The Phoenix 20th November 2022

Tonight we welcome DG Mina Howard and induct two new members

Kim Mannion and Wendy Stein

Foundation News

Last month, we reported that April was a great time to donate to The Rotary Foundation, and many of your responded! Members of our District donated almost $AUD 40,000 to the Annual Fund last month. Currently, members of 63 of our 67 clubs have contributed something to OUR Foundation so far this year, and our per-capita giving has reached the $US 100 mark! Almost all the clubs in our District have set Annual Fund goals for the year, and you have almost reached those goals as well. As of 30 April, clubs have reached 87% of their goals, so please remember to allocate some of your club’s fundraising proceeds to OUR Foundation in your end-of-year plans.

Disaster Relief Grant Completed for Flood Relief

We received $34,500 from The Rotary Foundation to assist flood relief victims in our District and now have distributed this money using Woolworths and Bunnings Vouchers with the help of Rotarians at Kurrajong/North Richmond, The Hills Kellyville, Windsor, The Ponds, and Kariong Somersby.

Thanks to everyone involved in reaching out to members of our community in need!

Reminder

Please include The Rotary Foundation in your giving plans as we end the financial year.

Support the Annual Fund. Your club and individual contributions to the Annual Fund are used for District and Global Grants, as well as for Trustee programs, such as Peace Scholars. Our hope is that every club member contributes at least $100 to the Annual Fund to become a Centurion member each year.
Support Polio Plus. The battle against polio is being won despite the turmoil of the pandemic and war. Our continuing support is essential, and every dollar donated is matched by two dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Support the Disaster Response Fund. This fund, created in 2019, provides emergency support to districts around the world when disaster strikes. Our District has already received three of these grants – for bushfires, the pandemic, and for flood relief.
Make a Global Grant Directed Gift. Recently the Australian arm of The Rotary Foundation announced a new program to “Supercharge” your project. This program encourages companies and individuals (but not Rotary Clubs) to donate $50,000 or more to assist with Global Grant projects here in Australia or overseas. These donations are fully tax deductible and can be directed to be used by our District in specific areas of interest.

Please contact me or any member of the District Rotary Foundation Committee for more information on any of our programs.

PP David Dean

District 9685 Rotary Foundation Chair

0412 798 526

PP Haran Ramachandran

Grants Subcommittee Chair

0419 980 529

Return to Oecusse.

Finally Judy can go back to Oecusse. Soon the Green Games will be on.

GREEN Games 2022

The Games in 2019 cost over $30,000. After a hiatus of 2 years I expect these Games to be bigger! I am hoping for $10,000 on top of what I already have.

If anyone can help especially with a sports goods company sponsorship please contact Judy here or give her a ring on 0407207787

To read more about Judy's work in Timor Leste click here - you'll be surprised. Read how she gets into the place, First time UN Helicopter. Since then I have gone in via Hercules, barge, ferry, car and most recently via the RAEOA’s, (Oecusse Economic Region) Cessna.

Check out the depths of your pockets, wallets and/or purses - this is what just your donation can achieve

Funds to help students to continue their education.

Any amount helps from $15 for a pair of shoes, $50 for a uniform to $150 for term fees.

Print off Judy's newsletter, put it on the coffee table when your friends come over, and show them just what Judy does, just two cups of coffee get some kid a pair of shoes - not hard eh?

Grant Applications

SPECIAL ALERT ABOUT GRANT APPLICATIONS

Applications for Foundation Grants for both District and Global will soon close. They must be in to the board by May 31st If you have a project in mind please contact Tony Castely on 0414 801 888 for the form. Complete it and return it to me at mrdgm41@gmail.com as soon as you like. The new board will consider any/all applications and promote them to the District Foundation chair, David Dean

District Grant Applications;

We do have increased funding available for District Grants this coming year so can offer the support to more clubs. It is a great way to double the effectiveness of your club’s contribution to a project.

Here's a quick summary about grants

Up to $2500 for local projects and $5000 for international projects.
Must be matched by the club
Must be completed within the Rotary Year
The project must be a new one and not already be started
Preference will be given to clubs that plan full club member involvement
The Rotary Club is responsible for the simple recording of payments and the grant funds and will be required to give a summary when the project is complete.
The club must be qualified to take part with the Rotary Foundation. We are as I have attended the District Assembly Foundation talk and will complete the webinar.

