It has been a very busy July for the Sunflower Seeds for Ukraine project.
Plenty of inquiry and a lot of seeds and display boxes have been sent to several clubs. These include:
RC of Kerang in Victoria
RC of Eaglehawk near Bendigo Victoria
RC of Blackwood in South Australia
RAWCS AGM Eastern Region AGM want seeds and a box or three to present to the Ukraine Consul from Sydney who is a guest speaker.
RC of Wagga Wagga who are taking a lot of boxes and seeds for Wagga Wagga outlets.
Rotary Club of Koo Wee Rup / Lang Lang Victoria.
Several clubs who took seeds early in the project now want display boxes.
Tuggeranong Girl Guides are very active and have taken on teh project with the help of the Tuggeranong RC.
There is a section in the latest Rotary Down Under August edition on what Rotary in Australia is doing for Ukraine. This includes the story on our Sunflower Seeds for Ukraine and it was written by PDG Bob Aitken the former Editor of RDU.
President Paul welcomed 18 members to our weekly meeting. We had some lively discussions including:
Board decided to have a dedicated meeting regarding the future of the Coolamon Rotary telephone directory; the meeting of Monday 15th August will be set aside to discuss this project in depth.
Garth Perkin and the intrepid trekkers Mary Potts and Don Dyce will be away for the next few weeks on the Larapinta Trek for ShelterBox. On Monday 22nd Garth, Mary and Don will give a talk on their trek.
Looking for ideas for a social night typically set for the 5th Monday of the month. The first 5th Monday of this Rotary year will be Monday 29th August.
Daryl Breust reported on the men’s BBQ hosted by Rev. Scott Mudd at the Anglican church rectory in Coolamon and reported that the firewood was well received and that 10 people attended. Scott plans to make this a monthly event.
Garth Perkin reported on the Sunflowers For Ukraine boxes which now number 31 in the Shire. Garth has been around them replenishing some of the boxes. While the trekkers are away Anne Rzeszkowski and John Nulty will look after the boxes.
Brian “Bear” Pattison will be in the spotlight at this Monday’s meeting.
Paul asked JG to bring along empty packets, cards and seeds to the next meeting so that we can fill up additional packets to replace the ones that have already been “sold”.
The raffle was won by Don Dyce.
S@A Garth and Cpl. Dick raised a few dollars with another one of their classic fines sessions, all in good humour and a lot of fun.
DIARY
*N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!
Monday, 1st August – Regular meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6.30 for 7 pm.
Tuesday, 2nd August thru Monday, 8th August – Larapinta Trek (benefit for ShelterBox) (with Garth Perkin, Mary Potts and Don Dyce).
Friday-Sunday 21st-23rd October – District Conference. Joyes Hall, CSU campus, Wagga Wagga (details forthcoming). [NB The district conference will be moving to an October timeslot as of this year, which is why we’re having two district conferences in 2022).
Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022 – Rotary Zone 8 Conference (Canberra).
Monday 7th November CRC Annual General Meeting including election of office bearers for 2023-2024.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to the last puzzlers:
Easier one: The doctor is the boy’s mother.
Harder one: The next number is 22. The sequence is determined by alternately adding two to the previous number or multiplying it by two.
This week’s puzzlers:
Easier one: A truck is stuck under a bridge and the driver cannot get it out. A man walks by and stops to help. He easily gets the truck unstuck. How did he do it?
Harder one: Dick and Ian were rummaging around Dick’s barn and found a barrel with no lid and some wine in it. “I reckon this barrel is more than half full of wine,” says Dick. “No, it’s not,” says Ian. “It’s less than half full.” Without any measuring implements and without removing any wine from the barrel, how can they easily determine who is correct?
ROTARY NEWS
1. BILL THE BASTARD
You may wonder what Bill the Bastard has to do with Rotary. An icon is Bill the Bastard and his story is well told from WW1. Now a fellow Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Murrumburrah-Harden, Carl Valerius has created this life size statue depicting one of Bill’s heroic acts in WW1. This was at the Battle of Romani. The battle was from August 3rd to August the 5th 1916.
View the amazing sculpture of Australia’s best-known war-horse, Bill the Bastard on your next visit to Harden-Murrumburrah. The life-size sculpture by Carl Valerius commemorates an epic feat when Bill and his rider Major Michael Shanahan saved four Tasmanian soldiers from no man’s land at the Battle of Romani during World War 1.
Bill, a fierce and powerful 730 kg chestnut stallion was one of 130,000 Australian horses that served in World War 1 and were never to return home. His is a remarkable tale that touches on many features of Australian history.
The sculpture recently completed and previously viewed in the artist’s studio at Harden-Murrumburrah, is now positioned on a plinth in parkland at the corner of Bathurst Street and the Burley Griffin Way. The positioning of Bill in this outdoor setting is the culmination of a long-held dream by the local sculptor and the many people who have supported this exciting project.
Our club has always supported Circus Quirkus hosted by the Rotary Club of South Wagga. This year we invested in 6 tickets for the show held on the 27th July. This is a report from South Wagga RC:
“What a day of great excitement! South Wagga Rotary once again hosted Circus Quirkus, and what sensational shows they were. Our biggest audience ever for the morning show and another large audience for the evening show, went wild for the great Circus Quirkus performers.
This is a wonderful project for the Club to be involved in, as it lets us give many young people the opportunity to take a break from the difficulties of their day to day lives, to laugh and scream for the performers, and just have a wonderful time enjoying great skills and a lot of fun.
Of course the Club could not do this without the amazing, generous support of so many businesses throughout the Riverina. These businesses pay for the seats for the show, and this funds the Circus to get out into communities like ours – to give this great opportunity to the young people. Words cannot express our gratitude to all these businesses for their magic support!!
Can’t wait for 2023!!”
JULY IS ROTARY NEW LEADERSHIP MONTH
Graphics by Debbie Vance from Canada.
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2022-23
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
President Paul welcomed 15 members to our weekly meeting, our guest tonight was the Rev. Scott Mudd.
The meeting was an enjoyable one some highlights:
Our Treasurer reminded all of our members that half-year memberships are now due.
Adrian Lindner reported on the Coolamon Landcare field days–see the full report elsewhere in this bulletin.
