LYDIA KO - ROMAC Ambassador

LYDIA KO, New Zealand’s most successful golfer and one of the world’s most successful female golfers, has become an ambassador for Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children ROMAC), Rotary’s multi-District project which brings children from Pacific Island countries to Australia and New Zealand for life saving and dignity restoring surgery that is not available to them in their own countries.

Lydia is very well known in golfing circles and the recent announcement of her intention to turn professional at the young age of 16, means that her profile can only get bigger.

This news comes on the back of a developing Rotary relationship between NZ and Korea, with Rotary Districts 9910 and 3730 having partnered a successful ROMAC Matching Grant project in 2012/2013 and having agreed to repeat this with an even larger Global Grant project partnership in the 2013/2014 Rotary year.

Both Matching Grant projects support ROMAC’s work with the high incidence of congenital heart defects in children in Vanuatu and sits alongside a number of other Global Grant partnerships between D9910 and other Korean Districts that are underway to benefit the health and education of the Vanuatuan people.

ROMAC is extremely grateful to Lydia for her interest in supporting its work in the islands and looks forward to a partnership that will raise its public profile and financial support which ROMAC needs to continue its work giving more children lifesaving surgery.
Professional tour wins as an amateur: 

2012 - Womens’ NSW Open at age 14 (the youngest player to win a professional golf tournament) and winner Canadian Women’s Open.
2013 – NZ Women’s Open, Canadian Women’s Open.

Website: www.romac.org.nz
Email:  info@romac.org.nz 

Southern Wild Food Festival - will you be going

Preparations for the inaugural Southern Wild Food Festival have taken a big step forward with the launch of the Festival logo, website and Facebook page.

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, who is a Rotary Club of Invercargill Honourary Member, with Henry the Tuatara (111 years old plus) trying out some huhu grubs and crickets and getting into the mood of the festival

The Festival, being organised by the Rotary Club of Invercargill in New Zealand, will be held on February 15, 2014 at Stadium Southland, to coincide with the A2B Yacht Race.

Rotary Club of Invercargill President Mark Bain explained, “We were thinking about new ways we could generate money for the community, when someone suggested the idea of a wild food festival. It will be along the lines of the Hokitika Wild Food Festival, but with a Southland flavour.” The aim is to have a sustainable, world class event that showcases the Southland community.

Mark and Festival volunteers made public the festival logo, designed by local Rotarian and well-known graphic designer, Allan Derrick. “The logo can be viewed two ways. Viewed one way it is a plate with a knife and fork; and the other way to look at it is that it is a person. This encapsulates what the Southern Wild Food Festival is all about – people having a great time and enjoying good food,” he said.

The Southern Wild Food Festival website is at: www.southernwildfoodfestival.co.nz or www.wildfoodfestival.co.nz. It was built by Invercargill business, Jump Frog.

The Facebook page is at: The Southern Wild Food Festival.

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, who is an Honourary Member, surrounded by Rotary Club of Invercargill members wearing Southern Wild Food Festival tee shirts

Mark said the website and Facebook pages were the two main ways members of the public can keep up to date with how preparations for the festival are progressing, and both will be updated regularly, so people are encouraged to like the Facebook page and put the website in their favourites.

He added, “It’s going to be a great event and we want people to enjoy the build up with us. Proceeds from the annual Southern Wild Food Festival will be used by the Rotary Club of Invercargill to fund community projects. The recipient of proceeds for the first festival will be Rape and Abuse Support Centre Southland.”

“It is an ambitious and complex undertaking, but the beauty of Rotary is that it has a lot of skilled people who want to help serve the community we live in. Everyone has something to offer. We have also been blown away by the positivity and support we have received from the rest of the community.”

Rotary invitation: An amazing opportunity to grow your leadership skills in business, Rotary and life

Do you want a high value day of leadership inspiration and wisdom from top line speakers, including lunch and tea break refreshments, all for just $50?

On Thursday 14 November 8.30 for 9am to 5.15pm at Novotel Auckland Ellerslie you can be a part of one of the most exciting opportunities available through Rotary by completing and returning the Future Leaders' Seminar Registration Form availavle via www.rotaryinstitute.org.nz .  This will be an interactive day of presentations by leaders with a special message to inspire, supported by facilitated discussion groups to build on the speakers messages, share inspirations and next steps. 