We look forward to Boards and Avenue of Service chairs discussing their project plans prior to the new Rotary year starting and making applications for Foundation assistance through District grants. Applications should be in before the end of June 2022.

PDG Tony Castley has advised that the time for the district grant applications to the club can be extended to Friday June10th. Applications will be assessed and the most worthy will be forwarded to District by end June.

Also Tony's contact details were accidentally missed off his first email to you. His email is tonyc@sewgroup.com

Rotaract Europe

Within hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, Iryna Bushmina fled her home in Kyiv. Along with her sister and her three-month-old nephew, she journeyed to Vienna, Austria, staying with Rotary members along the way. Their generosity inspired Bushmina, a member of the Rotaract Club of Kyiv-City and the district Rotaract representative for Ukraine, to organize a larger-scale relief effort — and now, an online platform she created has helped Rotaract and Rotary members find shelter for thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

Rotary responds to the war
in Ukraine.

Across Europe, Rotaract members are using digital tools to share information and coordinate to help people who have been affected by the war in Ukraine. By routing communications through the European Rotaract Information Centre (also known as Rotaract Europe), a multidistrict information organization that serves clubs in more than 40 countries, these young members are using the power of Rotary's global network to direct aid where it's needed most.

Shortly after the war began, Christiane Leitner, the president of Rotaract Europe, learned about a project that was already underway to help Ukrainians. Led by the Rotaract Club of Klagenfurt-Wörthersee, Austria, Rotaractors coordinated using the Rotaract Europe website, then packed five vans and cars full of relief supplies and drove through the night to the Polish-Ukrainian border, where local Rotaractors were waiting to deliver the aid.

"This really stood out to me as an example of how quickly our Rotary network can make things happen," says Leitner, a member of the Rotaract Club of Linz, Austria. After learning about dozens of Rotaract initiatives that started within a week of the invasion, she realized that Rotaract Europe could play a key role in coordinating communication among Rotaract and Rotary clubs and districts and facilitating partnerships that could lead to projects.

Rotaract Europe leaders have compiled information for refugees as well as for volunteers on their website under the heading United for Peace. As Bushmina worked to create a housing-specific platform called Spaces for Ukraine, she used the United for Peace webpage to post information and a form to match refugees with hosts. The page also offers updates about projects in neighboring countries, information about free rail, bus, and air transportation available to refugees, and tips for helping people at the border. There are lists of needed supplies and options for making donations as well.

"Rotaract clubs have the chance to get an overview of what's going on in and around Ukraine, and then decide what projects they can help implement," Leitner says. "We want to make it as easy as possible for our members to connect and collaborate."

Leitner and other leaders of Rotaract Europe meet weekly over Zoom with Rotaract representatives from each European country to exchange ideas and share updates about projects. These meetings have helped foster better communication and organization, she says.

Since it began as a coalition of clubs in 1988, Rotaract Europe has focused on sharing information about Rotaract activities across borders. But the effort to help Ukrainians is different, Leitner says: "We are being much more proactive than in the past. The passion and energy of Rotaractors are really motivating us to do more."

Hungarian Club Helps Ukraine

Hungarian club overcomes challenges to help Ukraine

Rotary Club of Budapest-Margitsziget, — Members of the Rotary Club of Budapest-Margitsziget, Hungary, with supplies they collected for Ukraine.

By Beatrix Turner, Rotary Club of Budapest-Margitsziget, Hungary

My Rotary club wanted to do our part to help the people of Ukraine after hearing about the terrible war in their country. We were honored to be able to join three other clubs, Berlin-Gendarmenmarkt, Germany, Paris-Quai d’Orsay, France, and Milano Sud-Ovest, Italy, to coordinate an €18,000 project to collect and deliver donations to help Ukrainian refugees.

Robert Rojak, the president of the Intercountry Committee for Ukraine-Hungary and a member of the Rotary Club of Uzhgorod, Ukraine, helped us compile a list of needed supplies. He has been instrumental in coordinating incoming donations and distributing them to places where they are needed inside Ukraine. We received our list of essentials for daily life and spent a busy two weeks collecting items.

Medicine bound for Ukraine.

