Bulletins

Neil Munro introduced our guest speaker Michael Gibbons.  Michael goes to school at the Kildare Catholic School in Wagga Wagga and is currently in year 9.  Michael is 15 years old and has dreams of playing AFL football one day.  Michael supports Hawthorn and plays for Coolamon.

Michael spoke about his trip of his young life so far when he was selected to represent New South Wales in the under 15 team to travel to Perth to play and train in the carnival there for all teams in Australia.

The whole trip culminated in Michael being selected for the All Australian Under 15 side.

Before the trip Michael detailed his journey which included playing the Leeton Under 17s and winning by 100 points.  Michael also went to Albury with the Catholic Schools team and was named player of that carnival.  It was here that Michael was selected for NSW.

The journey to Perth included visiting Subiaco Oval to watch West Coast train and also a visit to the Freemantle Jail.  The football was exiting and they had mixed results winning some and losing some.  Michael was runner up for the best and fairest for NSW and was 3^rd overall in the carnival.

Michael finished by thanking our club for the support.  All present were very impressed with this young man and we wish him well with his dream to play AFL for Hawthorn one day and we are confident that he will.

And we’re back! The sun is shining, the birds singing and summer in Belgium is here! Monday the 14th June, a sad day. My oldie Julia (American) parted Belgium at 8am headed to the sunny state of California! The next day I attempted exams. Not my most favourite thing even when I can understand the question! But I manage to write a couple of pages of answers whether they are correct or not is another hurdle. As I am reading back through my diary I am realising that June has been an interesting month!

The next important thing that happened to me was that my tooth decided to die! After getting hit in the mouth with a hockey ball last year my tooth has been trying to decide whether or not to die. The major changing in temperature made up its mind and I had to visit the dentist. Not as scary as I thought it would be. At first we though I would just get antibiotics to stop an infection but instead I got root canal therapy! You should try speaking French that isn’t perfect, with a numb lip! Quite funny!

…………………….

And I’d like to take this chance to thank everyone in Rotary District 9700 for granting me this fantastic opportunity, and especially John Kirk who has helped me through some sticky situations, and Coolamon Rotary for sponsoring me.

Hope everyone is enjoying the rain that I sent over for you!

Yours from the land of chocolate. Millie Butt Belgium

Read Millie’s full story here:

Millie Butt October 2010

Melinda and Bill Gates on 60 Minutes in the USA.

The show to watch is the October 3rd show because of its interview with Melinda Gates, the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discussing what their Foundation was going to do with their money. She said “25% of the funds are going to help the American kids get the best education possible;” and then she said that the Foundation was tackling the following three diseases in this order: 1) HIV/AIDS, 2) Malaria, and 3) Mother to Child deaths BECAUSE THEY ARE THE DISEASES OF THE POOR, THERE WAS NO MARKET FOR THEM…no one was doing anything about it. They mentioned their fight of Polio with Rotary International as well.

Go to the start on 28 minutes unless you want to watch the whole show.

Thanks to Marion Bunch CEO of Rotarians For Fighting AIDS  RFFA

Our club with our Road MAPS to Africa projects including supporting RFFA is in good company.

Another Rotary Minute

Our District Governor Neal Fogarty and Barbara Fogarty made the annual DG’s visit to our club last night.  It was a fun meeting and DG Neal gave us a spirited talk and praised the work being done by our club.  Although small we punch above our weight with local and international community service.

A full report will be published in this week’s bulletin.  Thank you Madison Durham for the photo.

District 9700 Orange 2011 Conference Flyer

Country music legend Dolly Parton says reading to a preschooler is the best way to prepare for the day when that child first heads off to school.

Parton was a speaker at the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada, in June, where she received Paul Harris Fellow Recognition and shared her appreciation for Rotary’s efforts to promote literacy. RI News caught up with Parton in Montréal for an exclusive interview. Watch the video above for the interview, and for more from her convention appearance.

Rotary International and the Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library are collaborating to promote early childhood reading. The Imagination Library provides preschool children with a free book each month from birth until age five. The program has received support from more than 115 Rotary clubs and has grown from its base in Parton’s home state of Tennessee, USA, to other communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Dolly Parton Teams Up with Rotary International from Rotary International on Vimeo.

Past President Grahame Miles was the main force behind our Rotary Community Day this year.  Grahame also drove the monster raffle and as a result we as a club were able to provide a total of $6,767  to most of our local schools in the Coolamon Shire.  Here we see Grahame presenting a cheque for $625 to the Marrar Public School Captain Adam Wallace recently.

Thanks for all that you do for the community Grahame and for being a Rotarian.

Shelterbox

Shelterbox, a Cornish charity that helps people all over the world.