President Paul enlightened us with a future glimpse of storage of media. A US-based company has developed a robust archival method that is assured of keeping data intact for hundreds of years. Surprisingly, the information storage medium is synthetic DNA; the technology used for creating genetically modified organisms can construct sequences of the same building blocks used to store genetic information to encode any type of information. Even more amazing than the longevity of the data is the small amount of space required; it is estimated that the entire content of the internet (currently ca. 40 zettabytes, or 40 trillion gigabytes) could be stored in a container about the size of a shoebox when encoded on DNA (pretty amazing when you consider that a typical computer hard drive stores a measly 500 gigabytes).
JG gave a quick update on the sunflower seeds with news that PDG Brian Coffey from D9670 (Newcastle to Tamworth) wants 100 boxes.
Scott Mudd spoke on his upcoming BBQ on Wednesday past. The idea is for an open house for men mainly who are in need of help with mental health issues. It was a BYO chair and self event. Scott asked for some help with firewood. This was done.
Garth spoke on the imminent Larapinta Trek for ShelterBox. Garth has been appointed the ShelterBox Ambassador for the Riverina. Garth now has a brand new ShelterBox to use for fund-raising events for ShelterBox.
Mary advised the meeting that the Bunnings BBQ raised $1,196 for the Larapinta Trekkers target of $3,000 per trekker. You can still support our intrepid trekkers by donating on line:
Paul reminded the members that we are working with Lions at the gate for the Ganmain Show on Saturday 20th August.
Another outstanding fines session by the S@A Garth and his Cpl. Dick Jennings.
DIARY
*N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!
Thursday, 11th August – CRC board meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.
Monday, 25th July – Regular meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6.30 for 7 pm
Monday, 1st August – Regular meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6.30 for 7 pm
Tuesday, 2nd August – Larapinta Trek (benefit for ShelterBox) (with Garth Perkin, Mary Potts and Don Dyce).
Friday-Sunday 21st-23rd October – District Conference. Joyes Hall, CSU campus, Wagga Wagga (details forthcoming). [NB The district conference will be moving to an October timeslot as of this year, which is why we’re having two district conferences in 2022).
Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022 – Rotary Zone 8 Conference (Canberra).
Monday 7th November CRC Annual General Meeting including election of office bearers for 2023-2024.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to the last puzzlers:
Easier one: The future is always in front of you but cannot be seen!
Harder one: Five minutes.
This week’s puzzlers:
Easier one: A boy is walking down the road with a doctor. While the boy is the doctor’s son, the doctor is not the boy’s father. Then who is the doctor?
Harder one: What number comes next in the following sequence? 2 4 8 10 20 __
ROTARY NEWS
1. COOLAMON LANDCARE GROUP FIELD DAY
From Ian Jennings and Adrian Lindner:
SUSTAINABLE FARMING FIELD DAY
Murrumbidgee Landcare hosted a successful Sustainable Farming Field Day on the 15th of July on two farms south and north of Coolamon. The event was assisted by Coolamon Landcare and the Rotary Club of Coolamon. Rotary’s 7th area of focus being supporting the Environment. 35 attended on the day, with some attendees travelled from Tumbarumba and Young.
The emphasis was demonstrating how environmental enhancements can be undertaken on productive mixed farming enterprises. Such environmental projects not only protect or enhance the environment, they can improve productivity with initiatives such as shelter belts for livestock, reducing land degradation and encouraging biodiversity and pollinators. We highlighted success stories, particularly around restoring degraded landscapes but also how there were some failures and lessons learnt, such as vegetation species selection and seed provenance.
The morning was very brisk but the sun came out and the fog rolled away leaving us with a perfect day.
The topics we talked about were.
Farm overview: Adrian Lindner, Farmer
Plantation projects: Kevin Chapin, Biodiversity Conservation Trust
Farm dam regeneration: Richard Beggs, ANU Sustainable Farms Ecologist
Farm forestry: Rob Kuiper, Farm Forestry
Farm overview: Ian Jennings, Farmer
Weed management: Jeremy Crocker, Senior Weeds Inspector
Drought resilience: Dale Stringer, Drought Hub
If you were unable to make it or want to get some resources from the day please contact Annika Brown an email E: [email protected]
or call M:0429458717
2. BUNNINGS BBQ NEWS.
Last Saturday our Rotary Club was able to run a Bunnings BBQ in Wagga Wagga. It was well serviced by Mary Potts, Don Dyce, Garth Perkin, Paul Weston, Albert Suidgeest, Dick Jennings, Jannette and Eric Board. They raised $1,196.00 for the ShelterBox Larapinta Trek.
Bunnings BBQs have been in the news lately and one news article can be read here:
One shopper would rather “give up driving my damn car” than miss out on this iconic Bunnings staple despite a big change.
The price of a snag and bread at Bunnings is set to increase for the first time in 15 years.
A Bunnings sausage sizzle will go up from $2.50 to $3.50 at stores across Australia from July 23, as community groups struggle to cover the rising cost of ingredients.
The price of drinks will remain at $1.50.
It is the first time the price has risen in 15 years. In that time, the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks has gone up by more than 51 per cent, according to ABS data.
Garth Perkin has installed 31 display/donation boxes in our Shire. Well done Garth.
Boxes are going out to various clubs and districts and the latest is Parkes RC who are now under way:
The Rotary Club of Parkes will join a District project initiated by the Rotary Club of Coolamon to support the Ukraine Appeal. At various venues around town community members will be able to purchase sunflower seeds for planting. The sunflower is the National floral emblem of Ukraine, so purchasing them will provide financial support, but also show solidarity with Ukraine.
Funds raised will go to the Rotary’s Ukrainian Aid Fund, which has already received around a million dollars in donations. Money is being streamed directly into the Ukraine through the Eastern European branch of the International Charity group CARITAS. Rotarian, Liz Noakes, with the help of incoming and outgoing Rotary Exchange students will coordinate the local effort.
JULY IS ROTARY NEW LEADERSHIP MONTH
Graphics by Debbie Vance from Canada.
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2022-23
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
President Paul welcomed 18 members to our weekly meeting, which was a club assembly where members had their say in our future projects. It was lively meeting all round, and included a discussion on our various committees.
President Paul gave a detailed account of the various portfolios that go to make up our own Board of Directors. Each Director present gave an account of what their roles are. Rotary International have a 7th Area of Focus the Environment and our representative is Adrian Lindner.
