Trapped in the App - the story is to be told of the obsession by today's teenagers in technology

Kuranui Head girl and Stage Challenge organiser Katrina Simmonds recently accepted a $2000 cheque from South Wairarapa Rotary member Gay Butler.

The generous donation from the South Wairarapa Rotarians has helped to pay for Friday’s transport of Kuranui’s team of 60 students who are performing at the ASB 2013 Stage Challenge at Wellington’s TSB Arena.

The performance, entitled ‘Trapped in the App’, tells the story about the obsession with technology by today’s teenagers. The idea came from the fact that many students are tempted to stay up all night on their laptops.

Kuranui Head girl and Stage Challenge organiser Katrina Simmonds accepts a $2000 cheque from
South Wairarapa Rotary member Gay Butler.

Rotary BA Does It Again

Fiji has a new Rotary club being formed for the first time since 2002.  The last Club chartered in Fiji was the Rotary Club of Taveuni in 2002.

The new club, situated in Ba will be chartered on Friday 31 May 2013.  This will make it the 10th  Rotary Club in Fiji.  The new club will be a New Generations Club as it will consist of younger members and it already has 30 members to do Rotarian good.

Past Rotary International President Luis Vicente Giay coined the term New Generations when he shared his belief that the future of Rotary relied on involving young people in the organization’s programs and activities.  He said, “Our vision for the future, now more than ever, is the difference between success and failure.  The New Generations are our investment in the future.  Let us begin to build that future today.”

BA has had a Rotary Club prior to this, which operated from 1972 until 2003. The New Generations club will be starting from scratch and will fill a valuable role in the community bringing the total of Rotarians in Fiji to around 230.

The formation of the BA Club is being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Suva, which is the oldest Club in Fiji.  It was formed in 1936 as the 1st  Club in the South Pacific.  The current President for the Suva Club is Michael Yee Joy.

Some of the recent projects Rotarians in Fiji have been involved with include:

•   Disaster preparedness including relief and recovery after Cyclones
•   A CD scanner for Suva Hospital
•   Dialysis machines for the Dialysis Clinic in Suva
•   Water for Life projects in remote villages
•   Pre schools on Taveuni
•   Koroipita housing in Lautoka

Fiji is part of a larger district that includes 51 different clubs across Auckland and the Pacific Islands and the Ba club being chartered this Friday, is the 3rd  club this Rotary year after Highbrook and Franklin in New Zealand.

Anyone interested in finding out more about Rotary can go to www.rotarysouthpacific.org

Successful public image initiatives showcased

While this blog showcases the many success stories of projects and events from throughout New Zealand and the Pacific, the Regional Public Image Resources Blog at

http://public-image-action.blogspot.co.nz/ 

has a multitude of ideas for improving club public image actions (scroll down over the posts of the last couple of years as all the ideas remain useful) plus a number of recent success stories of practical public image initiatives in action. 

Use these ideas in your club this month.  

Recommended:  All club PR Chairs can receive notification of new Posts from this blog so you are always up to date with new and useful ideas without the need to search for these ... they come to you.  All you need to do is go to http://public-image-action.blogspot.co.nz/  and enter your email address in the "Follow by email" box on the right hand side - you can stop these at any time.

Likewise on the right-hand side of this blog (scroll down) you can subscribe to Posts when new examples of successful projects are published.

Lincoln Rotary Club keeps community fit!

The Rotary Club of Lincoln, donated a set of 7 exercise equipment to Lincoln township. On 26 February 2013, the set was officially opened by the club president, Farhad Dastgheib and Selwyn District Mayor, Kelvin Coe, followed by a demonstration of the equipment by Council fitness instructors.  Many Lincoln residents together with Rotarians enjoyed the event which was followed by sausage sizzle.

The Rotary Club of Lincoln initiated the project in September 2009 and received moral support and encouragement from all local organisations.  After a lot of pushing and completing several application forms, finally funding was obtained from the Southern Trust and Selwyn District Council which enabled the purchase of the equipment.

The equipment is regularly used by people of all ages and is going to make a positive contribution to the quality of life for Lincoln community.

www.lincoln.rotarysouthpacific.org

Enthusiastically and very successfully promoting Rotary

The Rotary Club of Botany East Tamaki in Auckland recently put on another display at the Botany Town Centre and  had a wonderful day – meeting and greeting everyone.

Who wouldn't want to join Rotary after a chat with this enthusiastic crew!

The stall was set up by 9am complete with 2 pull up banners & our tear drop flag, plus we made use of the lawn outside Botany Mall and put out 2  more tear drop flags there as well. 

Members were highly visible in Rotary fluro vests and there were plenty of brochures handed out in addition to the public being able to browse  display boards showcasing past projects and have a read of Rotary information from display material such as copies of Rotary Down Under magazine and more.

An outcome of the display was that the club meeting following had 3 prospective new members at our plus a contact through www.rotarysouthpacific.org  with another prospective member keen to come to our next meeting, after being handed one of our brochures.  The club has a robust membership plan to ensure all prospective members are well looked after.

A South African Rotarian and his wife who visited the stand and are staying with their daughter in Flat Bush also want to come to visit before he goes back to Sth Africa.  He comes to visit twice a year for about three months, so we could also have a regular visiting Rotarian as well.