Future Leaders' Seminar is an annual event held at a different location around New Zealand and Australia, so with this year being in Auckland, it will not be this convenient again for some years.

The seminar is themed Waves of Change and Oceans of Opportunity.  It is about leadership rather than being Rotary specific, so it is suitable for any Rotarians, Rotaractors and Ambassadorial Scholars who want to grow your leadership skills in Rotary, business and life. 

The programme and speakers include:

Leadership : the Value of Leadership to Business, Rotary and Life.  Presenter is Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Peter Townsend

Vision : the ability to reflect upon the current situation, identify a preferred future, take calculated risks, and / or use initiative to develop an approach or way forward that aligns with Rotary's beliefs and values. Presenter is award winning Speaker inspiring audiences internationally, Coach, and Author Cath Vincent 

Passion : the ability to maintain a high level of energy and focus on the vision/approach, directing action towards this, bringing others along with you.  Presenter is leader of NZ Rheumatic Fever Programme and UK Obesity Programme Bronwyn Petrie, plus Kilmarnock Enterprises Chief Executive Michelle Sharp 

Communication : the ability to communicate the vision and passion in a way that has people "buy" into it.  Presenter is Past Rotary Coordinator Rob Crabtree
Commitment : the ability to work towards the vision.  Presenter is Business New Zealand Chief Executive Phil O'Reilly, plus Professional Director Ted Van Arkel 

Action : the ability to make decisions and take action, maintaining these over time.  Presenter is Regional Public Image Coordinator Howard Tong 

Go to www.futureleadersseminar.rotarysouthpacific.org for more information, and complete and return the attached registration form as soon as possible. 

Please note that Future Leaders’ Seminar participants have the opportunity to also attend Rotary Institute (conference) Friday 15 to Sunday 17 November at the same venue (this is highly recommended but optional).  Register via www.rotaryinstitute.org.nz.

Future Leaders’ Seminar and Institute are further explained in Rotary Down Under October 2013 on page 29 which is also available online at www.rotarydownunder.org.

If you have any queries please contact Beryl Robinson via email berylrobinson@rotarydownunder.co.nz  or 021 652 802.

Team Fork N Spoon Complete Challenge

Albany Rotarians Grant and Sarah Smith have just completed the $10 Queenstown Challenge to Cure Kids. Dressed as a Fork N Spoon they had to hitch all the way from Auckland to Queenstown with just $10 to support Cure Kids.

Beside hitching a ride, teams are given various innovative challenges along the way to test their brains, bodies, and creativity.

Each team was provided with a teddy bear that had to travel with them before being given to a Cure Kids child ambassador.

Their first challenge was to PIMP MY RIDE where they had to dress up a car in team theme, so they covered their car in plastic plates and forks and spoons.

Other challenges along the way included a high wire walk, an Army Boot Camp Challenge, riding a bucking mechanical bull, dance moves on unsuspecting victims in a dance dare challenge, wrangling sheep, stone carving and various treasure hunts.

23 teams entered this year’s event, and after an exhausting three days Grant and Sarah were glad of a great night’s sleep and the chance to reflect on what they had achieved.

“This was an amazing event and we were privileged to be part of an incredible group of people who were all passionate about Cure Kids” said Sarah Smith. “We were delighted to have personally raised more than $9000 for this amazing charity, and the whole event has raised over $200,000 for Cure Kids”.

Established by Rotary in 1975 as the Child Health Research Foundation, Cure Kids funds research into life threatening illnesses for children. So far they have invested more than $29 million into research, and have achieved breakthroughs that have saved, improved and extended the lives of kids from both NZ and around the world

Both passionate Rotarians, Sarah is currently President of Albany Rotary, and Grant is the District 9910 Rotary Foundation Chair.

Four Smiths In Four Years

Albany Rotary, located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand, has something special going for it. Each of the Presidents for the last four years has been a Smith!

Grant was the first Smith President in 2010-11, followed by President Nigel Smith in 2011-12, then by President Natalie Smith in 2012-13, and now current President Sarah Smith for 2013-14.

“At the time when we were selecting our President we were making jokes about how many Smiths in a row we could have. But each year the best candidate was chosen, and it just happened to be another Smith!” said current Albany Rotary President Sarah Smith.

 

Albany Rotary have just completed their major fund raising event for the year which was the Coatesville Garden Ramble 2013, and they took the opportunity to get all of the President Smiths together for a photo memento of this special occasion.