Highlights of the meeting included the following:
Members recommended to the Board that we donate $1,000 to the digitisation of the 1895-1905 Coolamon Echo Newspaper.
John Bond is still recovering from his recent medical episode and at the same time is building a new home. We wish Bondy continued recovery.
The Saturday street raffle prize winner was drawn.
The Coolamon garden viewing is set for the 16th and 22nd of October–details to follow.
Albert spoke on the letter of support he received from the Coolamon Shire on tree planting for Leary’s Lane.
CRC is doing the catering (morning tea and lunch) for Friday’s Landcare Field Day to take place at Lindoris (Adrian and Wendy’s farm) and Raywood (Ian and Marilyn’s farm).
CRC is running the Sunday BBQ at Bunnings in support of ShelterBox and the upcoming Larapinta trek to be undertaken by Mary, Garth and Don (plus Mary’s friend Leslie). See roster in the diary (below).
Pros and cons of proceeding with the telephone directory were presented and briefly discussed. A more in-depth discussion will take place at a later date.
The meeting concluded with the weekly raffle (no fine session this week because discussion occupied most of the available time.
DIARY
*N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!
Monday, 18th July – Regular meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6.30 for 7 pm.
Tuesday, 19th July – CRC board meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.
Tuesday, 2nd August – Larapinta Trek (benefit for ShelterBox) (with Garth Perkin, Mary Potts and Don Dyce).
Friday-Sunday 21st-23rd October – District Conference. Joyes Hall, CSU campus, Wagga Wagga (details forthcoming). [NB The district conference will be moving to an October timeslot as of this year, which is why we’re having two district conferences in 2022).
Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022 – Rotary Zone 8 Conference (Canberra).
Harder one: They played 11 games in total. In order for Daryl to have won $5, he would have had to won five games plus three more to make up for the $3 he lost to Albert, whom we know won three games.
This week’s puzzlers:
Easier one: What’s always in front of you but can’t be seen?
Harder one: If five cats can catch five mice in five minutes, how long would it take for one cat to catch one mouse?
ROTARY NEWS
1. PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE JULY 2022
Jennifer Jones
President 2022-23
July 2022
Every month since I joined Rotary, I’ve looked forward to reading this magazine, especially the opening essay from our Rotary president. I’ll admit that as much as I appreciate a digital copy, I still revel in the tactile sensation of sitting down and leafing through the glossy pages. They are a treasure trove of photos and memorable stories about our great organization — the one we all know and love. I have learned so much over the years about service projects and lives that each of you have transformed.
As a communications professional, I have longed for the day that our stories were a regular part of mainstream media and that our flagship magazine might populate doctor’s offices, coffee shops, or anywhere else people sit, wait, and browse. It’s great that Rotary members are better informed about all we do, and wouldn’t it be that much better if more people knew our stories.
The Sunflower Donation/Display boxes have arrived in Ganmain. So far we have sent out around 300 mainly by hand i.e. locally.
Postage is expensive so we are thinking of getting three depots for distribution, namely Canberra, Melbourne/Geelong and Sydney/Gosford. Members can then collect their boxes rather than having us send them via post. If any of you can help please let me know. We can get them in bulk to you, say 150 or 300 boxes. We have around 700 in stock now. It was the most economical way to buy them (in a 1,000 lot).
They look great and are easy to put together as they come in a flat pack.
Our own small experiment with our handmade box at five venues (all passive) showed that 126 people donated for one packet of seeds we made $930 from the one box. So it is a goer!
Thanks to Mary, Anne and Garth for getting the boxes out there. Garth says they have put out 31 boxes in Coolamon, Marrar and Ardlethan and I know there are 3 in Ganmain.
JULY IS ROTARY NEW LEADERSHIP MONTH
Graphics by Debbie Vance from Canada.
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2022-23
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
Rotary International President Jennifer Jones wants members to imagine the possibilities in the change they can make to transform the world. Jennifer is the first female President of Rotary International in its 117 year history.
Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, revealed the 2022-23 presidential theme, Imagine Rotary, as she urged people to dream big and harness their connections and the power of Rotary to turn those dreams into reality.
R.I. Director Zone 8 Jessie Harman
Dr Jessie Harman, the first female Rotary International Director from Zone 8 and Chair of the RI Membership Board. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Wendouree Breakfast in Ballarat and was Governor of District 9780, Australia in 2010-2011.
R. I. District 9705 Governor Geraldine Rurenga
Geraldine Rurenga will make history is the youngest Rotary District Governor in Zone 8. Geraldine is a member of the e-Club of Brindabella. Geraldine is also the youngest DG world wide for 2022-2023. Geraldine has been a member of the D9700 and D9705 Board of Directors since 2018-2019.
Area 3 Governor Elaine Almond
Elaine Almond was awarded the D9700 Bruce Gruber Outstanding Rotarian of the Year Award in Griffith in March 2019. Elaine is a Past President of the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga. AG Elaine is the current Area Governor for D9705 with 15 clubs to look after.
President Paul Weston
Dr. Paul Weston is our leader for 2022-2023 and this is the third time Paul has been our president. Paul joined Coolamon RC in November 2010 and was our president in 2012-2013 & 2017-2018. We look forward to 2022-2023 with Paul and his team.
WEEK OF JULY 4th
The first week of the new Rotary year started on Friday July 1st in Ganmain and Saturday July 2nd in Coolamon. This was a street promotion of ShelterBox for Ukraine and the Sunflower Seeds for Ukraine. The money raised with the donations for the seeds and the raffle we ran will go towards the Larapinta Trekkers, Mary Potts, Garth Perkin and Don Dyce. It will be shared with the RAWCS Ukraine project.
