When you are a mother feeding a family of 11, a 5kg bag of potatoes doesn’t go very far. PDG Wendy Gaborit OAM recognised that Murray Bridge, SA, and its drought-stricken rural environs had a hunger problem in its community. Children were turning up for school without breakfast and there were ever increasing requests to […]
The installation of spouting, some sand and tanks were the icing on the cake of Rotary District 9910’s global grant project in Asanvari Village, Maewo Island, Vanuatu, which was officially opened on February 15, 2021. Potable water supply has always been a challenge, and Cyclone Harold in February 2020 destroyed the basic water catchment along […]
For 100 years, Rotary in Australia has been on hand to assist those in need. And in recent times, the Rotary Club of Sandy Bay, Tas, has taken a step up, partnering with an emergency food relief charity for a Centenary project benefiting vulnerable Tasmanians. Each week, Loaves and Fishes, with very few staff, delivers […]
The Rotary 100 Down Under Baton Relay was ceremonially launched in District 9640 on February 5, with the catch cry ‘Rotary says No to Domestic Violence’. The relay with a cause was launched by District Governor Andy Rajapakse in Grafton, NSW, and Immediate Past District Governor Harry Bolton in Goondiwindi, Qld. Rotarians from the three […]
A relatively new Rotary program is rescuing old playgrounds from landfill to bring joy to children in developing nations. The City of Greater Dandenong, Vic, typically replaces around four playgrounds per year. In the past, the old playgrounds have often gone straight to landfill. However, Melinda Bell from the Rotary Club of Greater Dandenong and […]
Incoming Rotary International president Shekhar Mehta has announced the 2021-22 presidential theme – Serve to Change Lives. He has urged members to become more involved in service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also our own. During his […]
Love was in the air this Valentine’s Day when District 9640 Governor Andy Rajapakse launched what could quite possibly be the cutest Rotary club in the world at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Queensland’s Gold Coast – the Rotary Club of Koala Lovers. The animal cause-based club is a first of its kind under Rotary International’s […]
Rotarian Ken Hutt is still planning to ‘jump’ off Mount Everest in his paraglider to raise money for The Rotary Foundation’s End Polio Now campaign. A member of the Rotary Club of Berry, NSW, Ken has a history with the highest mountain in the world, having led an expedition there to support the polio eradication […]
During the charter of the Global Nurses & Midwives Rotary Club (GNMRC) on December 22, 2020, Charter President Wendy McIntosh was delighted to hear special guest, RI President Holger Knaack, state; “The world has never before seen a Rotary club of nurses and midwives. A totally innovative idea”. His words were a fantastic endorsement of […]
Sometimes the peace Rotarians seek to make is a local matter. Very local. By Frank Bures Jean Best was about to resign from Rotary. It was a sad day for her; she loved being a Rotarian. But she had become enmeshed in a conflict with another member of her club. Although she tried to engage […]
By Amy Fallon Volunteering isn’t that common in Ahmed Tohow’s homeland. A Somali refugee, he lived through a deadly civil war and famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people. But Ahmed, the first African to receive the Rotary Club of Melbourne’s Senior’s Award for 2020-21, has certainly done plenty of that since moving to […]
By John OxenfordInternational Director, Rotary Club of Bribie Island Initiated in the early 2000s, more than 1500 students have since graduated from Rotary International’s Peace Fellow program, typically going on to have careers in community building and development, conflict resolution and policy development. It is challenging work, often undertaken in dangerous parts of the world. […]