A history of giving and a challenge for the future...

Sir John and Lady McKenzie

Roy and Shirley McKenzie

2015 marks the 75^th anniversary of the JR McKenzie Trust.  It also marks 75 years of dedicated support for the Trust’s work from Rotarians around New Zealand. Over this time the Trust has given over $83 million to support New Zealanders in need.

Sir John McKenzie (KBE) established the Trust in 1940 by donating a third of the profits from his successful nationwide chain of department stores, McKenzies.  His strong personal belief in providing benefits and assistance to people in need was based on his own poor origins, and his need ‘to give something back’ remained constant throughout his life and the lives of McKenzie generations to come.

Rotarian Patrick Cummings, Chair of the JR McKenzie Trust, says, 'Sir John joined the Rotary Club of Wellington in 1923 and this had a profound influence on his life.  From the outset, he entrusted Rotary clubs to act as agents for allocating Trust funds to support local communities. He realised the value of Rotary as a network of civic-minded people throughout New Zealand. Rotarians were willing to help and continue to do so today.'

Sir John’s son Sir Roy (ONZ, KBE), also a Rotarian, greatly increased the Trust’s size and profile, set up several other charities, and was a major figure in New Zealand philanthropy until his death in 2007.

The Trust has been an early supporter of many of what are now New Zealand’s leading community organisations – groups such as Women’s Refuge, People First, CCS Disability Action, the Stroke Foundation, Relationship Services, Rape Crisis and Age Concern.  The Trust has also supported many local and ground-breaking organisations working within marginalised communities. The Trust’s key areas of focus today are disadvantaged children and their families, and Māori development.

Currently the family is represented on the JR McKenzie Trust Board by cousin David Vance, and Chris McKenzie, a great-grandson of the founder.

Each of the six Rotary Districts in New Zealand provides a Board member for the Trust Board, and leads a team of Rotarians and other volunteers in their District who also contribute to the Trust’s work.

'Child poverty is a key focus for the Trust.  Let’s ask what both we and others can do to reduce child poverty in New Zealand.  Many groups close to the ground are doing great work in assisting the families they reach.  Wearing my ‘Rotary’ hat, my challenge to you is what can Rotary do to reduce child poverty and its effects?' says Mr Cummings.

For more information about the McKenzie family and Trust you can visit the McKenzie Room,  JR McKenzie Trust, Level 4, 116 Lambton Quay, Wellington.  Call (04) 472 8876 or visit the Trust’s website -  www.jrmckenzie.org.nz.

Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu: ShelterBox aid is being distributed in Tanna

VANUATU — (April 8, 2015) — Urgent Shelter Kits are on their way to communities devastated by Cyclone Pam on Tanna Island, in Vanuatu’s south. Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu with devastating force, claiming 8 lives and destroying homes, hospitals and crops.

 

The Category Five cyclone was one of the worst storms to ever hit the region. It is estimated that 166,000 people have been affected, and between 50-90% of infrastructure destroyed.

 

ShelterBox is working with CARE International who is responding in Tafea Province in the south, where 32,000 people live.

Large parts of Tanna, which is home to around 24,000 people, remain cut off due to landslides and severe cyclone damage making many roads impassable. Aerial assessments indicate that in some communities all the homes have been severely damaged or destroyed.

“Decimation is the only word for what has happened here,” said CARE Vantuatu’s Program Manager Charlie Damon in Lenakal on Tanna Island’s western coast. “You cannot see a leaf on a tree. What used to be a green island, is now brown. All crops have been destroyed, all traditional housing is gone. People are without water. This is a grave situation down here.”

“This is a country of 83 islands stretched over many hundreds of miles of ocean. Most people in the country live in rural communities, and even making contact with most areas remains extremely challenging,” said CARE’s Tom Perry in Port Vila.

“Communications are still down, roads are blocked by landslides and many bridges are broken or have collapsed. CARE is doing what we can to get help to those that need it, but this is a massive logistical challenge.”

ShelterBox Response Teams are busy assisting survivors in the Tafea Province with urgently needed shelter. ShelterBox volunteer Greg Moran (AUS) reports that the urgently needed Shelter Kits which have arrived today on a barge had travelled overnight from Port Vila. The barge is carrying a large amount of ShelterBox aid for the island and the team’s next challenge will be to get the aid to where it is most needed.

