Bill Gates, cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, served as the keynote speaker for the third plenary session of the 2011 RI Convention. Gates stressed the need to finish the job of eradicating polio.
Gates Speech Highlights Plenary Three from Rotary International on Vimeo.
In this session you can get an idea of what Rotary did for Hurrican Katrina, also listen to PDG Patrick Chisanga a good mate of ours, talking on engaging Africa and finally some great advice from Michael McQueen who we also know and met in Orange.
Katrina Panel Highlights Plenary Two from Rotary International on Vimeo.
Michael McQueen, who spoke at the second plenary session of the RI Convention, is a social researcher and best-selling author of two books on bridging the generation gap. As a leading authority on youth trends, he is regularly featured on TV and radio programs. McQueen sat down with RI News in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, to talk about how Rotary can best connect with Generation Y.
Read the interview with RI here:
We met Michael at the District 9700 conference in Orange in March and he inspired us to look to Gen Y for our future members. Great to see that Michael was a plenary speaker at our International Convention in New Orleans.
Opening Plenary from Rotary International on Vimeo.
Rotarians celebrated past accomplishments and future friendships during the opening plenary session of the 2011 RI Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, on 22 May.
“Let’s celebrate Rotary this week while we are here together in this special place,” said RI President Ray Klinginsmith.
During the traditional flag ceremony, South Central Rotary Youth Exchange students presented flags from the more than 200 countries and geographical areas in the Rotary world. The group’s participation highlighted Rotary’s fifth and newest Avenue of Service, New Generations Service.
Attendees were treated to a variety of entertainment features. Internationally renowned opera singer Simon Estes, an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Des Moines, Iowa, performed the national anthem. Rotarians Steve Selvick and Jerry Mills, who wrote the song “Come Join Us,” performed with the Youth Exchange students.
Country music star Lucy Dalton received an enthusiastic response for a song she wrote about Rotary’s “This Close” public awareness campaign for polio eradication. And singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey performed “Cowboy Logic,” a song about the common-sense solutions for everything. Klinginsmith has used it as the theme song for his presidency.
Klinginsmith urged Rotarians to use the convention as an opportunity to visit the House of Friendship, meet new people, and learn about service projects from other Rotarians.
“Greet everyone and talk with as many people as you can,” he said. “You do not need an introduction to talk with other people here. You are free to converse with anyone and everyone. And regardless of where you are from, you will eventually meet someone who can help you with a project or who knows someone you know.”
Klinginsmith also encouraged Rotarians to attend some of the convention’s many workshops to learn how to make their clubs bigger, better, and bolder.
“The best days of Rotary are still ahead,” he said.
The Photos section 12 exclusive Photographs of House of friendship at NOLA Convention dispatched by Ron Nethurcutt for eFlash created by PDG Sunil K Zachariah . Ron is in Rotary for more than 25 yrs and presently settled in Philippines. He is a TRF Major Donor and former ROTI Chair 07-09. He was a GSE Team Leader from 6840 to 1050 in 1995 and TRF Visiting University Professor to University of the Philippines 2000. He has attended Rotary meetings in 15 countries.
Michael L. Gill, of the Rotary Club of Franklinton, Louisiana, USA, and his wife, Betty, show their Mardi Gras spirit during the Sounds of the South Concert on 21 May at the 2011 RI Convention in New Orleans. Rotary Images/Alyce Henson
Thousands of Rotarians from around the world are celebrating Rotary at the RI Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Attendees enjoyed the first day of the House of Friendship.
Convention Kick Off – House of Friendship Opens from Rotary International on Vimeo.
Ride to End Polio.
Ride to End Polio from Rotary International on Vimeo.
Before the Convention started Rotaractors helped Habitat for Humanity build and renovate houses damaged by hurricane Katrina;
Rotaract Teams with Habitat for Humanity from Rotary International on Vimeo.
Also before the convention Rotary Youth Exchange students go house to house helping homeowners switch to energy-saving light bulbs. They must have got the idea from Coolamon when Past President Grahame Miles and our club did the same thing for Coolamon!
Youth Exchange Lights Up New Orleans from Rotary International on Vimeo.
Here is a very recent story on the Mountains of the Moon which will give you a good idea of what the conditions are like today. The article is by Tom Knudson who writes about natural resources and the environment for the Sacramento Bee. Over the years, his reporting has been singled out for numerous journalistic honors, including two Pulitzer Prizes and a Reuters-I.U.C.N. Global Environmental Media Award. In a previous article for Yale Environment 360, he wrote about the impact of the biofuel boom on Indonesia’s rain forests.
The view west across the Stanley Plateau to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The glacier atop Mount Stanley is the largest ice mass remaining in the Rwenzori Mountains, and one of the few glaciers left in Africa.
This is a project of the Rotary Club of Coolamon and for any further information please contact John Glassford:
Contact details [email protected] phone 61 2 6927 6027
President Patrick McLaughlin from our Twin Centennial Rotary Club Hout Bay in South Africa sent this very special greeting to us:
Dear President Ian and Coolamon members,
My wonderful wife has got me up to the office and to write this message to all our Coolamon friends in Australia. There’s something a triple by-pass operation teaches you and that is the value of Rotary friendship which stretches across the world. All day, every day I have had Rotary friendship and over the years Rotarian John has been a very special friend, climbing his mountains and working Rotary with such great enthusiasm. It means a lot to me to write this message.
