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President's Message
Jan Emmett
President's Report No 20
Good Evening Everyone,
I trust everyone has had a chance to catch up with their families and friends this last week, to some extent anyway. I should image there are still those of you who have family interstate that you would all love to catch up with. Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll see the opportunity to pack those bags and step on a plane and spend some precious time with loved ones.
Last Monday night we were very delighted to have as a special guest, RI Director, Virpi Honkala from District 1385, Finland, join us and presented us with a very interesting and informative talk on The Rotary Foundation and how it is run, how it affects us as clubs and also some very important changes that will be made in the near future. She made a point to show us how the Grants Activity had been affected during COVID-19 and that there was actually a total of 547 grants which added up to something around the $22,968,504 mark...!! Click on the link for further details...
She is such a lovely, bubbly and very interesting character as well as a very distinguished person, going by all her titles she has…! she felt right at home with us, which says something for us as a club and how we make our guests feel welcome and relaxed. What a wonderful world Zoom can be and how, if nothing else, COVID-19 has brought us all together in one room and helped us join those in other countries who have the same interests and passions we have.
See this weeks’ Bulletin for the link to Virpi’s full presentation...
Virpi hopes, when she and her husband, Matti comes to Australia in 2023 for the Rotary International Conference in Melbourne, to catch up with us face to face. I for one will look forward to that and know that our club will make both her and Matti feel very welcome.
I unfortunately won’t be attending tomorrow night’s presentation by Dr Trevor Brown, on Polio eradication but I feel sure that the night will be a highly informative and enjoyable one.
I had the pleasure of joining a couple of Rotarians for a face to face coffee yesterday and there were so many people out and about with their dogs, so we took the opportunity to spread the word about our current fundraiser, by handing out leaflets on how to enter and donate. You as club members can do the same, even if it’s spreading the word about to anyone you know. Don’t forget to keep putting those photos and donations in to help us towards making our Pets on Parade fundraiser the best one yet… Spread the word and get clicking…!
Next week is a particularly important week as it’s our annual AGM and I would like to think that every one of you will attend. The whole night will be based on how your club is run and how your impact makes a huge difference too, so please attend, write down anything that you think needs to brought to attention, have your say no matter what it is, we will listen..!
Our club was honored to have Rotary International Director Virpi Honkala from the Rotary Club of Raahe, Finland join us during Rotary Foundation month to update us on The Rotary Foundation (TRF) and the challenges being faced during current challenging times and into the future.
If you missed our Zoom Meeting on Monday night please click the above image/link to view a recording of Virpi's presentation.
If you would like to commit to donating to The Rotary Foundation on either a "One Time" or "Recurring" basis please follow this link TRF Giving
The can collection Committee led by Alan Anderson met on Friday 13th November to discuss the organisation of this Project –
Purpose
The can collection Project is to receive donations of cans from members of the community to be given to Food Aid to distribute to those families in need across Torquay & the Surf Coast
This community service project has also great potential to raise community awareness with positive publicity for the Club
Recruitment of Club members as volunteers:
We will be asking Club members to volunteer an hour or two of their time to distribute flyers with collection bags in to families & friends and in their neighbourhood
You will be asked to write your name and phone number on the flyer
Then a week later these volunteers will collect the bags with the donations
IGA has donated plastic bags and the flyer has been produced, to go with the bag
The Committee have decided that the bags & flyers will be distributed on Wednesday 25 & Thursday 26th November. Then the collection date of the donated cans will be a week later on Wednesday 2nd December
Publicity
All publicity will be handled by the PIT team , via Greg Plumridge
The Committee are hoping for the following
Photo shoot Friday 20th – Alan, John & a community member
For entry into the Surf Coast Times – Thursday 26th November
Social media etc
Many Thanks to Ryans IGA for providing the collection Bags:-
Many Thanks again to James Taylor and the team at the Surf Coast Times for this great follow up story on our Drive-Through BBQ in this week's Surf Coast Times
Its time to get your camera out and take those shots of your pets which make you laugh and fill you with love.
Torquay Rotary Club brings you Pets on Parade 2020 - our online pet show where you can showcase these favourite family members and at the same time, help us to raise funds to End Trachoma in Australia.
Trachoma is a preventable infectious eye disease chich can cause blindness. Australia is the only developed country in the world with this disease and we want to help eliminate it.
Go to our Pets on Parade webpage to see how to enter your pet, make a donation to End Trachoma and have the chance to win some great prizes.
Torquay Rotary are now meeting online every Monday (excluding public holidays and the last Monday of every month when a Board Meeting will be held instead ) at 7:00pm. All Members are invited to participate and we have resumed a program including Guest speakers and some fun activities.
Visitors and Guests are very welcome. If you would like to join us please
Here's a challenge for everyone...….in these "different" times in which we are living there are more and more Clubs now holding on-line meetings so now it's easier than it's ever been to do a make-up.
You can do them from the comfort of your own home and you don't even have to get dressed up.
Let's have a club challenge to see who can do a make up form the most interesting city. Be sure to grab a screen shot of your meeting and send to me for the bulletin.
What a great way to meet other Rotarians from around the world and to find out how they are living through the COVID-19 lockdowns.
To make it easy the Rotary Club of Mount Lawley in WA have begun compiling a list of Clubs who are now holding On-Line Meetings to view the list click the link below.
Whilst we all are dealing with the COVID 19 Virus and the restrictions this has placed on our Club Meetings and all of us personally, our meetings will be held on ZOOM for the time being.
All details for how to log into the Zoom Meetings can be found in the article elsewhere in the Bulletin, on the Club Website & Facebook pages. remember that Guests are also available.
Club Members and friends also come together over the airwaves to meet and chat socially at the Friday night Happy Hour so I hope you can join in & enjoy the connection
Rotary International President for 2018-19 is Holger Knaack
Holger Knaack, a member of the Rotary Club of Herzogtum Lauenburg-Mölln, Germany, has been selected to serve as president of Rotary International in 2020-21.
A Rotary member since 1992, Knaack has served Rotary as treasurer, director, moderator, member and chair of several committees, representative for the Council on Legislation, zone coordinator, training leader, and district governor. He is an endowment/major gifts adviser and co-chair of the Host Organization Committee for the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg. Knaack is the CEO of Knaack KG, a real estate company. He was previously a partner and general manager of Knaack Enterprises, a 125-year-old family business. He is a founding member of the Civic Foundation of the City of Ratzeburg and served as president of the Golf-Club Gut Grambek. Knaack is also the founder and chair of the Karl Adam Foundation. Knaack and his wife, Susanne, are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation and members of the Bequest Society.
Melbourne has been announced as the host city for the 2023 Rotary International Convention, the largest conference secured this century for Victoria.
Melbourne is a Big Events City! Set to deliver over $88 million to the Victorian economy, the Convention is the most valuable conference ever won for the state, with the four-day event anticipated to attract more than 20,000 Rotarians from around the world. The global spotlight will be on Melbourne and how we present ourselves to the world.
The Convention will take place 27-31 May 2023 using Rod Laver Arena and the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre for functions.
Watch this Space for further news as it comes to hand.