Hope you all enjoyed the lovely long Easter break.
We had not one but two excellent speakers at our last meeting. The speakers from Destiny Rescue and Rise Up kept the room engaged and interested. Our Chair Lea Rickwood did an outstanding job of keeping the meeting to time.
Please note news from DJ Jeff Egan regarding the flood appeal. District Foundation Chair Phil was successful in obtaining a Rotary Foundation Grant of $25,000 US and to date approximately a further $233,000 has been raised by the District Flood Appeal. District have been able to distribute $102,000 to Clubs to feed the flood affected and the volunteers helping them, to provide debit cards to those in need to buy food and other essentials and to purchase appliances for those who lost them in the floods. Most importantly Rotarians have been out in the community to show the flood affected that they are not alone and we care.
The Board has agreed for our Club to donate $2,000 to the District Disaster Appeal for the purchase of debit cards to be distributed by a Rotary Club in the affected area.
With the Ramble only weeks away the team is busy with preparations. Please contact your corporate friends to book at team.
The date for our Club Changeover has been set. Please diarise Sunday 3 July, 12.30 – 1pm.
The Ken Bromley association is back in business with the easing of Covid restriction etc. and we are thrilled that a family arrived on Saturday and will be joining us at our meeting on Thursday.
Our wonderful Scholarship Students will also be joining us at this week’s meeting.
No One Can Do Everything but Everyone Can Do Something
The guest speaker for this meeting is Billie Murphy from Solar Buddy.
In 2011, inventor and social impact entrepreneur Simon Doble read an article in Time magazine that opened his eyes to the harsh reality of the billions of people who live without safe and reliable lighting.
A humanitarian at heart Simon felt inspired to use his skills to create a solution that would improve their lives. The result was a renewable energy-powered light that became a solution in refugee camps across the world.
But through finding one solution, he soon realised the enormity of energy poverty, and set about raising global awareness and designing solar light solutions for the most at risk communities. And in May 2016, SolarBuddy was launched.
Our guest speaker, Billie is the General Manager for SolarBuddy and is a qualified primary school teacher from the UK. She is passionate about working with Solar Buddy's school partners to deliver an exceptional program that enhances student wellbeing and understanding of global citizenship. Billie is an experienced keynote speaker and has presented at corporate events all over the world.
This is a great opportunity to invite friends and partners.
From the School of St Jude
Our club has for many years now contributed to the wonderful organisation, The School of St Jude which provides free quality education to thousands of bright, poor Tanzanian students.
Could you be St Jude’s newest employee?
Do you know someone who should be?
We are currently searching for three creative communications superstars who are ready to use their skills to fight poverty through education. The available roles are;
Do any of these roles sound like they’d be perfect for you? If so, we’d love to hear from you! If not, we’d be so grateful if you could share these roles with your networks to help us find the perfect candidates.
The successful candidates will live and work at The School of St Jude in Arusha, Tanzania.
This year's Gold Coast Ramble will be held on Sunday 15 May, 2022 at a Mystery location to be revealed to registered teams the night before event.
We will have a corporate event limited to 20 teams and challenge these teams to each raise a minimum of $1,000 for Rize-up. Details of the Corporate Event are attached.
A family event will be held in parallel.
How can you help now?
1. Form a Rotary team and take up the challenge.
2. Identify one or two organisations you know or deal with and send a personal invitation to your contact to register a team. What about the companies that participated in our vocational excellence and Heart of Australia awards? Use the words in the attached invitation.
Following on from the success of our first Rotary Club of Gold Coast sausage sizzle at Bunnings, we are continuing this fundraising event.
Not only does it help raise funds for our club to contribute to all the amazing work that we as Rotarians do but it also provides the opportunity for club members to spend time together and build stronger relationships.
The last sausage sizzle brought in a nett result for the club of $1,118.72
We are seeking members who may like to be on the rotating roster, as a volunteer on the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle BBQ team.
Not everyone can be and that's ok :)
Everyone is welcome to volunteer at any time that suits their schedules.
Please email Youth Director Baz Lane if you would like to be on the rotating roster or if you would like to note your interest in helping out when you can.
What a great way to spend your weekend, raising money and building friendships with fellow Rotarians that will last a lifetime.
Email: jenbar4@bigpond.com
Flood Donations
District 9640, has a dedicated Flood Appeal account that has been set up for Rotarians and friends to contribute to the flood appeal to benefit victims of the recent floods.
As is common for any Rotary-based appeals, there will be no administration fees, etc.
All funds end up directly at the target, the people who were affected.
If a donor does not require the donation to have tax deductibility status, it is preferable that donations should be deposited into the following account:
Rotary International District 9640 Ltd.
BSB: 084462, Account No: 816279059
This is the account to which Rotary clubs should donate.
If tax deductibility is required, please use this account:
Keith Wilson Relief Trust Fund
BSB: 633000 Account No: 175308303
The name of the donor needs to be included on the deposit AND please send via email to PDG Sandra Doumany at srmd@bigpond.net.au
1. the name of the donor
2. the amount of the deposit
3. any requirement for the donation to be spent on a specific area (if requested).