Thanks to our volunteers who turned up on both days:
MEETING OF JULY 4th
CHANGE OVER DINNER MONDAY JULY 4th
HIGHLIGHT PAUL HARRIS FELLOW to RICKY HARD
Our 2022-2023 Rotary year started off with a bang with another fantastic changeover at the Coolamon Sport & Rec Club. The event was attended by ca. 70 Rotarians, partners, guests and local dignitaries. Immediate PDG Leo Farrelly was on hand to assist with formal proceedings such as the induction of our newest member (Dr Joe Yanasigawa) and presentation of a Paul Harris Fellow award to local signwriter Ricky Hard. Things moved along smoothly with veteran emcee Dick Jennings chairing the event, and attendees were well catered to courtesy of the fabulous Chinese smorgasbord prepared by Diane and Gilbert. Immediate Past President Albert provided a thoughtful summary of the past year’s activities, acknowledging members who played key roles in making things happen. The evening concluded with the induction of President Paul, who introduced his board for 2022-2023, and the raffle which saw numerous attendees leaving with a nice souvenir of the evening. Thanks to members and partners who made preparations for the evening and the many visiting Rotarians and guests that contributed to a very memorable event. Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view of the pics.
DIARY
*N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!
Monday 11th July – CRC ASSEMBLY including President Paul Weston’s plans for the 2022-2023 Rotary year. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Tuesday 12th July – 1st CRC 2022-2023 Board Meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm (to be confirmed).
Friday, 15th July – Sustainable Farming Field Day. At the properties of Adrian & Wendy Lindner and Ian & Marilyn Jennings. 9.00 am – 3.00 pm.
Tuesday, 2nd August – Larapinta Trek (benefit for ShelterBox) (with Garth Perkin, Mary Potts and Don Dyce).
Friday-Sunday 21st-23rd October – District Conference. Joyes Hall, CSU campus, Wagga Wagga (details forthcoming). [NB The district conference will be moving to an October timeslot as of this year, which is why we’re having two district conferences in 2022).
Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022 – Rotary Zone 8 Conference (Canberra).
Easier one: 1) Put the plow before the horse; 2) It takes two to tango; 3) Get hot under the collar; 4) To go from the frying pan to the fire; 5) Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Harder one: 150 miles. The key to solving this one was to put the fuel consumed by driving and that lost to leakage in the same units (e.g. gallons per hour), then working out how many hours the fuel would last based on the combined rates of fuel consumption and how much fuel was in the tank. The time travelled can easily be converted to distance because the vehicle travelled at a constant speed.
This week’s puzzlers:
Easier one: What question can you never answer ‘yes’ to?
Harder one: Albert and Daryl decided to play tennis against each other. They bet $1 on each game they played. Albert won three bets and Daryl won $5. How many games did they play?
ROTARY NEWS
1. RI PRESIDENT JENNIFER JONES
Jennifer Jones, Rotary International’s first female president, is the perfect leader to spread the word about the good Rotary does in the world, and inspire its members to keep going.
Imagine Rotary the theme for 2022-2023 explained by incoming President Jennifer Jones.
The logo for the theme was designed by Riki Salam, an Australian artist and graphic designer specializing in contemporary Indigenous art, design, and communications. He also created the 2023 Rotary International Convention logo which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, thus connecting the two by a shared visual language.
Circle – connections to one another
Dots around it – Our People
There are 7 Dots because of our Rotary’s 7 areas of focus
Circle + dots around it – Navigation star, our guiding light
Green solid line – digging stick (used when doing hard work); for us it’s People of Action, represents the tools for getting things done
Colours: Purple, Green & White – The colours of the suffragettes.
Celebrate DEI- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Freedom to express ourselves differently but still with a special connection.
The colours green, purple, and white are not necessarily connected to aboriginal culture. President-elect Jennifer Jones asked the new crew of Governors to use one, two, or all three when dressing for official events instead of using a theme jacket. “As we celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion, I wanted all of us to be able to express ourselves differently in what we wear, but still have connection,” she explained.
There are several ways to interpret the colours: Purple for example stands for polio eradication, green for the environment, the newest addition to our areas of focus, and white for peace, our core mission. Together, they are the colours of the women’s movement, the Suffragette – a subtle nod to this history as Jones pointed out, since she will be the first female RI president.
Represents Empowerment and Newness and also the colours were utilised for the women’s movement giving us the opportunity to grow our female membership.
Many clubs are now receiving seeds and we know this demand will increase, however we still have over 50kgs of seeds in stock. Junee Rotary took 20kgs of seeds and that makes the total they have collected to 31kgs. We look forward to the results of their efforts.
I have ordered 1,000 display/donation boxes. These will be available, now the artwork is done, and have been printed and will be delivered to us very soon. Once the word gets out there then I strongly believe that the demand will be excellent. So far, I have 250 boxes spoken for.
Update from the RAWCS Project (83 of 2014-15), With more than 13 million people having fled their homes in Ukraine, including 8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), and 5 million forced into exile, this is a humanitarian crisis on an unimaginable scale, requiring a massive aid response. The prime objective is to meet immediate lifesaving needs of the crisis affected civilian population to preserve lives, ease suffering and promote self-sufficiency. Having met an initial target of $5 million, the scale of the tragedy in Ukraine is such that the need for further humanitarian aid is critical. The target has therefore been doubled to $10 million.
With more than 13 million people having fled their homes in Ukraine, including 8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), and 5 million forced into exile, this is a humanitarian crisis on an unimaginable scale, requiring a massive aid response. The prime objective is to meet immediate lifesaving needs of the crisis affected civilian population to preserve lives, ease suffering and promote self-sufficiency. Having met an initial target of $5 million, the scale of the tragedy in Ukraine is such that the need for further humanitarian aid is critical. The target has therefore been doubled to $10 million.
Myffy did it!! Congratulations Myffy for organising such a fantastic festival of art in our little village of Ganmain! Thanks to all the artists involved and everyone who came along to enjoy the weekend
Our lovely local Myffy Collette dreamed up Art Festival on Ford in partnership with Rosemary Ashton, the daughter of her late husband, Dr Brian Clarke.
Special festival pie from Ganmain Bakery AND The Pop up gallery in our Ganmain Hall.
MEETING OF JUNE 27th
This was our last meeting for the 2021-2022 Rotary year and president Albert made the extra effort to get back from his visit to Broken Hill on time. Congratulations to Albert for steering us through the past 12 months. It was not easy due to Covid and the restrictions placed on our activities, especially the cancellation of the garden viewing.
President Albert welcomed our 16 members and 3 guests including Dr. Joe Yanagisawa who will be officially inducted to our club at our changeover dinner on the 4th July. Father Scott Mudd was a guest of Ian Jennings and it was good to meet Father Scott.
Our guest speaker was Marc Canino from the Coolamon & District History Group.