Coolamon has special values for us all here in Rotary Club of Hout Bay because you are our twinned club and there are not too many twinned clubs in the world today. It represents a special partnership, plus the fact that South Africans and Australians are also special people, anyway.
When you drive out of our home town here there is the biggest sign on our local clinic on the Main Road which says “Coolamon House”, so your message is here big time, all the time. May that message also always declare our friendship and common values.
We wish you a happy celebration from each one of our members here and we shall toast Rotary Club of Coolamon at our Tuesday meeting.
Good on all of you. Regards in Rotary.
Patrick McLaughlin President Rotary Club of Hout Bay
40 Years Ago May 8th. 1971 our Charter was presented to the Coolamon Rotary Club by District Governor Keith Grainger of D 270.
The following members were the Charter members on that night:
+William Chittick Innes WC and JM Innes Farmer
Michael Joseph Curtis Coolamon Shire Council Shire Clerk
John William Agnew Education Department Secondary Principal
Murray Ernest Nash Coolamon Shire Council Shire Engineer
Ronald Laurence Francis Postal Services Postmaster
Brian John Harvey Methodist Church Minister
Bruce Mckane Presbyterian Church Minister
Herbert Ronald Hopkins HR Hopkins Principal
Donald Henry Hoore Church of England Rector
Robert George Furner RG and M Furner Farmer
Charle John McCoy Coolamon Caravan park Principal
Lionel Keith West LK and VE West Licencee
Eric Hornby Coolamon Dry Cleaners Manager
*George Leonard Hutcheon Hutcheon and Pearce Manager
Kenneth Lancelot Logan Coolamon Motors Principal
Edward Ronald Butterfield Coolamon Pharmacy Principal
John Renwick Eyles Coolamon Shire Council Health Surveyor
Robert Gerard Allen RG Allen Coaches Principal
Desmond Patrick Faggatter Department of Education Deputy Principal
Benny Raymond Dumbrell Northern Riverina County Council District Manager
*Current Member
+Current Honourary member
PRESIDENT’S WELCOME
President Ian Durham welcomed all our members and our guests to our birthday party and said how proud he was to be our President during our 40th year as a Rotary Club. Ian read out a birthday message from Kay Hull the former Federal Member for the Riverina:
“I was so thrilled to get your invite for the 40th celebration, and then looked at the date and found I am in Sydney that evening at a Board Meeting for Can Assist.
Please convey a sincere apology for Graeme and myself.
I do hope your celebration is fabulous and thanks to the club for all that you do for the people of Coolamon and District. We are so lucky to have such motivation.
Warmest wishes as always.”
Kay Hull
There were several birthday greetings, amongst many sent, read out by our members and past members present that we received from the following clubs and districts around the world:
RC Clark Centennial D 3790 Angeles City, Philippines
RC of Milford, Auckland, New Zealand D 9910
RC of Cumberland Centennial, BC, Canada, D5020
RC Escondido Sunrise District 5340 San Diego County, California USA
Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club Courtenay, BC, Canada
Guayaquil Rotary Club in Ecuador D 4400
Rotary Club of Hudson, Florida USA in District 6950
RC Nakuru The Great Rift Valley Kenya D9200
Rotary Club of Rawalpindi, RI District 3272. Pakistan
RC of Las Vegas, New Mexico
RC Bellavista-Atizapán – Distrito 4170 México
Rotary Club of Loyola Heights RID 3780 Quezon City, Philippines
Rotary Club of Seneca, South Carolina USA District 7750, in the land of the crying mountains
District Governor Todd Lindley D 6060 Missouri sent a special message, which is below.
Letter-Coolamon President Ian Durham-May 2 2011-3
Last weekend we had our district assembly and training for the new boards of our clubs.
Our incoming District Governor is Ian Simpson and supported by his wife Jean Simpson. The assembly was held at Grenfell and 300 or so Rotarians from our district were in attendance.
The main message was that we have to change as change is essential not an option for us to go forward.
DGE Ian gave those present 4 goals to aim for in the upcoming Rotary Year:
Here are some photographs from the most enjoyable day spent in Grenfell.
One of the joys of being a Rotarian is meeting other like minded people from around the world. I first met Megan MacDonald at the Los Angleles International Convention. Megan was going to study in Kenya for 12 months in Nairobi, my home town. We have become friends ever since and I have been following her blog. Megan has now returned to America and continues to keep us updated on Kenya. Megan writes:
“On February 11 last year I came home around 10 at night and was grabbing a snack before heading up to bed. Suddenly Maureen came into the kitchen with wide eyes saying, “I think my water just broke.” I burst into a fit of nervous giggles before rounding up my housemates and jumping into the car for the two block ride to Nairobi Women’s Hospital.
I remember the distinct honor I felt to be driving this young woman to the hospital and the great sense of responsibility as we prepared for an event I had no personal experience with. I’ll never forget the nurses a few hours later asking me and my housemates how many children we had as we held hands and focused Maureen on breathing through the pain. “None,” we said.
Yet there we were, witnesses to a beautiful birth full of strength, faith, friendship and humility. Out of a forceful crime came this perfect little child, born to a girl who became a woman right before our eyes.
On Christabell’s first birthday while friends celebrated in Nairobi eating Ethiopian food and cake with the birthday girl, I said a prayer of thankfulness for this experience and continued friendship.
Look at our growing girl – in a dress I wore myself as a baby sent with love from her auntie far away.
