Proposed Rotary Friendship Exchange with Hamilton Rotarians
Dear Rotary Presidents,
I am the Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) coordinator for District 9980, and a member of the Taieri Rotary club in Mosgiel.
In recent years, I have been on three RFE exchanges to America and Canada and our Taieri and Balclutha club members have been to India and New Orleans. We have hosted three groups of visitors from India, Texas, and New York/Canada in the past years, and I took a group from Canada / US round the south just before lockdown 2020.
I have been tasked with arranging a group from Hamilton (NZ), District 9930, this April, a time they hope to witness the autumn colours around Central Otago. I would like to show the Hamilton travellers the sights around Dunedin and hope my fellow Rotarians in this area would be prepared to host them for a few nights. If they could benefit from your local knowledge in seeing the sights, it would be most appreciated. The Taieri club has hosted a number of the previous RFE visits, so have had the opportunity to participate in the return visits. It would be good to give other Dunedin clubs the opportunity to meet with the travellers and participate in future exchanges. I have attached a spreadsheet outlining the proposed itinerary as planned so far.
The dates the group are in the Dunedin area are the nights of the 11th 12th and 13th of April, and an overnight stop on the 16th. If your members would be willing to host us, that would be most appreciated. There would be 4 couples, 1 lady, and two males who are ok to be with the same host if required. Pariya and I will host at least one couple.
Part of the itinerary will be a meet and greet potluck dinner on the evening they arrive in Dunedin, which will be at my house. They will give a brief talk about their district and the possibility of an exchange visit. All members are invited. I have hired a 21-seat bus which I will drive, so for the daily activities we would be ‘self-sufficient’ but would be happy if your members would like to join with us on the bus. I would like the visitors to attend a Rotary meeting if the visit times allow, this would reduce the hosts commitments, as the travellers would be responsible for the meal and drinks costs.
I have asked that the travellers be tested for COVID-19 if the situation dictates; this would provide some piece of mind for all involved. Thank you for your consideration, and hopefully we can persuade your members to participate on overseas RFE’s once the COVID-19 situation allows.
The Hamilton RFE coordinator has already offered to host a group from the south to his area, and a trip would include Rotorua and Tauranga places of interest. As stated above, Taieri has hosted a few RFE groups in recent years, and we have been invited back to all the above places; I hope to put something in place as soon as it is safe to travel overseas. I would be happy to make a visit to your club and present a brief PowerPoint presentation showing our previous RFE travels; if that would encourage your members to participate in an overseas exchange.
Regards Peter Williams pfwilliams@xtra.co.nz 0274891939