Now that we have left Level 4 for Level 3 and the uncertainties this represents include just how long this will go on for, we can reflect on progress to date in the response by Rotary. 
 
The first and most obvious is that clubs have had to meet on-line and most seem to be doing this OK.  Members, even the “technophobes” have quickly adopted regular attendance to these electronic meetings as a way of staying in touch and beating the isolation blues. Often clubs are reporting that these meetings are gaining more attendance that their normal meetings, but it has been acknowledged that the preference for the usual face-to-face meetings remains.
 
Members have learned how to login, how to change their backgrounds, how to present themselves with good positioning and lighting so they look and are heard best.  The quality of the meetings has improved with experience with the more ‘formal’ meetings introducing guest speakers and presentations with chat time clearly separated either after the formal part and often supplemented with ‘drinks’ chat meetings at other times.  Club boards continue to meet regularly as do club committees as they plan for a future where they can deliver projects in a changed world where the need will be significant.
 
With so many club members of an age where they have to remain at home, some clubs have felt disempowered in what they can do to deliver projects to their communities during the lock down period.  As some have found, it is our skills at organising has opened new opportunities to develop new community relationships.  One good example is from the Satellite Club of Orewa-Millwater who created a plan they could operate from the safety of their home bubbles that mobilised younger community members to deliver the service to those in need; their story is at https://www.rotaryoceania.zone/Stories/rotary-creates-network-of-volunteers-to-help-in-lockdown
 
Some clubs have managed to provide projects where members can help those confined to their homes such as the food deliveries done by Lautoka Rotary.  Others have recognised the dire straights of local food banks and have donated funds or got members to add some extra to their grocery shopping that were then dropped off contactless to a specified location, often a member’s front porch, for later delivery to the food bank.  Many have continued their financial support of local community organisations desperate for funds to help those finding times tough.
 
It would be fair to say there will be many other stories of clubs doing new and much needed projects for their communities and these stories need to be told through their club Facebook pages and shared with wider Rotary media including their District and Rotary Oceania.
 
The lessons learned at this time need to be used a springboard for more effective clubs in the future.  The current circumstances will ease but not disappear for many months, but when a return to more ‘normal’ times comes, the advice of many is not to return to the way things were but look at how things can be done better and keep that evolution going.
 
So what are the opportunities your club has that you can plan now to take advantage of when the right time comes?  As they say, don't waste a good crisis.

No matter where you are in New Zealand and the Pacific please continue to send your stories about how your club has changed, how you are doing things differently and of your projects to stories2inspire@rotaryoceania.zone  These will provide inspiration to others and publicity for your club.