However the Smith presidential reign will come to an end in 2014-15, as President-elect Rebecca Stilton will take over as Albany Rotary President.

However this could be another new trend as Rebecca will be the third female President in a row for Albany Rotary.

Who could be next?

Picture from L to R

Nigel Smith, Grant Smith, Natalie Smith, Sarah Smith

Santo Rotary Club assist in resuming mass vaccination campaign in Santo

Rotary Club of Santo representative AG Rufino Pineda and Joseph Mape from Rural Health Department witnessed on October 8, 2013 the start of a mass vaccination campaign at Stone Hill in the interior of the island of Espiritu Santo.

For the last three years, no vaccinations were conducted in this area because the fridge of the nearby Fanafo Health Clinic had terminated its working life. Difficulties for medical staff from Luganville to access these remote terrains had compelled Rural Health staff to conduct mass vaccinations over a long period as vaccines couldn’t be preserved in the nearby Health Clinic.

With a new fridge generously donated by the Santo Rotary Club, a nine-day mass vaccination campaign was organized to immunise the young population scattered around the interior bush.

Willie Tangis is the Nurse Practitioner leading the vaccination campaign that started at Willie Rau Nakamal as the local Aid Post was not yet operational.

This campaign began with six-month old Suzan, who received her pentavalent vaccines by intra muscular injection, including Diphtheria, Hepatitis B, Tetanus, Whooping Cough, and Petausis, along with oral Polio vaccine. Hundreds of young children were then immunized. 

A few weeks earlier, a young boy from Fanafo was hospitalized in a critical condition at the Northern Hospital in Luganville.  Fortunately acute treatment saved him after he was diagnosed having Tetanus from a nasty cut. It is hoped that such things won’t happen again when the whole community of this area benefit from the vaccination campaign.

Picture: Nurse Practitioner Willie Tangis injecting pentavalent Vaccine at 6 months baby Suzan, far left AG Rufino Pineda, far right former Head of Health Joseph Mape.

Lake side clean up readies area for summer visitors

On Saturday the 21st September, people who had already spent a nervous time watching the two America’s Cup races early in the day now had the chance to spend some of that pent up nervous energy at the Cromwell Rotary annual ‘Lake-side Clean-up’ on Lake Dunstan. 

This event  smarten-ups the lake shore in time for the start of the summer holiday visitor season.  Rotarians with loppers, saws and brush-cutters, attack the annual growth of weeds and collect the fallen willow debris. They also collect the general rubbish left by a few uncaring visitors to our beautiful lakeside. The Lions and other local groups also get together and help perform this annual task. Luckily this year the weather was kind and many, many trailer loads were carted off to the local tip for recycling.

The Greatest Amateur Racing Event in the World!

On Sunday, April 7, Dylan Smith from Orewa College, Auckland, became New Zealand’s National Soap Box Derby Champion. Following his win Dylan went on to compete in the grand finals in Akron, Ohio, US, in July and has just returned after a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”.

It’s been called “The Greatest Amateur Racing Event in the World”, “The Gravity Grand Prix” and many other names, but to the Rotary Club of Whangaparaoa, NZ, and thousands of kids across the globe, it is known simply as the “Soap Box Derby”. The event was inaugurated in 1933 in Dayton, Ohio, and has since become one of those traditional annual American spectaculars.  Soap Box Derbies started in New Zealand 11 years ago with a council initiative in Northcote, supported by the local Rotary club. Terry Clarkson from the Rotary Club of Whangaparaoa became involved in the New Zealand organisation nine years ago as a member of the Waitakere Club. Today, a series of five area races take place each year with this year’s grand final hosted by the Whangaparaoa club in Stanmore Bay, Auckland. The winner, 13-year-old Dylan Smith from Orewa College, drove one of 16 trolleys provided by the Whangaparaoa club.

Currently, five New Zealand Rotary clubs are involved; Whangaparaoa, Waitakere, Auckland East, Northcote and Whangarei.  New Zealand’s Soap Box Derby Race Director, Terry Clarkson, is really encouraged by the way the competition is developing. “It gives young people the opportunity to work closely as a team, be competitive and help make a contribution to good causes,” Terry said. Following this year’s competition, the Whangaparaoa club also donated $6500 to Hibiscus Coast Hospice.  “This is now the Rotary Club of Whangaparaoa’s major event and I would love to see the Trolley Derby developin New Zealand and Australia with more Rotary clubs participating,” Terry said. “It would provide the opportunity for many more young people to compete and maybe mount a real challenge to the Americans!” The All American Soap Box Derby Headquarters was established in 1992 in Akron, Ohio. Each year more than 120 teams from across the US and eight other countries take part in the July championships. Like all things American, the championships are spectacular.  Racing is split into World championships and the International Category of New Zealand, Alaska, Hawaii, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada and Panama.

