Greetings Rotarians!
Welcome to yet another crazy week of staring at the same “four walls” of your own house. It seems as a country, we are doing really well, so keep up the good work of keeping COVID19 at bay. Although we might be still isolating in our own homes, the world is still spinning and Rotary is still making connections! How did you go with the challenge of joining a virtual meeting of another Rotary Club? Perhaps we need another week of this one…I missed the meeting I was planning to go to…the time zone was not overly kind, but hey! I’m going to give it another shot!
Our meeting last week was great! We had three guests, (Peter Ravenscroft, Day Gowland and Annie Fenby) and a guest speaker, Ellen from Cardinia Shire Council who showed us around the Hills Hub in Emerald. Despite not being there “in person,” I think we were able to get a good idea of the facilities that will be open to the community when this is all over. Let’s not forget the free coffee available to all…”sorry, it’s just instant.” Lol! If you’d like to see the photos for yourself, most of them are on this website…
www.melbcon.com/home-projects/118-cardinia-hills-hub-emerald
Last week, Vicki, Ken and I attended the final Presidents’ meeting of this Rotary year. It was a virtual meeting with current and incoming Club Presidents in the district, but made especially special by the attendance of the RI President, Mark Maloney…all the way from Decatur, Alabama. He gave us a run down of what’s been happening around the Rotary world and happily answered many questions at the end. Some points that were mentioned include:
if people ask you “what has Rotary done to help in this pandemic?” you can happily tell them, that amongst other things, Rotary has donated 10 Million Euros for equipment in Italy and more around the world.
“Never waste a good crisis,” as Winston Churchill said. Pres Mark pointed out that every dark cloud has a silver lining and we can use this opportunity to stay connected with Rotarians and hopefully attract new, younger Rotarians through technology rather than physical meetings at this stage.
Rotary International Board Meeting lasted 11 hours!! It was spread over 3 days (sounds like a marathon to me!!) all done virtually of course.
There’s no need to fly to Hawaii this year afterall! The International Convention is coming to YOU! There’ll be a Virtual Convention June 20-26th; general sessions and breakout sessions at various times…at no cost!! Pre-Registration is required, so keep an eye out for further details. Time to bring out the Hawaiian shirts I reckon!! :)
Although we are in a state of lockdowns at the moment, our hardworking Susi has been busy not only at the pharmacy, but also on behalf of Rotary. She recently collected some new magazines donated by the Emerald Newsagency and delivered them to Emerald Glades. Susi has also been enjoying a bit of craft, making cute bookmarks and cards for the residents there. If anyone else would like to contribute, I’m sure Susi would love that!
Tina has potted up some plants, also for the Emerald Glades residents, to help brighten their rooms and to let them know they are not forgotten. It must be very, very difficult for all concerned to not be able to have visitors. Hopefully that will change as soon as everything is considered safe.
We are really looking for other projects/ways we can get involved/how to help others at this time. PLEASE put your thinking caps on and let a board member know of your ideas.
Other clubs are doing things like:
- free coffee for essential workers (donate money to local cafes for them to distribute free coffees)
collecting warm clothes for bush fire victims in Gippsland (they had summer clothes donated at the time of the fires, of course)
helping distribute meals to people in needhelping to deliver groceries
Well, I must be off now. Dominic is busy sewing masks (just started today) and there’s a fair bit of “exclaiming” happening!! Might be time for a coffee…or something… ;)
Take care of yourselves, stay distant and well and hope to see you all in person soon!
Hooroo for now,
C xxx
PS: REMEMBER: THEME FOR THIS WEEK, as chosen by Vicki…the Melbourne supporter…FOOTY/SPORTS TEAMS