Marc spoke on their quest to get the Coolamon Echo newspaper digitised and available online. The paper served the Coolamon area from 1898-1905 and was a weekly newspaper. Marc gave us plenty to contemplate as to what is required to save and store this valuable publication for the future.
Marc and the group have obtained a quote for $4,300 to achieve this goal. So far they are $1,300 short of their target. They have 800 members now in their Facebook Group.
Bruce Hamilton thanking Marc for his talk and presenting Marc with a small gift from Rotary
The raffle was won by Father Scott and no correct answers to the Puzzlers were submitted this week. Given that only one member even attempted to work out the Puzzlers, the puzzlemaster has decided to give everyone an extra week to work on the Puzzlers.
Daryl Breust handed out the Hi-Viz vests that were ordered by Dick Jennings for members to purchase.
Garth announced that he was attending the Temora, Junee and Wagga Wagga Rotary club changeover dinners.
Other members including Chez and Alex Thompson attended the Temora changeover and Paul Weston is going to Junee. John Glassford represented the DG at Junee and Wollundry changeover dinners.
DIARY
*N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!
Monday, 4th July – Coolamon Rotary Club Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Monday 11th July – CRC ASSEMBLY including President Paul Weston’s plans for the 2022-2023 Rotary year. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Tuesday 12th July – 1st CRC 2022-2023 Board Meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.
Friday, 15th July – Sustainable Farming Field Day. At the properties of Adrian & Wendy Lindner and Ian & Marilyn Jennings. 9.00 am – 3.00 pm.
Tuesday, 2nd August – Larapinta Trek (benefit for ShelterBox) (with Garth Perkin, Mary Potts and Don Dyce).
Friday-Sunday 21st-23rd October – District Conference. Joyes Hall, CSU campus, Wagga Wagga (details forthcoming). [NB The district conference will be moving to an October timeslot as of this year, which is why we’re having two district conferences in 2022).
Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022 – Rotary Zone 8 Conference (Canberra).
The answers to last week’s Puzzlers will appear net week because an extra week is being provided to work out the Puzzlers.
This week’s Puzzlers (repeated from last week):
Easier one: What common sayings are represented by these obfuscations? 1) To place a primitive agricultural conveyance in a position anterior to the animal Equus caballus; 2) It requires a number of people greater than one to perform a terpsichorean series of low dips and twisting steps on the toes; 3) To accumulate an excess of temperature beneath a circular, tight-fitting clothing component; 4) Transferring from a culinary vessel into a site of pyrogenic activity; 5) Refrain from calculating upon the quantity of juvenile poultry prior to the completion of the entire process of incubation.
Harder one:
After visiting my nan, I travelled home in her old jalopy. The car was old and battered, it had a leak from the fuel tank, and the car could only travel in second gear. This meant that I could only travel along at a steady 30 miles per hour and go only 20 miles per gallon of fuel.
At the start of the journey I placed exactly 10 gallons of fuel into the tank. I knew, however, that the fuel tank lost petrol at the rate of half a gallon per hour. Just as I arrived home, the car stopped because it had run out of petrol.
Rotary Club of Herentals in Belgium organized the first Rotary Cycling world Championships, with competitions to the present day. he Cycling to Serve Fellowship had its origins in Belgium in 1984 when a Rotary club organised the first World Rotary Cycling Championships. The championships were held again in 1985 and 1986, but it was then decided that the effort was too much for a single club. Consequently, some of the Belgian and Dutch participants got together and formed the Cycling to Serve Fellowship in 1988 and annual events have been organised by Rotary clubs in many countries throughout the world, including Australia.
2022
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday 07/30/2022
A new race format is introduced in these years! In the past, the race took place over 30-50km on a circuit. Instead of riding a set distance, the new format will only include cycling for 60min and 1 lap. This means that the cyclist who has ridden the furthest distance in 1 hour will bring home the win. This prevents those behind who have no chance of placing to finish their race alone and unnoticed.
The objectives of our Fellowship are to develop and promote world-wide friendship through cycling both competitive and touristic; to serve the community locally, nationally and internationally through cycling activities; to promote international understanding and peace through cycling activities.
2. UPDATE SUNFLOWERS SEEDS FOR UKRAINE
Two clubs went to great lengths to support the Sunflower Seeds for Ukraine initiative at their recent changeover dinners:
1. TUMUT ROTARY CLUB
Hi John,
It is such a pleasure to be able to update you on our club’s fundraising efforts and to also take the opportunity to thank you for your assistance and for inviting The Rotary Club of Tumut to join in this worthy undertaking.
Our fundraising has had a very broad focus from members of the community to small businesses, schools, aged and disability providers, a multinational business, church groups and of course Rotary Club members and social media.
Sunflowers were the theme of our changeover dinner in conjunction with the 2021-2022 Rotary motto “Serve To Change Lives”. I have included photos below.
On Sunday Garth Perkin, Paul Weston and John Glassford attended the Junee Rotary Club changeover luncheon. It was a very well attended event with the Hon. Michael McCormack MP the Junee Shire Mayor and Area Governor Elaine Almond with PDG John responding to the toast to Rotary International.
Junee had a great year and had 10 different organisations from June receiving donations. Their theme for the change over was Sunflower Seeds for Ukraine. Junee have now taken over 31 kgs from Ganmain and are doing a wonderful job. Incoming President Chris Paton assured us that the Sunflower initiative will go until Christmas.
JUNE IS ROTARY FELLOWSHIPS MONTH
Graphics by Debbie Vance from Canada.
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2021-22
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
We are in the early stages of this initiative; however, we have gone ahead with phase 1. One could call it the trial run to get interest.
PHASE 1 The Story So Far:
During Phase 1 packets of seeds were handed out around a total 1,000 to clubs like Lower Blue Mountains, Griffith Avanti and Wagga Wagga Sunrise. These are three clubs that have asked to help from day 1. PDG Susan Wakefield has done a remarkable job in raising $1,000 so far with the cards and seeds that I left her and says that people were giving up to $50 per packet.
With the success of Lower Blue Mountains and Griffith Avanti and their efforts in Griffith, at the Westfield shopping centre, we have been able to move on to Phase 2.
PHASE 2
Many clubs are now receiving seeds and we know this demand will increase, however we still have over 50kgs of seeds in stock. Junee Rotary took 20kgs of seeds and that makes the total they have collected to 31kgs. We look forward to the results of their efforts.