New Zealand has won the International Section three times, last year with 10-year-old Gemma McDougall, New Zealand’s first ever female champion. This year Dylan Smith was not successful, but he carries his experience forward to next year.

 

Carisbrook Fundraiser Stripped Rugby Ground Bare!

A multi-club project for Rotarians in southern New Zealand has proved a great way to bring people together, while raising more than $100,000 for good causes.

 

 

 

When Dunedin's iconic Carisbrook rugby ground was dis-established and sold to local construction firm Calder Stewart, a fantastic opportunity arose for the city's 500 Rotarians.

Rather than simply bulldozing the stadium, the owners of Calder Stewart agreed to allow Rotary Clubs to remove the seats, turnstyles, goal posts, turf and other fittings from the ground to sell. Time was tight, with everything having to be removed in just three weeks before demolition got underway in August.

 

The nine Rotary Clubs in Dunedin and Mosgiel, Rotaractors, and the Rotary Club of Milton got stuck in with a will, working together over three weekends to complete the mammoth task.

 

Dunedin-based District Governor 9980 Gary Williams was delighted at the response from local Rotarians to the project.

 

``This is a great opportunity for Rotarians across the city to work together on a project that will benefit everyone,'' Gary emphasised.

 

Carisbrook Rotary Project Chairman Brendon Bearman, of the Rotary Club of Milton, was also pleased with the high profile of the project and the eagerness of clubs to be involved.

``This is the project of a lifetime - we will never see it's like again,'' Brendon commented. ``It has brought a lot of Rotarians from various clubs together - a lot of excellent contacts have been made''.

 

 

 

Now that the deconstruction phase of the project is complete, the sale of seats and memorabilia items from the historic rugby ground - known across New Zealand as ``The House of Pain'' - continues. The goal posts went very quickly, for $5,000 each, and the seats have been sold to schools and sports grounds across the country.

 

Other items, such as monogrammed chopping boards made from some of Carisbrook's rimu seats, continue to sell well through internet auction site TradeMe.

 

So far, the Carisbrook Rotary Project has raised more than $100,000 for club projects and organisers have their sights set on a $200,000 target.

 

Brendon thanked Calder Stewart for their generosity in allowing the clubs to use the dismantling of Carisbrook as ``a fantastic fundraising opportunity''.

 

Article by Brenda Harwood, Rotary Club of Dunedin, New Zealand

Keenan/Brosnahan Rotary Family History

In the 1973-1974 Rotary year James (Jim) Keenan of the Rotary Club of Hokitika was District Governor for the then District 998. At that time, the District covered the whole of the South Island of New Zealand. He was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship by his District in 1975. Jim also received his Sapphire Pin. Now aged 91, Jim is the oldest living Past District Governor for the current South Island Districts 9970 and 9980.

Jim and Aileen Keenan, John Keenan and Ray Brosnahan

 

In 1988 the Rotary Club of Timaru South awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship to Jim’s brother-in-law, Ray Brosnahan, and in the following year 1989, the Rotary Club of Timaru awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship to his other brother-in-law, Verdon Brosnahan (deceased 2010).

In 2008 the Rotary Club of Timaru South awarded Ray Brosnahan his Sapphire Pin.

In July 2013 to honour Jim Keenan’s sixty years in Rotary, the Hokitika Rotary Club awarded him a second Sapphire pin. This year, the Hokitika Rotary Club also awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship to Jim’s wife Aileen Keenan (nee Brosnahan) to recognize her 60 years of support to her husband in his Rotary work.

Also in July 2013 Jim and Aileen’s eldest son John Keenan and his wife Shirley were both inducted as members of the Rotary Club of Timaru South.

This history over sixty years of Jim Keenan, his two brothers-in-law and his wife (their sister) all being awarded Paul Harris Fellowships, and now with the next generation joining Rotary, may be unique in the Rotary world.