Media contact: Mike Cahill +64 (0) 21 328084 mc@shelterbox.org.nz

About ShelterBox: Every year thousands of communities, often with no warning, lose their homes, their possessions and their livelihoods. Every day they are faced with a battle for survival.

 

ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and vital supplies to support communities around the world overwhelmed by disaster and humanitarian crisis.

Since we were founded in 2000, we have responded to more than 250 earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides, typhoons and conflict, in some 90 countries, delivering emergency humanitarian aid to communities in need.

My Rylarian Rite of Passage

The Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) is a five-day programme for people aged 18 to 24, during which you become a ‘Rylarian’.  I attended the 9940 RYLA, hosted by the Rotary Club of Port Nicholson in January 2015.

Beyond the acronym I knew very little about RYLA. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and when I arrived was rather nervous, and I am so glad I went! I made fabulous friends, and learnt a great deal about myself, others and leadership, but more significantly, how it all comes together.

With an overriding theme of leadership and collaboration, RYLA is a week of learning and reflection. Each day was filled with inspirational speakers, including Gregory Fortuin, New Zealand's former race relations conciliator, and former friend and colleague of Nelson Mandela. Fortuin spoke about utilising your life experiences and personal values to achieve compassionate leadership and create change.

It was a week of team building. We had to work together, trust each other, and understand our different strengths and skills in order for us to get through. We were pushed out of our ‘comfort zones’ with fast-paced activities that demanded synergy from each team. Over the week, we were tied with rope and had negotiate with bushes, gates and tree stumps; we searched for ‘missing’ teammates while blindfolded and unable to speak to one another; we did an obstacle course through the trees at Adrenaline Forest; and on the final day, we had the ‘RYLATHON’, where all our learning came together. A treasure hunt of epic proportions, this final challenge involved building a raft and relocating it, and us, to the opposite side of a small bay around a large jetty.  These are not your ‘everyday’ activities, and they a demanded an understanding of what we, and others, can bring and need from a team in order achieve great things.

RYLA 9940 2015 showed me how a group of strangers can come together to do inspiring things by combining their knowledge and skills through supportive collaboration. I am immensely grateful to the Rotary Club of Port Nicholson who sponsored me to attend. I found the experience invaluable, and I encourage all people ages 18 to 14 to attend, you won’t regret it!

Brontë Jefferies


Supplementary:  All Rotary districts in New Zealand hold a RYLA annually.  The purpose is similar but each devises their own programme and criteria.  Please contact the appropriate district via www.rotarysouthpacific.org

Age is no barrier - International Caravanning Fellowship of Rotarians (NZ)

ICFR (NZ) was formed in 1978 with the ideals of Rotary friendship through “a common interest in caravan touring and camping, to promote contacts with other Rotarians nationally and internationally and to promote the recreational enjoyment of the NZ environment.”

Membership is open to present or former members of a Rotary Club or any person who is, or was, the spouse or partner of a present or former Rotarian. Age is no barrier, as quite a number who are towing caravans or driving motorhomes are in their 80’s, and one member celebrated his 90^th birthday by skydiving and commented, "it keeps you young!”

Prospective members are encouraged to attend at least one rally prior to application for membership. If a prospective member has a contact who is already an ICFR member, attending a rally as their guest has its advantages. However, attending as a guest is not an essential requirement. The fellowship is a very social organisation and new members are quickly involved.

Presently the fellowship has around 150 members from Kerikeri in the north to Wellington in the south, including Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and the lower North Island. We do not yet have any members in the South Island. 

Weekend rallies are generally held from a Friday afternoon until the Sunday afternoon with many members choosing to arrive before or stay on after the rally. These rallies have traditionally been held in February, April, August and November. Over the past few years, prior to the February rally, a week-long Bush Rally has been arranged – these rallies are generally held at Department of Conservation or similar sites, off-power and with restricted facilities. They are great opportunities to really get to know fellow members.

Informal rallies, of two to three days are held in June and September. These events are held at hot pool areas Miranda and Omokoroa, and by holding them mid-week, they attract reduced camp site tariffs.