I have ordered 1,000 display/donation boxes. These will be available, now the artwork is done, and have been printed and will be delivered to us very soon. Once the word gets out there then I strongly believe that the demand will be excellent. So far, I have 250 boxes spoken for.
Update from the RAWCS Project (83 of 2014-15), With more than 13 million people having fled their homes in Ukraine, including 8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), and 5 million forced into exile, this is a humanitarian crisis on an unimaginable scale, requiring a massive aid response. The prime objective is to meet immediate lifesaving needs of the crisis affected civilian population to preserve lives, ease suffering and promote self-sufficiency. Having met an initial target of $5 million, the scale of the tragedy in Ukraine is such that the need for further humanitarian aid is critical. The target has therefore been doubled to $10 million.
So much is happening and the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations are delighted with the idea of the seeds. They want to get their youth in all the cities around Australia to sell the seeds. Here is the latest from Diahanna (Darka) Senko
“Hi Jack,
This is fantastic, we will be launching the campaign among our youth in July – September.
Our goal was to raise $5,000,000 by June 30, 2022 and we are shy by $37 k.
Our Director of Youth, Justin Senko, will be launching this campaign in July to kick off our next goal of 5million dollars for shelters and children centres to be established.
His vision has always been that Australia will flower with Sunflowers in Spring as we hope Ukraine will once again flower with democracy and peace
President Albert opened the meeting and welcomed all of our 18 members present and one guest in Ross Walters, a friend of Adrian Linder. Ross is looking to join our club as a member.
There was plenty of good fellowship and banter through the night and plenty of business discussed including:
Family Fun Bike Event to be held on October 29th. Organisers looking for help with marshalls and catering.
Dick Jennings has ordered 30 hi-vis vests from Temora at $28 per vest. members can buy their own and what is left will be used by members on occasions as required.
Dick attended the Lions Club changeover dinner at the Marrar café and reported that it was a good night.
Garth spoke on the Larapinta Trek upcoming on August 2nd for ShelterBox. Garth reported that Mary has a friend joining the team from Coolamon although she is not a Rotarian.
Garth proposed an idea for a tourism map of the Coolamon Shire and gave examples of such a map.
Changeover night July 4th: Coolamon mayor Dave McCann and Angela will be present and will present cheques to Allawah Lodge and the hospital auxiliary.
A roster was created for the ShelterBox and sunflower promotion days in Ganmain and Coolamon.
The first board meeting for the 2022-2023 Rotary year will be held on Tuesday July 12th.
Members were encouraged to attend local changeover dinners. Chez, Alex, Garth, John G. and Paul will be attending various changeovers.
JG read out the NSW Parliament Hansard report sent to us by the Hon. Steph Cooke. The Hansard noted; “the incredible efforts of the Coolamon Rotary Club on their fantastic initiative Sunflowers for Ukraine”. A copy of this Hansard report will be scanned and stored in our archives and can be viewed below:
(click on the image above for a larger version)
Dick and Garth carried out another entertaining fines session and no one was spared. The raffle prizes were won by Adrian and Craig.
DIARY
*N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!
Friday 24th to Sunday 26th June. Art Festival on Ford Street Ganmain. 12 venues will be open from 10.00 am-3.00 pm on all three days. Come see art by local artists including President Albert and President-Elect Paul!
Monday 27th June – Speaker Meeting. Mark Canino from the Coolamon Historical Society will speak on the project to digitise issues of Coolamon’s turn-of-the century newspaper, the Coolamon Echo. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Friday 1st July – SUNFLOWERS FOR UKRAINE street raffle with a real ShelterBox in Ganmain.
Saturday 2nd July – SUNFLOWERS FOR UKRAINE street raffle with a real ShelterBox in Coolamon.
Monday, 4th July – Coolamon Rotary Club Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Monday 11th July – CRC ASSEMBLY including President Paul Weston’s plans for the 2022-2023 Rotary year. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Tuesday 12th July – 1st CRC 2022-2023 Board Meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 7 pm.
Friday, 15th July – Sustainable Farming Field Day. At the properties of Adrian & Wendy Lindner and Ian & Marilyn Jennings. 9.00 am – 3.00 pm.
Tuesday, 2nd August – Larapinta Trek (benefit for ShelterBox) (with Garth Perkin, Mary Potts and Don Dyce).
Friday-Sunday 21st-23rd October – District Conference. Joyes Hall, CSU campus, Wagga Wagga (details forthcoming). [NB The district conference will be moving to an October timeslot as of this year, which is why we’re having two district conferences in 2022).
Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022 – Rotary Zone 8 Conference (Canberra).
Lions Club of Coolamon: 17th June 6.30 pm at the Marrar Café
Belconnen RC: 22 June, The Clubhouse (16 Georgina Cres., Kaleen), 6:30 for 7 pm
Temora RC: Saturday 25th June at the Temora Golf Club 7.00 pm
Junee RC: Sunday 26th June 12.30 pm at the Ex-Services Club in Junee
Wollundry RC: Tuesday 28th June 6.30 pm at the Wagga Wagga RSL Club
Narrandera RC: Wednesday 29th June 6.30pm at the Narrandera Golf Club
Wagga Wagga Sunrise RC: Tuesday 28th June 6.30 pm at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant in Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga RC: Thursday 30th June at the Wagga Wagga Country Club 7.00 pm
Griffith Avanti RC: Friday July 8th. at the Griffith Ex Services Club, Christmas in July theme, 6.00 pm
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to the last puzzlers:
Easier one: You have two oranges.
Harder one: The spare tyre is the only one that doesn’t rotate.
This week’s puzzlers:
Easier one: What common sayings are represented by these obfuscations? 1) To place a primitive agricultural conveyance in a position anterior to the animal Equus caballus; 2) It requires a number of people greater than one to perform a terpsichorean series of low dips and twisting steps on the toes; 3) To accumulate an excess of temperature beneath a circular, tight-fitting clothing component; 4) Transferring from a culinary vessel into a site of pyrogenic activity; 5) Refrain from calculating upon the quantity of juvenile poultry prior to the completion of the entire process of incubation.
Harder one:
After visiting my nan, I travelled home in her old jalopy. The car was old and battered, it had a leak from the fuel tank, and the car could only travel in second gear. This meant that I could only travel along at a steady 30 miles per hour and go only 20 miles per gallon of fuel.