It was a very rewarding day and the result has been well above expectations and these days have proven so successful that the club will be doing this publicity day about 3 – 4 times a year in Botany Mall, as these are well worth the effort.

Submitted by: Dyann Calverley
www.botany.rotarysouthpacific.org

Additional Information

For some ideas about promoting Rotary at events and as stand-alone displays have a look at THIS WEB PAGE

I want the networking opportunities, the fellowship and the satisfaction ...

The following participant's feedback from today's Rotary Leadership Institute Part 1 course in Auckland is a follow-on from the previous post below at http://rotarystories-nzandpacific.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/the-ahas-much-more-than-expected.html:

"Personally I have gained a much better understanding of Rotary International, how it is structured, how our district fits into the organisation and how Highbrook Rotary Club can play its part. The participants ranged in Rotary experience from two months to over 30 years, and the ages from what seemed like kids to me but in reality they would have been 20 ish, to golden oldies like myself.

The common thread joining these people was that they all wanted to make a difference, and have a good time doing it. A great deal of the training was experiential working in teams of three or four. The interaction with people from other clubs was valuable and it was obvious that the knowledge of some Rotarians (with a few years in Rotary) was little more than my own, which made me feel less of a newbie. At the other end of the scale there were some extremely knowledgeable Rotarians. If I had to define just one single outcome of today’s session, it has confirmed that Rotary is where I want to belong.

I want the networking opportunities, the fellowship and the satisfaction that whatever small part I play, it is in the knowledge that I’m contributing to improving someone’s life, somewhere, somehow."
- Rotary Club of Highbrook (chartered on 17 December 2012) Director Cy Holmes

How would you build the future vision of your Rotary club?  
RLI Part 2 breakout team member, Ambassadorial Scholar Justin Loiseau, explains to the
whole group how their team designed Lego model represents this
Strategic Planning and Analysis module challenge.

 

 

RLI Part 2 modules include:

• Club Communication
• Attracting Members
• Targeted Service
• Team Building
• Strategic Planning and Analysis (double module)

 

If you are currently participating in a RLI course or have graduated you are welcome to join the RLI NZ and Pacific Alumni Facebook group - log onto Facebook and use search to find it.

 

Members of the Rotary Club of St Johns, Auckland were asked to stand if they had completed or were currently participating in Rotary Leadership Institute and this was the response:

 

"Gets a bit lonely being the odd one out!"

 

The aha's ... much more than expected.

A Rotary Leadership Institute Part 1 course was held on Friday 26 April, the day before the joint Districts 9920 and 9940 Conference in Rotorua, New Zealand.

It included the usual topics of an RLI Part 1 course:

• Insights into Leadership
• My Rotary World
• Engaging Members
• Our Foundation
• Ethics & Vocational Service
• Service Projects

The RLI day had facilitators & participants from both districts, including throughout New Zealand & for the first time the Pacific Islands. 

• 93% said they will continue onto RLI Part 2
• 93% said they would be willing to travel to another centre to complete RLI Part 2 if necessary

The following feedback was collated:  

General Comments

What most liked about the RLI sessions?

The insights / aha's - more than expected

Listening to others & sharing ideas

It was interesting & lively - great presentations

The people - meeting Rotary people

Great topic coverage - relevant - brief to the point

Opportunity to talk to others on Rotary matters

Foundation topic was very interesting & clarified many things for me

Ideas from other clubs

Exposure to heaps about Rotary that I didn't know I needed to know

It gave me the opportunity to reflect on my role in Rotary, my club, the wider organisation & form my ideas on leadership (volunteer vs paid organisation)

Opportunity to network

Practice at working on a project

The interactive sessions with fellow Rotarians

Experience & examples from other participants & facilitators

Learning about the world of Rotary in an overview then in depth manner

Learning so much about Rotary International

Great & thanks

Recommended changes to improve future sessions

Timing - ensure comfort stops interlude - time out of conference room

Nothing

Foundation is still very confusing - that's just me I guess!

It was very valuable, every moment

Lunch - healthier options eg. a proper salad as a meal

I know it's hard, but allow more time for questions & people's experiences

Happy with the format

What else can RLI do to help make me a better leader?

Follow up to get me to enrol in next sessions

Just glad to know that support is there

More training

More time on Engaging Members would be of value

Maybe President Elect & President can usefully have a mentor

It was discussed - just be available

=> To see when & where the next RLI courses will be held, please go to www.rli.rotarysouthpacific.org.

RLI - the Rotarian development forum where you discover the world of Rotary opportunities to enhance your journey ahead - is one of the OPPORTUNITIES of Rotary membership. 

RLI provides Rotarians with the ability to learn more about Rotary & learn new skills that can be applied to Rotary plus your personal & business life.  Don't delay - register today ...

Jabbing a stick into the ribs of the sleeping tiger that is “Rotary the way we’ve always done it”

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, my Name is Mark Wallace. I’m the Editor of Rotary Down Under. Because of that I occasionally get to jab a stick into the ribs of the sleeping tiger that is “Rotary the way we’ve always done it”.

For an on-going series of very thought-provoking articles that you will find chanllenging and interesting keep an eye on http://rotarydownunderblog.wordpress.com/