President Ray welcomed Harriet Dixon and Jeannie Dacomb from the Cambridge Community House, Maggie Crosson from Victim Support, Jan Mathers who sat on the Rotary Garden Festival Committee and Peter Church.
Following his usual pattern of bringing to the meeting thoughts about an inspiring concept, President Ray referred to Polio Plus. Rotary has been involved for many years, and throughout many countries where volunteers or paid people go to administer vaccinations with the aim of making the world polio free. This Rotary project and the dedication of these people and Rotary itself is truly inspiring. We are almost there but we must not give up as the disease will become endemic. Ray encouraged Rotarians to spread the word about the importance of vaccinations, not just for polio but for those diseases that many of us remember from our childhood – eg diphtheria, measles, mumps.
Presenter for the evening was Rotarian Carey Church talking about Cambridge Rotary’s 2018 Garden Festival which sold 998 tickets and raised $29,249. Carey thanked the Project Committee - Shirley Haycock, Roger Hill, Colin Davis, Dennis Finn, Bob Teal, Bill Robinson, Bev Heron, David Blewden and in particular non-Rotarian Jan Mathers. She paid tribute to the sponsors – Amber Gardens, Moneyworks, Hill Laboratories, Powerhouse Real Estate, John MacDonald Builders, Waipa District Council, Cambridge Jewellers, Gourmet Delicious and Mighty River Domain. She also thanked those who had made “in-kind” contributions – Bruce Hancock (photography), Rocketspark and Kaz Design.
Charities to benefit from the proceeds were Cambridge Community House - $5,000 towards the building fund; Victim Support ($10,000); Rotary Cambridge Charitable Trust for a donation to Days for Girls. The remainder will be distributed by Rotary through the annual grants cycle.
Harriet Dixon provided an update on the Cambridge Community House including the building project. She extended thanks to Rotary for its ongoing support of the organisation. Victim Support’s Maggie Crosson said with a huge increase in incidents of family harm the donation would serve her organisation and the community well. Although Victim Support was not located in Cambridge it provided significant assistance throughout the local community. A presentation to Days for Girls would be made on the return of David and Anne Blewden.
Carey advised the 2019 Rotary Garden Festival would be held on 24 November and already sponsorship commitments had been given. If the Festival was to be a long term project the Board was concerned that it was sustainable and therefore succession planning was crucial as well as spreading the workload across club members. With this in mind Carey asked Rotarians to come and see her if they were able to be a member of the team or help in any way.
Notices
9930 Conference – Can Support Project: President-Elect Robyn said a project at Conference next week would be to collect and distribute canned food to the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and Women’s Refuge. She asked each member to bring canned food (not canned tomatoes) to the meeting next Thursday and these will be added to other contributions at conference.
Plan on wearing something in line with the theme ‘South Pacific’ for the dinner on Saturday evening.
Waipa Fun Run 10 March: Dennis Finn thanked those helping with the fun run this weekend and to assemble by the finish line by the cricket pavilion on the town green at 8am where Bill Robinson will liaise and organise.
15 members have so far volunteered – 2 more required. Please contact Dennis Finn if you’re available.
Balloons over Waikato will have a presence in Cambridge on Friday 22 March in the Town Centre (Victoria Square). Rotary Waikato Sunrise has invited us to support their small team with marshalling at the Walk Thru Balloon and merchandise sales. Hours – 4pm – 8.30pm. Proceeds to go to KidsCan Waikato. Please see President Ray.
Bookarama Book sorting on Monday 9.00am, Achievement House.
RYLA 2019 – Three young professionals from Hill Laboratories are attending this year, sponsored by our club.
Rotary grants – Doug Lang Asked for members to think about local projects which could apply for Rotary Foundation funding matching grants are available up to $5k (ie the Foundation will match local Rotary funding dollar for dollar up to $5,000 for projects costing $10k or more. Smaller projects also qualify.One project that qualified was the exercise equipment on Thornton Road. Others have been at the Cambridge Community Marae.
D9930 Rotary Learning and Information – Robyn also advised of a Rotary Learning and Information weekend on the 6th and 7th April in Rotorua contact her or Ray for more information. These weekends are great opportunities for new members to learn more about Rotary and to connect with Rotarians from other areas. There is no need to stay overnight and carpooling is an option.
This is an interactive weekend where topics are discussed like: - Attracting and engaging members
- What Rotary is all about, ethics, objectives and the difference Rotary has and can make
- Creating projects and working as a team
- Creating a strong, engaged club
- Communication, publicity
- How to use skills and knowledge and connections to contribute to your club/community
Please see Robyn if you would like to attend.
District Training Assembly – 4 May 10am – 3.30pm, Taupo. An information day to increase understanding of Rotary programmes and an awareness of what is happening in the District. Please see President-Elect Robyn.
Magic Moment – Ian Grant – Ian gave an insight into his career in the military where he served in many far-flung countries during hostilities. Although working in a conflict situation he observed that there were many opportunities for promoting and creating peace, and working with communities to bring them an improved way of life.
Content for Bulletin
