Lynn’s Lines
Last Thursday we had a wonderful inspiring movie night watching Fly from Everest and hearing from Ken Hutt and Marcus Loane who starred in the film and also joined us on the night. We also got to meet David’s aunt Annmaree O’Keeffe, a previous ambassador to Nepal. We raised $546 on the night which the Board topped up to a $1,000 donation (the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match that 2:1 with another $2,000). Thank you to Gero Mitchell, Chris O’Brien and others who organised the drinks and nibbles, and David and Rachel for the raffle. A good team effort.
The Board met last Friday. We are having a Van cleaning morning on Tuesday 19 December at9:30am. If anyone can help, please join us. More hands less work.
The Board also voted to donate $500 to Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) that provides surgical treatment in Australia and New Zealand for children from developing countries from our Pacific region for life giving and/or dignity restoring surgery not accessible to them in their home country. Another decision made by the Board was to hold off selling the CAERH raffle tickets until we have sold the Duck tickets; it’s a matter of having people available to sell tickets.
David McInnes and I will be attending the Public School and High School presentations this Friday. On our Christmas dinner at Bodalla Pub on Thursday 14 December – Chris O’Brien asks for names and money for our Christmas dinner at Bodalla pub (on Thursday 14 December) by this Thursday 7th December. Names to her please and pay online to the same account you pay your membership fees. (Adults $65.00, children 12 and under $30.00.) There will be a collection tin for OzHarvest for cash donations at the event. Many people in Narooma are doing it very tough this Christmas.
December is shaping up to be a very busy month…
THIS WEEK
Wednesday 6 December 6.30pm; Prostate Cancer Support Group meets at Golf Club
Thursday 7 December 6 for 6.30pm: Dinner Meeting for our AGM
The Week that Was
Fly from Everest polio fundraiser
What a great night last Thursday at the Kinema. The film Fly from Everest featured south coast adventurer and Berry Rotarian Ken Hutt and his dream to paraglide from Everest and raise awareness and funds to continue the global fight to eliminate polio. It was so good that Ken and fellow paraglider Marcus Loane attended the screening and answered many questions about their Everest adventures in 2022 and 2023. Film director was Joe Carter.
We raised $546 on the night (Tickets sales $301, raffle $145 organised by David and Rachel McInnes, donations $100) which the Board topped it up to $1,000.
Ken is immensely proud of his team members’ efforts and that they have raised $400,000 for the cause and received publicity and support from around the world. He said their main aim was to get the polio message out there and they achieved that.
To put the success of the campaign into perspective, when Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative more than 30 years ago, polio paralyzed 1,000 children every day. Since then, cases due to wild poliovirus have declined by more than 99.9%, with wild poliovirus remaining endemic today in only two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan. Disruptions to routine vaccination programmes around the world put this progress at risk. Rotary and its partners are trying to sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk.”
From Ange in Nepal, dated Monday
Landed back in Katmandu Sunday evening after a week teacher training in the remote village Maidi in Dhading Province. About 40 Primary and Secondary teachers from all over Dhading Province attended at the High School in Maidi. They were all so grateful for teaching pronunciation, songs, rhymes, grammar, sentence construction etc. On the last day we issued them with heaps of resources brought from Australia, including reading books, charts, stationary, flash cards. Some teachers travelled three to five hours to Maidi for the Teacher training. Wonderful closing ceremony on Friday afternoon, but waited 2 hrs for the Dhading Mayor, the VIP, to arrive. Many speeches and certificates issued to teachers and our team. Mary Brell is especially held in high esteem. Some teachers missed their bus to get home and had to walk up to three hours (!) to get to home to family. They travelled each day and were always so happy.
Mary Brell has contributed amazingly to this RAWCS project for many years. The dollars raised this year financed many water tanks for the villagers and over 200 packets of seeds. The Nepali are so poor but rich beyond words in graciousness and faith.
On Monday, our RAWCS team of 20 met the Australian Ambassador Felicity Volk. Mary arranges this meeting each year to promote and advises the Australian Government of the extraordinary work Rotary does in Nepal. (Ken and Marcus also met Ambassador Volk during their time in Nepal.)
Out and About
News from Tertiary Scholar Raichel
Our Rotary Tertiary Scholar (2022) Raichel Brodie has again excelled in her studies for a Bachelor of Psychology at ANU. This semester she achieved three high distinctions and one distinction.
We hope to hear from our other two scholars in the next week or so.Stamps pleaseChris O’Brien asks everyone to save their stamps for her. They need to have a 1cm border around them. They are sent to a charity which raises money for the needy.
Bega’s Domestic and Family Violence Campaign
Unfortunately due to the rain and flooded roads Bega Rotary’s stand for the Domestic and Family Violence Campaign at the South Coast Producers’ Markets was called off last Friday. It was mutually agreed by Rotary and the Women’s Resource Centre that the stand would not go ahead. However, last Friday afternoon three Bega Rotarians set up a display at the Tathra Pub for a couple of hours. While it was reasonably quiet they had a few encouraging and supportive comments which made it worthwhile. Even a little bit of publicity helps the cause. Bega Rotary reports that while their day of action on December 1st was a washout, they now have some good signage that can be used at any time and place.
NEXT THURSDAY 14th
It’s our Christmas party at Bodalla Pub. Numbers and payments by this Thursday 7th please.