Happy Auckland Anniversary Day Everyone!

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday break and a great start into 2019!

It's hard to believe how fast time has passed since we started our Rotary year together in July 2018. 

Over the holiday break (in between the cooking and entertaining on Waiheke and in the city), I had some time to reflect on what we have achieved as a Club and would like to share some of the highlights with you.

Our year began with a number of Fundraising Events including:

           Craig Heatley Breakfast in August

          Michelle A'Court Dinner in September

          Melbourne Cup in November

          Fashion Evening in November

          Christmas Pudding Sales in November 

We have raised approximately $38,000 to date (not including Mal's Challenge to raise $100K - see article on website). Well done everyone!

On the Fellowship front, Kat & Gareth have done a great job in coming up with creative events and venues. Along with help from other members of the Club and Board, we have had the following events:

          Fellowship dinner at Odette's

          Warkworth Radio Telescope and Sawmill Brewery Visit

          Octoberfest at Der Metz

          End Polio Movie Night

          Melbourne Cup

          Christmas Dinner at William's Eatery

          Yacht Cruise on The Savoy 

In terms of Volunteer Service, our Club members have participated in:

          Ronald McDonald House-  Family Cooknights & cookbook sales

          City Mission-  can & clothing collections and cooking for the homeless

          KiwiHarvest - picking, packing & delivering fresh food to those in need

          Trees for Survival - planting at Ponsonby Primary

          Auckland Girls Grammar School - mentoring students for YES competition

In supporting Community Engagement/Awareness, our Club members were actively involved in:

          RYLA - bringing sponsors and participants together to recognise leadership potential 

          Child & Adolescent Mental Health- highlighting importance to our members and the public  

We had productive first half of the year and I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you who actively participated and made a positive impact on our community. 

At the beginning of the year, I spoke about my desire to increase communication, collaboration and commitment amongst our members. To do so requires open feedback and sharing. I appreciate members who have shared their feedback with me on what's going well, what can be improved, and suggestions for the future. Some members' feedback include: "it feels like we have too many fundraising events", "we should focus more on service," "are there other ways of raising money besides having another fundraising dinner?".

Based on the feedback and other data, the Board and I have assessed and adjusted some of our fundraising projects that were initially planned for November, February, and March and have been exploring some options for the future.

Please come to our first official meeting at the Northern Club on the 5th February to hear more about what ideas are in the pipeline regarding major fundraising projects and continued improvements to the way we operate as a club. 

We will have 3 internal speakers on the day: David Graham - Fundraising Director, Gill Johnston- Membership Director & Immediate Past President and James Billing who will introduce us to a strategic project. 

This is an important meeting and I encourage all of you to attend so that you can ask questions and learn more about what opportunities are ahead and how you can get involved. Your voice is important to our success as a club.

Thank you for your commitment and enthusiasm for our Club. It is through your efforts and participation that our Club continues to be "good at heart" while having fun together. 

Lucy