Last Friday, many of us fell into a state of disbelief as news of the horrific shootings in Christchurch came to light. Several social issues - such as gun control, hate propaganda on the internet, and how to ensure all Kiwi's have the right to live free from violence and prejudice (regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation..) have surfaced as a result. 

On a personal level, I feel it is now even more important to further cultural understanding and tolerance in our daily lives. We can do so through empathy and awareness, and in this case, by standing together in support of those families who have been harmed in this tragedy.

Our Club members demonstrated our concern & unity by dedicating this week's sargents' session to the affected families in Christchurch. 

Our guest speaker this week was our Downtown Rotary Visiting Scholar,  Professor Sally Rogers, developmental psychologist and Director of the MIND Institute at the University of California Davis.  

The first question Sally opened her talk with is "how many people in this room have a family member or friend who has Autism". Half of the members raised their hands. According to the US Centre fo Disease Control, 1 in 59 children have been identified with symptoms of Autism. However, the understanding of Autism continues to evolve. In the 1960's it was thought that Autism was one condition. Nowadays, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined by hundreds of conditions and behaviours. Sally also told us about the importance of early detection of Autism symptoms as the brain development during early childhood is crucial and that with early intervention, outcomes and symptoms can be improved.

Dr. Hiran Thabrew, one of the two researchers on Dr. Sally Merry's team at University of Auckland, is the co-lead for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) network project which our Club funds and supports. Hiran officially launched the CAMH network at our meeting, naming Dr. Sally Merry as the Patron of the project. He also gave a brief overview about how the network connects researchers with practitioners- allowing practitioners to have cutting edge information for better diagnosis and patient care.  Hiran and Dr. Merry also thanked our Club for the support we have provided over the last 10 years and hope for continued support ahead.

Our "3 James" (similar to 3 Tenors, but better looking) did a great job of raising $802.50 from our sargent's session. A matching amount from our Sunshine fund will enable us to send $1605 to help those families of victims and survivors in Christchurch. One particularly wonderful gift James PFL imparted on Frankie (which required her to pay a big fine) had to do with drinking Champagne... not a bad gift at all I imagine...

During our meeting I also shared with members how our Board went through an extensive review and due diligence of a Strategic Fundraising project (Art Walk) which James Billing introduced to our Club. While it is a wonderful project with lots of benefits (thank you James for your initiative), our Board decided that unfortunately it wasn't the right time for our Club to take on this 2-year commitment. 

What this means for us is that we will have more time and resources for our upcoming fundraiser "Battle of the Suits" on 13th August. We also have to change the speaker program next week.

Please come to our meeting next week on 26th March and get to learn more about Susan Benedek and Matthew Orange as they will be inducted as new Downtowners. We also are going to have a group Brainstorming Session (20min) which will help us review our Club Strategy & Structure around the key Social Causes. It will be a fun and interactive session and will allow us to come up with some ideas on how we can be even better. Please read the Meeting Registration Notice from Dan Turkel for more information about the questions for the brainstorming session or contact me directly at changlorinczi@icloud.com 

Thank you all for your continued support of our Club and for helping to make a difference.

See you on Tuesday.

Lucy