were in the main business people aged in the late 30’s to mid 40’s. In Sikkim the Rotary Club of Gangkok entertained us to an afternoon tea – a past President greeting us and I discovered he was the retired Secretary of State for Sikkim.
An eventful moment for Greg and I, being ex NZ Police members, was experiencing how the Indian Police gave our Tour Guide and Bus driver a shakedown for bribes on several occasions whilst we were in the Northern Himalayas – we need to utilize some of their skills for our Sergeant’s sessions.
Arriving home to Gods Own – no more tooting on the road and some normal plain kiwi food.
On 29th May, Past President Gill announced "Mal's Challenge" to our Club and his desire to help build up our Club Trust by an additional $100,000!
Read more to find out why and how you can help make this happen by 31 March, 2019.
At the Annual General Meeting, members were presented with the various distributions made last year by our Club Trust to individuals and organisations in our community. These distributions and donations help change peoples lives. Fundraising is an important aspect of any service organisation as money is needed to do good work. We can either raise funds through events such as celebrity dinners/auctions, etc. or if we have enough capital to invest, we can use the interest earned to support our Causes.
As of 21 February, 2019 we have received donations and pledges of $43,200 from 17 members ranging in amounts from $200-$5000. Mal has already committed $10,000 and is willing to bring it up his contribution to $50K if members are able to donate the remaining $6,800 by 31st March 2019. Every amount helps bring us closer to the goal of capturing Mal's $50K. Please make your donation today.
All donations made to our Club Trust are tax deductible (which means you get up to 33.3% of your money back as a tax refund) and members will receive a receipt from our Treasurer Grant Hally.
If you would like to make a donation, you may do so directly to:
ROTARY CLUB OF DOWNTOWN AUCKLAND INC. CHARITABLE TRUST
Account: 12-3252-0053102-00
Feel free to contact Lucy or Grant Hally if you have any questions on the above.
This is a great opportunity for us to double the size of our Trust and to leave a legacy for future programs to help those in need.
Volunteering at the City Mission - the Process Behind the Giving
(Helping hands: Lucy, Keiko, Andrew, Trish, Gill and Jan)
Have you ever wondered what happens to the clothing and items you donate to City Mission?
Four of our Downtown Rotarians found out first hand when they volunteered to help sort and fold clothing donation at the City Mission (CM) distribution centre in Grafton. Andrew and Trish of CM, told us that since the Marie Kondo craze (a TV decluttering expert who has started a trend around the world), the CM has been flooded with donations of clothing. So much so that they had to stop receiving donations for a few weeks as donations have started to pile up. Every week volunteers are needed to help sort clothing (there are only 2 full time staff on site- Jackie & Trish) which then gets directed to either the refuge, or to one of the 4 Op Shops in Auckland to help support families in need. Proceeds from the Op shop goes towards keeping the mission operational. Did you know that the CM spends apx. $30,000 a year on disposal fees as sometimes the donated items are in such bad or unusable condition, that they have to be thrown away. On the other side of the spectrum, sometimes there are really good and unique items that are donated which end up being collectibles. Drop into your local City Mission Op shop to take a look and help support the community.
Auckland City Mission (ACM) is one of the 7 social causes our members voted to support. City Missioner Chris Farrely and Fundraising Executive Lyn Stevens came to speak at our Club earlier this year to share more about the new facility "HomeGround" due to be built by 2020. In the interim, the ACM has moved into a new temporary facility. To learn more about the project click on the website:
Five of our Club members (Jan, Byran, Gareth, Des, Kat) and Weilian (who joined from our facebook page), volunteered at the City Mission from 11am-3pm on 21st of January to help prepare lunch/dinner service for about 170 people.
The City Mission serve about 250-300 meals a day with only one onsite chef and with the rest of the help provided by volunteers.
Did you know that last fiscal year, ACM distributed 12,753 emergency food parcels to struggling families and individuals? They successfully housed 112 homeless clients; they provided 14,362 health consultations to vulnerable, high-needs patients and also admitted 375 people to residential drug &n alcohol detoxification.
The Auckland City Mission is in regular need of volunteers and group volunteers to help serve meals to the homeless. Kat & Gareth would like to run this event again if there is interest from the club members. So please get in touch with Kat if you are keen to volunteer on a regular basis either solo or part of the little Downtown Rotary group.
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