The general format of a weekend rally starts on Friday evening with a 5 pm get together with drinks and nibbles, then after the evening meal in your own motorhome or caravan, have supper with allocated members which is a chance to mix and get to know others at the rally.  Saturday is an outing – either a mystery bus tour or visit(s) to local attraction(s), and then dinner at a local hotel, club or similar. On the Sunday morning, we have a meeting of the fellowship at which we discuss any items of topical interest, decide on the venue for future meetings, have area reports on the health and wellbeing of absent members, have a sergeant’s session, wooden spoon etc. This is usually a pretty light hearted affair, so it is always well attended.  On Sunday afternoon, members are free to leave, although it has become somewhat of a tradition for rally organisers to arrange a delivery of fish and chips for another evening meal together.

There is no strict programme for a rally, so organisers are free to arrange the course of the weekend.  At most rallies attendance is around 35 to 50 vans (70 to 100 members).  A budget for each rally aims to break even.

The organisation does not aim to make a profit and the fellowship does not become involved in projects. Membership fees are currently $5 per couple or $3 for single members.

The website www.icfr.rotarysouthpacific.org includes ICFR information and copies of recent newsletters.

For further information, contact ICFR (NZ) Secretary Stewart Wright via email jandswright@xtra.co.nz / 027 244 7194. 

Included in May
Rotary Down Under
magazine

 

An update about Rotary New Zealand response to Cyclone Pam - Vanuatu. Your help is still needed.

ROTARY CYCLONE PAM – VANUATU – URGENT APPEAL FOR DONATIONS OF CASH – Bulletin 3

We now have 1000 ERKs either in Vanuatu or en route.

600 left on HMNZS Canterbury last Sunday – two and half 20 foot container loads. Prime TV News covered Sunday night.

Huge thanks to MFAT, RNZDF (Navy), Jenners Worldwide Freight Ltd for making this possible.

The value of the consignments is approx $600k so we desperately need that equivalent to replace the stock.

The Public Response to our Appeal which has appeared on a number of websites has been well received and we are grateful for donations large and small.

We have received many calls and emails from people representing Ni Vanuatu people in New Zealand and New Zealand residents from other Pacific countries with requests to assist them to send containers of donations in kind and other goods. Each is being considered, but not encouraged.

The reasons are many, essentially to protect the Vanuatu economy and not impair the livelihood of the established business community. A lot of DIK sent by well wishers is often inappropriate.

A priority for funding is re-establishment of safer drinking water. 75 communities are being considered to provide potable water and reduce the sanitation and health consequences which arise from water sources damaged by the cyclone.  Following on from a successful project in Samoa as a result of the last Cyclone devastating that country, water harvesting roofs and tanks maybe installed in  schools in strategic locations which community members can access which will prevent the closure of schools due to sanitation and health concerns. 

Reestablishments of home vegetable gardens also an urgent need which is being considered a priority.

New Zealand Rotary Volunteer Peter Wilson has arrived in Vanuatu to undertake needs assessments having determined a number of islands as those we should support given that Rotary has provided infrastructure to their communities in the past and know the islands well. Rotarians in Vanuatu have suffered loss to homes and businesses and need support whilst they tend to their own personal issues. Trauma is an issue often forgotten at these times.

Vanuatu is made up of 83 islands over a vast area of ocean and limited access mostly by sea. From the most southern to the most northern the distance is approx 1000 kilometres in a straight line.

Given it is only 10 days since Cyclone Pam hit, we believe we are well on track to make a real difference over the coming days, weeks, months and possibly years.

 DONATIONS TO OUR APPEAL ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE

 Four Donation options are:

 

At any Westpac Branch or by Internet Banking

Quoting   03 1702 0192208 01             Ref.  888 or for ERKs specifically 308

 

Paypal  at   –     www.rnzwcs.org

 

Give a Little at -   https://givealittle.co.nz/org/rnzwcs/share

 

Cheque to

 

RNZWCS Limited (Rotary New Zealand)

PO Box 20309

Christchurch 8543

New Zealand

 

Another sneaky Rotary Moment!

Roberta McIvor-Wright

It was February and the time was fast approaching for our Rotary South Pacific Presidents Elect Training Seminar at Waipuna Lodge in Auckland. Our incoming delegates from around the Pacific were bringing their new enthusiasm and fresh ideas to share with others; the whole 400 of them!