At the start of the journey I placed exactly 10 gallons of fuel into the tank. I knew, however, that the fuel tank lost petrol at the rate of half a gallon per hour. Just as I arrived home, the car stopped because it had run out of petrol.
How far was it from my nan’s to my home?
ROTARY NEWS
1. ROTARY FELLOWSHIPS
This week we look at one of the largest fellowships within Rotary the International Travel & Hosting Fellowship.
The mission of ITHF is to stimulate and facilitate connections and cultural sharing throughout the Rotary world by contact, hosting, visiting, and travel.
ITHF exists to promote and facilitate regional, national, and international “connections” between its members. ITHF members visit other members of the Fellowship and have the opportunity to host Rotarian members from other countries. Our lives are enriched by these connections and cross-cultural exchanges, but don’t take our word for it, see what our members have to say:
Above: Students return to their Ukrainian high school.
For a yearbook photo shoot.
No words.
We have had plenty of enquiry since the article in Rotary on the Move was published.
Some of the clubs asking for how to do this include:
Redcliffe North Queensland
Maryborough RC Victoria
Canberra Interact and two Sydney Interact Clubs
Casino NSW
Ryde Sydney
News from the RC of Bayside Geelong Victoria who combined their Bee Hotels project with the seeds:
“I am from The Rotary Club of Bayside Geelong and we received some sunflower seeds for fundraising for Ukraine last month.
We held a sales day at our local shopping centre on Saturday and raised $280. We also raised funds by selling bee hotels at an Environment dinner we held last week. Around another $275. We are still selling seed packets and have orders for more bee hotels.
Could you please let me know where to send the funds already raised. And also if there is an end date to this project or can we keep fundraising into the next financial year? I am fairly new to Rotary so do not know all the ins and outs. Our treasurer would like to send on, what we have raised up to the end of June.
I have been asked how long we will be supporting Ukraine and what is next. Here is a message I received from the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations:
“Hi Jack,
This is fantastic, we will be launching the campaign among our youth in July – September.
Our goal was to raise $5,000,000 by June 30, 2022 and we are shy by $37 k.
Our Director of Youth, Justin Senko, will be launching this campaign in July to kick off our next goal of 5million dollars for shelters and children centres to be established.
His vision has always been that Australia will flower with Sunflowers in Spring as we hope Ukraine will once again flower with democracy and peace
President Albert was back in the saddle after his recent holiday. On hand were 19 members and two guests, Dr Jo Yanagisawa and Myffy Collette. A great turn out and a pleasant evening of fellowship.
Myffy spoke about the Art Festival In Ganmain on Friday June 24th to Sunday June 26th. There will be 12 venues open on all three days. Come take a stroll down Ford Street and enjoy displays of local and visiting artistic talent (including that of some of our own club members!).
Members were asked to give their vest sizes for the Hi Vis vests that the CRC Board approved buying. The vests will provide extra visibility when assisting in roadside events such as Gears and Beers and will help promote Rotary because the Rotary wheel will be prominently displayed. So please get your sizes in so we can get the vests ordered and screen printed.
Garth Perkin reported on visiting John Bond who is making a slow but steady recovery. Bondy plans to be back at Rotary within three weeks. Garth thanked Albert and Paul for mowing Bondy’s lawn recently. Garth also spoke on the Larapinta Terek and that he will visit other Rotary clubs on his return. There is now a Facebook page for ShelterBox for D9705:
Other business included our July 4th changeover dinner and a request to all members to respond to Ian Jennings AND JG as to their attendance and if they will have any guests. We need this information for catering purposes as soon as possible, as there are only 3 weeks to go until our changeover.
Chez and Alex will be attending the Temora RC changeover dinner on Sat 25th June and Mary will be going to the Narrandera changeover dinner on Wed 29th June. It would be excellent of we could get more members to attend changeover dinners especially Junee, Temora, Narrandera and Wollundry and others listed below in the Diary.
S@A Ian conducted a spirited fines session and the raffles were won by Daryl (FoodWorks voucher) and second prize by Albert (honey made by Paul Weston’s bees)!
Tonight we had Albert Suidgeest in the spotlight:
Albert has had a wonderful and full life and was born in Wagga Wagga. Albert’s parents migrated to Australia his father by air in 1950 and his mother by boat from Holland. They bought a block of land in Wagga and his father was a baker and saw Australia as the land of opportunity.
Albert is happily married to Dianne and they have 5 children and 13 grandchildren. Before Albert became the “Coolamon Dog Whisperer,” he went to school in Albury at the Aquinas College. In brief some high points from Albert’s talk:
Attended Randwick Boys High School
Earned an economics degree from the UNSW
Worked at Coolamon Central School for 20 years
Worked for a time at Coolamon Steelworks
Worked at Kildare College in Wagga for 10 years
Albert started the Coolamon Boarding Kennels with two dogs and it grew from there and these days he can accommodate 70 dogs at one time. Some of Albert’s passions include Aussie Rules, reading and especially gardening and making sculptures:
Albert enjoyed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and his favourite actors are Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. Albert also enjoys travelling and has visited the Galapagos Islands, Machu Pichu and the Serengeti and Maasai Mara in East Africa.
DIARY
*N.B. You are always welcome to bring guests to most of our meetings, just advise Ian Jennings if you want to bring a guest along when you respond to the weekly dinner roll call!
Monday 13th June – No meeting (public holiday).
Monday 20th June – Regular meeting. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Friday 24th to Sunday 26th June. Art Festival on Ford Street Ganmain. 12 venues will be open from 10.00 am-3.00 pm on all three days.
Friday 1st July – SUNFLOWERS FOR UKRAINE street raffle with a real ShelterBox in Ganmain.
Saturday 2nd July – SUNFLOWERS FOR UKRAINE street raffle with a real ShelterBox in Coolamon.
Monday, 4th July – Coolamon Rotary Club Changeover. Coolamon Sport & Rec Club, 6:30 for 7 pm.
Friday, 15th July – Sustainable Farming Field Day. At the properties of Adrian & Wendy Lindner and Ian & Marilyn Jennings. 9.00 am-3.00 pm.
