Rotary in the Community

Rotary members are busy in our community in the month leading up to Christmas. You may see them helping out at several events.

Milson Rotary members continued their tradition of organising the parking for the Magic of Christmas Night Market last week. Mike Christie has a highly organised team, and the money raised goes back into the community. 

Milson Club is also helping Arohanui Hospice by supervising the Tree of Remembrance in The Plaza.

This year club members have also assisted StarLight, which sorts and prepares goods for Christmas cheer bags for people with mental health issues. Milson Rotarians also continue to maintain the marker posts on the riverside walkway.

On the international front, they have hosted members pedalling through New Zealand and the United States to raise funds to provide clean water and everyday sanitation facilities to East Africans. Since the Beyondwater project began in 2007, it has partnered with Rotary clubs to give more than 240.000 people clean water and sanitation.

"In 2022, Beyondwater plans to raise $50.000 to build 10 blocks of toilets"

In 2022, Beyondwater plans to raise $50.000 to build 10 blocks of toilets, giving at least 4000 children much-improved sanitation at school. Each toilet block will have guttering and a 2000-litre tank for students to wash their hands.

We have all heard horror stories of how the war affects civilians in Ukraine, the displacement of people, and the loss of homes. Globally, Rotary has contributed $3 million to purchase generators, put ambulances in the field, and provide medical air mattresses and day-to-day essentials for survival.

On the youth front, Rotary has sponsored candidates for RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) and the National Science and Technology forum in January.

Rotary is always open to meaningful conversations with community leaders and other groups, helping our community to find projects to collaborate on that will make a difference.

If you would like to know more about any of these programmes, there is extensive information on the Rotary Oceania website: www.rotaryoceania.zone or on any of the web pages of our five local clubs:

 
Perhaps the most well-known of the programmes Rotary run for youth is the Rotary student exchange. This programme has been running since 1929 and you may remember having a rotary exchange student in your class at school, have hosted one or noted that student who was away for a year and returned speaking Spanish. This programme is for students from secondary schools in New Zealand and over 80 other counties around the world and is sometimes called the “matched twin exchange” because students from secondary schools in New Zealand are matched with those from another country and the New Zealand student gets to spend a year in that country while their twin from that country is hosted in New Zealand for a year.  
However, there are a number of other programmes that Rotary run to help young people become the next generation of leaders, visionaries and peacemakers.
 
RYLA  (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Local Rotary clubs nominate and fund young people up to the age of thirty to attend week-long camps building leadership through activities, presentations, workshops and mentors.
 
RYPEN (Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment) Local Rotary clubs nominate students in Year 11 and 12 for a weekend camp designed to develop potential through lectures and adventure-based learning.
 
Brave Thinkers This used to be called New Zealand Business Week and is an intensive one-week programme run in the school holidays where youth learn about business models from business people and learn how to set up a virtual company and grow a successful business.
 
Science and Technology Forum  Schools submit applications for their top science and technology students in Year 12, who are then interviewed by a panel from the local Rotary club and if successful, are sponsored to attend a week-long forum at Auckland University in January.
 
If you would like to know more about any of these programmes, there is extensive information on the Rotary Oceania website: www.rotaryoceania.zone or on any of the web pages of our five local clubs:
 
Awapuni       www.awapunirotary.co.nz
Milson          www.milsonrotary.org.nz
Palmerston North    www.pnrotary.co.nz
Terrace End  www.terotary.co.nz

Courtesy 
Peter Brooks