Naturally, we needed a traditional NZ welcome for the group. Sounds easy, after all, we Rotarians have great networks and well versed in putting on a good show right?   Not so easy. The date clashed with the Te Matatini competition in Christchurch and Polyfest rehearsals around the country. Not a group could be found. Then, through a Rotary colleague at a secondary college in a low socio economic area, bingo, a small group of more junior children agreed to perform for us.  In just two weeks they put together their show. (Their costumes were made by themselves, right from the cutting and dyeing of the flax.) Their teacher gathered them up early on Saturday morning 7 March as some families have no transport, gave them breakfast at the school and got them to the venue by 8 am. What a show it was with shining faces, strong but beautiful items, finishing with the powerful obligatory haka! The energy was palpable!

The conference was told about the fundraising the group were beginning, to travel to Waitangi, to study NZ history and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. At recess, generous Rotarians willingly popped notes and coins into a Maori “kite” or flax basket, and on the Monday morning, myself, DGE Jennie Herring and Conference Chair Trish Boyle went to the school to present the money (koha) to the group.   

The rest, as they say, is history; read the thank you response from a fourteen year old below, addressed to all the Rotarians in the South Pacific. Rotary Moments, I am once again gently reminded, can sneak up and catch us by surprise.

 Sylvie Wilkinson

R/C Pakuranga

D9920

 

To The Rotarians of The South Pacific.

Kia Ora,.

My name is Roberta, I am a student at Otahuhu College, and I am also a member of the Kapa Haka group.

Last Saturday we had the privilege of performing for you at the Waipuna Lodge during your leadership conference.  We had a fantastic time and we enjoyed seeing your smiling faces looking up at us.

On Monday, the group and Whaea Darlene (teacher) and I were surprised when we were gifted a cheque for a thousand dollars from the conference people.   We were so emotional we all cried including Whaea. I am deeply grateful for your generosity. It means a lot, not only to me, but every member of our Kapa Haka group.

This year we are planning a trip to visit the Treaty of Waitangi and to experience the Far North.  This koha has made a significant start to our fundraising ventures and pushed us closer to our goal.  I was overwhelmed at the amount of kindness you showed us and the smile is still plastered upon my face. Performing for you has made me more confident about presenting in public.  You have definitely enhanced my life in a most positive way.

When I’m sitting on the bus to Waitangi, I will be thinking of all you Rotarians and your generosity, and how much you’ve contributed to our experience.

Kia Tamatane,

Roberta McIvor-Wright

Year 11 Student.

Otahuhu College, Auckland, NZ

My Rotary Moment: The Rotary family assists after a disastrous work fire

     

By DGE Karen Purdue, Rotary Club of Invercargill Sunrise, NZ

The worst moment of my business career happened on August 8, 2006.  In the space of 30 minutes, our Alsco NZ laundry factory was destroyed by fire.

At the time, we had 1500 customers, including the main hospital in our town.  We also employed 100 staff.

I didn’t get much sleep from that Wednesday night onwards for several weeks.

On the Friday morning, my Rotary Club of Invercargill Sunrise was meeting for our usual breakfast. Despite my tiredness, I decided to go as a bit of normality seemed to be a good idea. 

When I arrived, several Rotarians gave me a hug and spoke encouraging words.  I don’t think they know how much that meant to me.   

They didn’t know that less than an hour earlier, I had slid down the shower wall and bawled my eyes out as the reality of the disaster sunk in, and the enormity of the recovery was becoming obvious.

During the course of the Rotary meeting, many offers of help were made by fellow club members, who through their business or contacts helped our business to get new premises, office furniture and a photocopier. A Rotarian, who was a psychologist, worked with our management team to help us come to terms with what had happened.

Many of the Rotarians were customers and offered their assistance, like doing their own laundry until we got back on our feet.

The local insurance assessor was also a club member. We got to know each other very well over the next two years.

I received flowers, food and many offers to help care for my young family.

I experienced what it’s like to be part of the Rotary family.  As someone more used to caring and helping others, I will never forget the kindness, caring and practical assistance from the members of my Rotary club.



Included in May
Rotary Down Under
magazine

 

 



 

My best day in Rotary: Leading a Rotary Friendship Exchange to Alaska

By PDG Cathy Roth, Rotary Club of Geelong Central, Victoria, Australia



Welcome to Barrow, America’s northern-most city: Australian District 9780 Rotary Friendship Exchange and District 5010 Rotary Club of Barrow members enjoying time together in Alaska. Cathy Roth is far left and husband John on the far right.