Tuesday, 2nd August – Larapinta Trek (benefit for ShelterBox) (with Garth Perkin, Mary Potts and Don Dyce).
Friday-Sunday 21st-23rd October – District Conference. Joyes Hall, CSU campus, Wagga Wagga (details forthcoming). [NB The district conference will be moving to an October timeslot as of this year, which is why we’re having two district conferences in 2022).
Friday-Sunday 28th-30th October 2022 – Rotary Zone 8 Conference (Canberra).
Lions Club of Coolamon: 17th June 6.30 pm at the Marrar Café
Belconnen RC: 22 June, The Clubhouse (16 Georgina Cres., Kaleen), 6:30 for 7 pm
Temora RC: Saturday 25th June at the Temora Golf Club 7.00 pm
Junee RC: Sunday 26th June 12.30 pm at the Ex-Services Club in Junee
Wollundry RC: Tuesday 28th June 6.30 pm at the Wagga Wagga RSL Club
Narrandera RC: Wednesday 29th June 6.30pm at the Narrandera Golf Club
Wagga Wagga Sunrise RC: Tuesday 28th June 6.30 pm at the Botanic Gardens Restaurant in Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga RC: Thursday 30th June at the Wagga Wagga Country Club 7.00 pm
Griffith Avanti RC: Friday July 8th. at the Griffith Ex Services Club, Christmas in July theme, 6.00 pm
JUST FOR LAUGHS
THE PUZZLER
Answer to the last puzzlers:
Easier one: People sleep the least in February because it has the fewest days.
Harder one: Each of the words reads the same backwards if you shift the first letter to the end of the word.
This week’s puzzlers:
Easier one: If there are eight oranges in a bag and you take away two, how many do you have?
Harder one: Which tire doesn’t move when a car turns to the right?
ROTARY NEWS
1. ROTARY FELLOWSHIPS
Beers Rotarians Enjoy Worldwide (BREW) Fellowship is one of the newest officially recognized Rotary fellowships. The fellowship was created for Rotarians around the worlds who love to drink and make beer.
BREW founders Moses, Steve, Patrick and Martin BREW was started and organized in 2013 by Past District 5160 Governor Steve Lack, a member of the Rotary Club of Pleasant Hill, California USA; Moses Aryee, Past President of the Rotary Club of Accra-West, Ghana and Past District 5440 Governor Martin Limbird of the Rotary Club of Fort Collins Colorado, USA.
BREW GOALS
The goal of BREW is to create the largest fellowship in Rotary. An international community of Rotarians who share a love of beer. We also strive to support efforts and projects to bring clean water to those in thirst since water is the primary ingredient in beer.
Click on the 4 Way Test below for Brew’s website.
2. ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
HOUSTON 2022
Some highlights from the Houston 2022 RICON which ended this week:
2021-22 RI President Shekhar Mehta and his partner Rashi introduce past RI presidents at the closing general session of the Rotary International Convention. 08 June 2022, Houston, Texas, USA.
Gen Sec John Hewko originally from Ukraine
The House of Friendship at the Rotary International Convention. 06 June 2022, Houston, Texas, USA.
The House of Friendship at the Rotary International Convention. 07 June 2022, Houston, Texas, USA.
The House of Friendship at the Rotary International Convention. 07 June 2022, Houston, Texas, USA.
The House of Friendship at the Rotary International Convention. 07 June 2022, Houston, Texas, USA.
2022-23 RI President Jennifer Jones speaks at the closing general session of the Rotary International Convention. 08 June 2022, Houston, Texas, USA.
2022-23 RI President Jennifer Jones speaks at the closing general session of the Rotary International Convention. 08 June 2022, Houston, Texas, USA.
Jane Mberia Astronaut
Our good friends jane Mberia and Joe Otin Form Kenya
MELBOURNE 2023
After discovering new perspectives and being inspired by new ideas at the 2022 Rotary International Convention, attendees and virtual participants are looking ahead to next year’s gathering in Melbourne, the sparkling second city of Australia.
This vibrant hub of art, sports, and cuisine will host the 2023 convention, set for 27-31 May. Rotary members, participants, and supporters are invited to Imagine What’s Next and explore the possibilities for Rotary’s future.
The next RICON will be held in Melbourne from 27th-31st May 2023.
The Host Organising Committee is very excited to welcome Rotarians and guests to Melbourne for the 2023 Rotary International Convention. Known as one of the world’s most liveable cities, you will enjoy what we take for granted, a beautiful, vibrant and cosmopolitan city.
Editor’s Note: “I have attended 7 RICONs now and they were all wonderful conventions and where I met and made so many friends around teh world. I highly recommend that you go to Melbourne in 2023 as the last RICON in Australia was in 2014 in Sydney. The next one after Melbourne will be Singapore 2024, followed by Calgary 2025”.
JUNE IS ROTARY FELLOWSHIPS MONTH
Graphics by Debbie Vance from Canada.
ROTARY CLUB OF COOLAMON Inc. 2021-22
Chartered March 3rd, 1971; Sponsoring Club Narrandera Rotary Club
We’re live with ShelterBox CEO Sanj Srikanthan at the ShelterBox booth in the House of Friendship at #Rotary22. We’re discussing how ShelterBox and Rotary partner to respond to crises, including the work to provide aid to those affected by the war in #Ukraine.
SIRET, ROMANIA – FEBRUARY 25: Ukrainian citizens arrive in Romania by crossing the Siret border after Russia launched military operation in Siret, Romania on February 25, 2022. They are welcomed with food and drinks by Romanian volunteers, as well as with free transport and accommodation. (Photo by Alex Nicodim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The world is witnessing a vast humanitarian crisis unfold. As military activities escalate in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of people are on the move, desperately trying to flee to safety. Innocent civilians are being killed, families and lives are being torn apart.
Nearly 10 million people have already fled Ukraine to other countries – that’s almost a quarter of Ukraine’s entire population. An additional 6.5 million people are now estimated to be displaced within Ukraine. Many are unable to leave because of damage to infrastructure, lack of resources, and the increased security risk.
ShelterBox is responding to the Ukraine crisis. Our team is working in Moldova and coordinating with partners in Poland as we work to get aid into Ukraine. As this crisis rages on, please know that you can help.
Your donation will help provide lifesaving aid for families affected by the Ukraine crisis or other conflicts and disasters around the world.
