Prue Hodgson of Three peaks in Three Weeks fame will be our guest speaker on Monday the 18th August.
Three Peaks Three Weeks Web site:
Alex Longes and Prue Hodgson above both climbed three of Africa’s highest mountains to raise finds for African causes especially for the children of Africa.

The Three Peaks team on Mount Kilimanjaro.
Email John Glassford at john@glassford.com.au or call (02) 6927 6027 to be invited to the meeting to hear Prue Hodgson talk of her experiences in climbing Africa’s highest mountain and the highest free standing mountain in the world.
Last Monday we were honoured to have District Governor Fred Loneragan and his wife Rae Loneragan as our guest. Before the meeting, DG Fred met with Board Members and we discussed our goals for 08/09 as Rotary club.
In his presentation to our members DG Fred spoke about Rotary being a unique service club, changing people’s lives every day. As a Rotarian, you make a difference to people you may never see or know.
Not so many years ago, 1000 people a day died from polio. Last year, there were 963 confirmed cases of polio in the world – all due to the Polio Plus program in conjunction with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the USA’s Centre for Disease Control.
The Gates Foundation has donated $US 100 million to be spent within twelve months to end polio once and for all Bill Gates has challenged Rotarians to match this generous donation within 3 years, i.e. $US 1000 per year per club for the next three years.
DG Fred went onto tell the members that he has made The Orphan Rescue Kit or better known as The O.R.K. project, his project for 08/09 and has asked the clubs in his district 9700 to support The O.R.K. in his year as District Governor. DG Fred has set a goal of 200 O.R.K.s for the District to raise. DG Fred praised the Coolamon Club on being the instigators of The O.R.K. project world wide.
The money raised by D9700 will go to the Orphan Rescue Kits for the slums of Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya.
The kits will be sourced in several African countries including Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana, providing employment for the local inhabitants and are distributed by Rotarians For Fighting AIDS (RFFA) and our partners in Africa: HOPE World Wide and Coca Cola Africa. Each kit is worth $US 450 available for purchase from the ORK web site.
DG Fred Loneragan also showed the members and guests a short DVD during his visit which was made initially by one of the Kili 28/8 climbers, Mandy Watson. The DVD features the children of the Mathare slums where we will distribute the first O.R.K.s. Please write to John Glassford for a copy of the DVD. john@glassford.com.au
Dangling by a rope 50 feet above a swift-moving river is no easy way to go to market. That’s why Ken Frantz of the Rotary Club of Newport News, Virginia, USA, is building footbridges in some of the world’s most remote places in an effort to fight extreme poverty.
This Incan rope bridge in Yabina, Peru, could be deadly. In 2006, three girls died while crossing. Rotarians funded a new bridge. Photo by Jenna Kusmierek.
Barefoot and tired from a 20-mile trek, the young Ethiopian farmer nimbly descends a line of steep cliffs and jagged black rocks leading to the Blue Nile’s edge.
When he finally reaches the base of a bridge nestled deep inside a gorge, he lets out an exhausted sigh. He sets down his heavy basket of fresh bananas, bound for sale at the market, and waits. The Sebara Dildiy looms before him. The historic beauty of the bridge spanning the river’s rushing waters, constructed ingeniously nearly 400 years ago with sand, stone, lime, and egg whites, is barely discernible. In Ethiopia’s national Amharic language, sebara dildiy means “broken bridge,” a moniker it earned in 1935 when dozens of Ethiopian resistance fighters, armed only with modest farm tools, chiseled away the decking between the center arches in an attempt to slow Italy’s invading military. The entire span plummeted to the waters below, killing the men.
Broken it may be, but now, in October 2007, in this remote northern region of Ethiopia bordering Sudan, the bridge remains the fastest route to the market and medical care. The next closest crossing over the Blue Nile adds 100 miles to an already agonizing hike.
The final result above in Ethiopia
Schoolgirls cross a bridge in Collpatomaico, Peru. The one-way trip to school is now 45 minutes, not seven hours. Thanks to Rotary. Photo by Armando Sanchez.
The full story on Rotarians building bridges can be see here:
http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/TheRotarian/Pages/BridgingWorlds.aspx
If you are interested in joining Rotary in Coolamon please contact:
John Glassford (02) 6927 6027 or email:
john@glassford.com.au
L-R PDG Len Goodman, R.I. President D.K. Lee, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, R.I. Director John Lawrence meeting in Canberra July 14th 2008.
PM Kevin Rudd was presented with a Make Dreams Real water bottle by D.K. Lee a valuable memento of the President’s Membership Conference held from July 11th to 13th 2008 in Canberra.
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT D.K. LEE SPEAKING IN CANBERRA JULY 12TH 2008
Click on the above You Tube link for part 1 of D.K. Lee’s address to the delegates at the President’s Membership Conference held in Canberra from July 11th to July 13th.
{Photo by PDG Noel Trevaskis}
{Photo by PDG Bob Aitken Editor of Rotary Down Under}
DK Lee pins a membership sponsor pin on PDG Len Goodman with RID John Lawrence as witness. The conference was aimed at increasing membership to Rotary. RI President DK Lee has called for a 10% increase in membership accross the world of Rotary. The more members we have the more we can Make Dreams Real for the children of the world. It was an inspiring conference with many new ideas on how to increase membership.
HEAD TABLE CHANGE OVER NIGHT.
From left to right Susan Wingate-Pearse, District 9700 Governor Fred Loneragan and Rae Loneragan. It was a happy night with excellent food. Table decorations included rocky road for all made by Sharon Miles which was a huge hit. Rotarians know how to celebrate which we did in honour of Past President Grahame Miles’s year in the hot seat. We worked hard through the year for our local community and for Africa.
Through various projects we raised over $100,000 during 07/08. The Kilimanjaro climb raised $78,187. We also distributed over $20,000 locally including donations to our local hospital, the Cancer Council of NSW, a large TV to the Allawah Lodge retirement home and to local schools including the Coolamon Central School.
Congratulations Past President Grahame Miles on an excellent effort.
BILL INNES MPHF
It was a great pleasure to see Bill Innes awarded his Paul Harris Fellow Sapphire Pin. Bill was piped in byPiper Ian from Wagga Wagga to the tune Flower of Scotland. Congratulations Bill Innes MPHF.


John Glassford being inducted by Grahame Miles as President Coolamon Rotary Club 08/09
Max Chapman PHF (Paul Harris Fellow)
L-R Sue Chapman, Max Chapman, DG Fred Loneragan and Past President Grahame Miles.
Sue Chapman was asked to pin the PHF Badge onto Max’s Jacket. The Paul Harris Fellow was awarded to Max Chapman for his service to Rotary Coolamon and the Coolamon Community. Well deserved.
More photos of the change over will be posted soon.
The Rotarians For Fighting AIDS Booth 2008.
LA Convention 2008
L-R Anne Glenn RFFA and RC of Dunwoody, Atlanta with John Glassford, Coolamon Rotary and RFFA Australia Chair, visitors to the stand AG Tony Broadley and Jill Broadley from the RC of Condobolin and Vivian Smith from Atlanta. The RFFA stand was very well located and also very busy at all times throughout the convention.