Scanning the hazy horizon bathed in the eerie, half-light of an Arctic summer night, our quietly-spoken Inuit guide warned us that polar bear were close by, and that we should stay close to our twelve-seater van.  Curious otters, bobbing up and down, like arcade air-gun targets, peered at us from the still sea.  The myriad of small ice-flows reflected the long, thin fingers of moonlight. 

Here we were in June 2007, eleven Australian Rotary Friendship Exchange members from District 9780, standing on the very tip of Alaska, and well into the Arctic Circle, looking across the sea-ice to the North Pole. It was almost surreal.  

As the bitter coldness clawed at our throats, it was hard to imagine living through a winter here.  Yet in this environment of self-preservation, the beauty, the fullness, and the magnificence of Rotary shone through, more than I could ever have believed possible. 

As homes and hearts of Rotarians were thrown open to host us, so too was revealed a caring and a selflessness for their community that was humbling.  

Community service includes the Inuit communities which for centuries have lived alongside nature in a sensitive ecological balance.  Projects include the provision of warm parkas for Inuit children attending school in the bleak winters, and the fostering of Inuit tourism ventures enabling culture and dignity to be maintained whilst economic independence is able to be established. 

Rather than work for the community, Rotary in that northern-most point of our globe works with the community, quietly, unassumingly – a little like Rotary’s founder Paul Harris himself. 

Seeing this Rotary in this environment, was more than humbling.  It was a quiet reminder of Rotary’s responsibility to be a guardian to every facet of our global environment, as well as the incredible ability Rotary has to impact every nation and all its peoples.

By-line: 
While not a NZ Pacific story, this is the first of a series over the coming months that will illustrate why various 'ordinary' Rotarians are Rotarians.

Cathy Roth was instrumental along with Beryl Robinson in bringing to and establishing Rotary Leadership Institute in New Zealand and Australia.

Included in May
Rotary Down Under
magazine

 

Use it or lose it

I’ve been in Rotary for a good many years and over this time have heard most of the grizzles associated with compulsory subscription to Rotary Down Under.  [Subscribing to a Rotary magazine is compulsory]

Can I implore you to stop moaning right now and have a good long look at what is being published in the new look RDU. Our NZ editor Beryl Robinson from District 9920 has been totally successful in bending the ear of the executive editor in Parramatta, with the net result that practically every project story being presented the way Beryl has asked them to be presented are finding their way to the publication. A significant number of these stories (12 in the three editions leading up to Christmas) were from clubs in District 9930. Beryl has put a lot of work into ensuring this happened and I’d like to think that discussions members of our own Public Image committee had with members of RDU when in Sydney at Convention have helped Beryl and culminated in a great result for us all. The magazine, particularly the editor, addresses some good contentious issues and it has become a good read. The thing is that while this is happening now, it’s because a number of clubs around the country are all fired up and making it happen.

We can’t allow this impetus to fade. Without your assistance in ensuring your projects are at least available to the magazine, we’ll lose the privileges and it’ll revert to the Australian format we all remember. Use it or lose it!

Jock McIntyre

District 9930 Public Image Chair

Included in April
Rotary Down Under
magazine

Keikeri Rotary raise money for Vanuatu

Vanuatu collection raises $643.20

Bucket of love. Kerikeri Rotarians Vicki Douglas (left) and Peter Heath with the collection bucket into which locals poured more than $600 destined for the people of Vanuatu in just five hours.

People visiting The Old Packhouse Market in Kerikeri today (Saturday 21 March) put $643.20 into the Rotary Club of Kerikeri’s collection bucket for use in Vanuatu’s Cyclone Pam recovery effort.

The money was raised in just five hours.

The impromptu collection was organised by Rotarians Vicki Douglas and Owen Smith on a stall donated to Rotary by the owners of the market.

“Every single cent will find its way to Vanuatu,” said Rotary Club of Kerikeri President Bruce Mathieson. “That’s one of the benefits of donating to a cause through Rotary. There are no fees or deductions of any kind.”

The donation will be sent as cash to Rotary clubs in Vanuatu, for use as they see fit.

“This way there is no delay and the money will be used by the local people for the local people,” Mathieson said.

“We are extremely grateful to everybody who donated today. As usual, Kerikeri came up trumps.”