The Bethesda Children’s Hospital in Budapest helped us prepare medicines, bandages, and blood infusion supplies. We collected a huge amount and were happy with the results.

Our next challenge would be transportation. We connected with the Hungarian Reformed Church Charity Service, a lovely team of people who were a pleasure to work with. They provided us with an experienced driver who had a diplomatic passport, and the entire border crossing went smoothly.

During the entire operation, we were amazed by the cooperation, love, and spirit of selflessness demonstrated by all the people we worked with.

To be honest, I was very tense when we reached the Ukraine border. We were transporting a valuable cargo of relief supplies and wanted the operation to go well. We made it across the border quickly and met with Robert, who helped us unload everything. I was so relieved and happy that it had worked out successfully.

Robert’s wife asked if we had been afraid and I answered that we were not because of the skilled people we worked with. It was an exciting project and a wonderful example of Rotary in action.

More about Bees

Rotarians for Bees are swarming into NSW
The Environment is Rotary International’s latest area of focus. Rotarians are asked to join the buzz around the Environment and one way to do that is for your club to join Rotarians for Bees.
This initiative was started by the Canterbury VIC Rotary Club but now we have NSW and ACT Rotarians facilitating expansion in Australia and globally.
Those of you with RAWCS projects overseas can also play a part by sharing ideas with your project partners.
Flyers are available with more information and the contact info of NSW Rotarians who can be resources.
There are lots of small easy changes you can make, to help our bees and pollinators thrive, your gardens to flourish and support our future food supply.
Contact Lucy Hobgood -Brown handupcongo@gmail.com

Rotary Youth in Action

Young Leaders in Action

April 2022

Engaging the next generation of Rotary leaders

Join the youth service month celebration!

Recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of your youth service participants and members who serve them this May! Rotary International will be celebrating our talented youth by sharing a series of youth stories on the Service In Action blog throughout the month. Follow the Service In Action blog to receive those stories.

Taking Action

Attend the Rotaract Preconvention

Join Rotaract leaders from around the world, increase your Rotaract knowledge, and gain valuable professional skills at the 2022 Rotaract Preconvention, 3-4 June in Houston, TX, USA.

Rotary Peace Fellowship application open now

Rotary’ Peace Centers increase the capacity of existing and committed peacebuilders through academic training, hands on field experiences, and global networking opportunities. Application deadline 15 May.

Resources & Events

RESOURCES

Interact Guide for Rotary Club Sponsors and Advisers

Rotaract Handbook

RYLA Handbook

District Rotaract Committee Course

District Interact Committee Course

District RYLA Committee Course

UPCOMING EVENTS

21 May 2022
Asia Pacific Regional Rotaract Conference (APRRC)
Virtual

25-29 May 2022
EUCO Riga, Latvia

3-4 June 2022
Rotaract Preconvention
Houston, TX, USA

4-8 June 2022
Rotary International Convention
Houston, TX, USA

Do you have an upcoming event to add to this list? Email us at youngleaders@rotary.org.

International Convention 2022

As Rotary members, we use our connections to create lasting change in our communities and around the world. And although we’ve all faced the challenges of the pandemic for the past year and a half, we’ve continued to take action, solve problems, and make a positive impact. So we are optimistic that we can gather in person to explore new opportunities for friendship and service at the 2022 Rotary International Convention, 4-8 June in Houston, Texas, USA. We invite you to join us!
At the convention, you will:

Develop new friendships and strengthen old ones
Share your Rotary experiences and learn more ways to get involved
Find inspiration in the family of Rotary

Register now to take advantage of our reduced rate, available until 15 December. You’ll be able to cancel for a full refund, minus a $50 per person administration fee, until 30 April.
Don’t miss this chance to strengthen your passion for Rotary.

Membership Corner

What do you know about Rotary

Diversity of Rotary International Presidents.

1942-43 Fernando Carbajal (civil engineering)

Rotary Club of Lima, Peru

ROTARY VISION: The application of practical action in solving problems, locally and worldwide

" The prevailing Rotary attitude is rendering service is practicality. Its aim in performing a useful action is to be helpful and serviceable, not sentimental...As Practical idealists, we temper the fanciful flights of the dreamer with the limitations of common sense."

- Address to 1943 Rotary Convention, St Louis, Missouri, USA