Yesterday was World Polio Day and we celebrated it with orange balloons at the tables and having our trivia proceeds go towards polio eradication. I encourage anyone who would like to contribute to the polio fund to go to the RI website as for this week only, there will be a 2 for 1 recognition for donations over $US100. See more: http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Polio/Announcements/Pages/111013_annc_double_rec.aspx
Last night Paul Towers, Head of Fundraising from the MS Society gave us a short presentation on the crippling disease that affects over 20 000 Australians. Through our charity golf day, we presented a cheque for $11 000 that will be used in its entirety for McKinnon House, a local 6 bedroom home that houses and supports younger members with this disease and provides 24/7 care.
We also had a couple of visitors, Colin from RC Nunawading to promote the Christmas puddings (see Paul de Smit to put your order through) and Graeme from RC Mordialloc who was promoting their club's 40th birthday event at the Woodlands Golf Course on Saturday 12th November (cost $55 with guest speaker John Bertram).
During our club forum last night, we went through the final outline of the Rotary Business Month that commences next week. Already, things are in place and it's just a matter of waiting for the day to come around. I know I keep harping on about it but we need everyone's support on these events. This means having a chat to your local tradesperson, dropping flyers, speaking to friends and family of those who are in business. In order to make it successful, we need as many non-Rotarians there as there are Rotarians.
I have contacted the local Leader newspaper and spoke with the editor of getting a photo and story in the paper over the next couple of weeks. Bill has kindly agreed to have the photo shoot at his business with the angle of how Rotary has supported his business in the water and sanitation business; how it helped him when he was growing his business; how valuable it would be for younger people in business starting out to have a network of people whose knowledge, skills, experiences you can draw upon.
My vision for this is to get back to basics. Rotary started out as a vocational service club that used the member's skills and knowledge to give back to the community. Bill mentioned last night that we cannot always be seen as a club that gives out money to charities who need it most - I believe we can do so much more. With more people from various vocations, trades, professions, jobs, we can provide knowledge. We can provide our expertise and our own networks more than just handing over a cheque can do. You only have to see what places like www.goodcompany.com.au are doing where they match the skills of a person to a charity that needs those skills.
But in doing so, I don't want to lose the friendliness and the fun of the club because it cannot all be about work. It has to be fun. Our meetings must be enjoyed by our members, that you enjoy coming every week and seeing your friends. So in the new year, we will continue to have an active calendar of events but I'd like us to try and come up with a signature event that we can do as a club that will involve everyone in the club playing their part. Something different, something unique, something fun. So put your thinking caps on!
Maybe I can run a workshop at the next club forum where we can brainstorm this event and have it as some competition of who can come up with the most interesting event and vote on it? Mmmm...I'll give it some thought.
We also had our Board meeting last night that had some friendly heated discussion and debate. The time has come for us to decide who would like to be the next President for our club so I encourage everyone to put their bids in for this esteemed position.
In all honesty, even though I'm 3 months into the role, I'm still learning and I know that I have done plenty of mistakes along the way so thanks to those who steer me along the steady path and prod me at various times to undertake things.
No comments:
Post a Comment