Our Wheelchair Trust is at crossroads at present. The Vanuatu project is in a dormant stage; the building is just about complete, but until COVID settles down we can’t proceed any further.
Few Rotary clubs have an ongoing “Signature” project of the calibre of our Wheelchair Trust. It has brought the gift of mobility to well over 10,000 disabled children and adults. It has provided numerous buildings for various disadvantaged communities in the South Pacific, replacing schools destroyed by tsunamis, providing safe shelter and even playgrounds for orphaned or abandoned and – dare we say it - abused children. If you were active in the fundraising, design, wheelchair assembly, building construction or execution of these projects, give yourself a pat on the back!
But it’s not just the gift of mobility and the gift of buildings. At the same time, we provide a venue for volunteers to enjoy each other’s company while “doing good”. Might sound corny, but that is exactly what our volunteers do, and I have no doubt that it makes every one of our volunteers feel good whilst they do good.
Tomorrow Wednesday, we will discuss and sketch out a forward plan of where we’ll head with the Wheelchair Trust over the next years. Your input is valuable,and that is why it is so important that you participate in tomorrow’s meeting.
On behalf of President Paul Seymour,
Franz Huber
Director, Club Administration.
[President Paul is snowed under with work, so I have taken the liberty to “ghostwrite” the President’s Message. Ed.]
We recently received a very comprehensive management report from 180 Degrees Consulting (Bond University branch), a worldwide organisation which provides free services to non-profit organsations such as our Wheelchair Trust. This report is our starting point to do a comprehensive forward projection of the direction our Project Shed can (will) take. Hint: It might not just involve wheelchairs!
Wheelchair Trust Chairman Larry Murray will outline his views, followed by open discussion of the various points. This is an interactive session - you are invited to actively participate in the discussion!
“The best augury of a man’s success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world” so wrote the renowned English novelist George Eliot in 1876… So, what has changed? Today, 146 years later, her statement is still true. [No, Henrietta, George Eliot definitely was a lady… ☺]
The international monthly Rotary theme for January is what in the “good ol' days” used to be one of Rotary’s major Avenues of Service: Vocational Service. Since Eliot’s time, lots of changes relating to vocations have happened, and lots of prognoses have been made. 40 years ago it was the demise of the Industrial Age, which was replaced by the “Information Revolution”. Indeed, this has largely happened; in case you haven’t noticed: We are right in it. Today’s plain vanilla mobile phone, with a measly 64 Gigabytes of memory, is roughly 250 times as powerful as the Commonwealth Bank’s mainframe computer of the mid-1970’s (it had 256 Megabytes of RAM). On top of this, it has access to unlimited information of the Internet. (Watch out: the next major disruptor is the combination of Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology, which will have a far greater impact.) Yet, whilst the method by which we do things may change, the ethical principles as depicted in theObjects of Rotary have not changed. Click on this link for the complete set of Rotary’s Guiding Principles. For this article, it's the second object that is relevant:
“High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society.”
Geoff Croad has received the go-ahead from Bunnings Olsen Avenue for another Sausage Sizzle fundraiser, so we need manpower! [Hold your fire!For the purists and feminists among you: "manpower" is a perfectly legal word that incorporates both the sexes! ☺]Only 3 shifts - 4 people minimum required per shift to comply with Bunnings rules.
9:00 am - 11:30 am (this shift is filled)
11:30 am - 2:00 pm (still require 3 people)
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm (still require 3 people)
Book your time slot with Geoff directly, by text message or send him an email.
We regret to advise that our Project Shed at the Arundel Community Centre is closed, due to a COVID exposure. Subject to no new COVID regulations emerging, we expect to reopen again on Wednesday 26th January We'll advise as soon as we are able to confirm.
At this stage, however, we expect our regular club meetings to take place as per schedule, every Wednesday morning.
Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week. Note: Fellowship duty also is expected to be at the Project Shed on the Saturday following the meeting
<--- After seeing the latest designs for excercise equipment, I've changed my mind: I will have a New Year's Resolution after all...
People rarely appreciate their ignorance, because they lock themselves inside an echo chamber of like-minded friends and self-confirming news-feeds, where their beliefs are constantly reinforced and seldom challenged. Yuval N Harari, ’21 Lessons for the 21st Century’
Why do you always answer a question with a question?
And just why shouldn’t I answer a question with a question?
We recently received a very comprehensive management report from
Geoff Croad has received the go-ahead from Bunnings Olsen Avenue for another Sausage Sizzle fundraiser, so we need manpower! 
We regret to advise that our Project Shed at the Arundel Community Centre is closed, due to a COVID exposure. Subject to no new COVID regulations emerging, we expect to reopen again on Wednesday 26th January We'll advise as soon as we are able to confirm.
