There are some uplifting and positive stories coming out of this crisis, on a personal level I’ve had some experiences I would like to share. While in the checkout queue of our local IGA supermarket, I discovered I didn’t have my wallet with me and was arranging to have the goods stored while I went home to get the wallet. The young lady behind me insisted that she pay for my groceries saying it would come back to her. I was so humbled that a complete stranger would do this. Added to this, a package aptly titled with a note ‘The Corona Survival Pack’ was left at our front door by some friends. The package contained a selection of wine, beer, sweets, home grown tomatoes and a freshly made cream filled sponge cake. There are some amazing people in the world and such kind deeds can have a contagious and positive effect within our community. I for one, will make sure I pass on other good deeds such as those bestowed on me.
Future Rotary Meetings –I have downloaded the application called Zoom as a means of contacting our members for face to face chats and have this morning had a trial run with our AG John Clue. The application seems relatively easy to use and will be an excellent platform for our Board meetings into the future which we can now participate in from our own homes. As I need to enter member’s emails into the program I will be sending a link to each of you which says you have thirty days to respond/accept my invitation. Rather than wait thirty days, can I ask all of you, in particular our Board members, to respond as soon as you receive the email so that we can have some trial runs with the program as soon as possible? The application is free for 40 minute meetings. If our Board meetings go longer we just log out and start a new meeting. Zoom will be a great way whereby we can link up with two or three of our members at once to check on them and just have a general catch up in our time of recession. At the moment I envisage we may be able to connect through a series of scheduled smaller Club meetings as well as our upcoming monthly Board meetings.
As I write this Bulletin I receive a message from Daybreak member (and IT guru) Ian Watson, that a better program for our Club to use would be Cisco Webex which I have just downloaded onto my desktop. It looks like it could live up to Ian’s recommendation; it is also free and offers a longer meeting time and according to Ian has better security than Zoom. Perhaps members could also download this free Cisco Webex program (it is a very simple process) and we could trial it alongside Zoom. I will keep you posted on which may prove a better platform for Daybreak to use.
Cheryl and I attempted to connect to a District meeting last evening through a different platform called Team Meetings that District use, however this proved unsuccessful for many of the invited participants including us!
Meals on Wheels – I have received notification that people 65 years of age and older are no longer eligible within this current Covid-19 crisis to deliver Meals on Wheels. So currently we now have vacancies for volunteers to assist Meals on Wheels on Friday April 17 and Friday May 1. If there are any younger members in our Club who wish to assist at this time can you please contact me or Andrew Suggett.
Rotary Training – As you will be aware the District Assembly was cancelled but for those who may now have a bit more time on their hands, all training modules are on the Learning Centre in Club Central. It is particularly important for those members taking on Executive positions for the 2020-21 Rotary year to undertake some form of training. There is a training module online for our Youth Protection Officer who is currently Janey and I think this is compulsory as well as training modules for all other positions.
Rotary International Conference – Since last week’s Bulletin RI have cancelled the International Conference in Hawaii scheduled for June. These cancellations are heartbreaking for the convenors of the conference and other events, but globally we are all in the same position and working toward the same objective of saving lives in the face of this crisis.
Membership and Changeover Meeting– I would welcome member’s ideas on how we may be able to induct our proposed new member and also conduct our Rotary changeover of Executive Committee. I think the District may circulate ideas as the time approaches but if we have creative thinkers in our Club please forward any ideas you may have in regard to a suitable process.
Constitution – As mentioned in last week’s Bulletin, the District has circulated a new Constitution which needs 80% of our members vote to be adopted. The Board at its recent meeting suggested that the Club adopt the Constitution. As a result Secretary Cheryl will soon circulate the Constitution and the motion to all members via email with a request that you respond with a yes or no vote within 14 days. This is an important part of our administration process so please keep an eye out for the email and respond with your vote within the required time.
Member input – I put out a call in last week’s Bulletin for members contribution to the weekly Bulletin but to date have had no response apart from a photo sent through from Chris and Janey (see attached). I assume people have been busy reorganizing things within their households and businesses to cope with the changes we are all facing over the coming months. We would all like how other members are filling in their time of isolation and I’m sure could all use a light hearted giggle, so please feel free to send through any news, brags or fines that you may have (we can tally up the fines and collect at a later date perhaps).
A fun session that the Port Fairy Club has devised is collecting baby or childhood photos of members and then others have to guess which member it is. Sounds like fun but I’m not sure if members would like the pictures published in the Bulletin, however we could do a similar fun session on an electronic meeting, food for thought! If anyone has another idea for a bit of inclusive humour, please forward as we need to find ways to increase our connection over the coming months.
Flu Injections – A reminder to all our members that the flu injections have arrived in the local Chemists and also in some doctor’s surgeries. The Chemist Flu shot costs $15 and is not quite as strong as the free flu shots the doctors supply. However, if you don’t want to go to the doctor’s surgery for fear of exposure to illnesses, the Chemist might be an option for you.
I had a message from Chris to say that he and Janey said they would take a holiday somewhere when all this Corona Virus business was done. Apparently they put a map of the world on the wall and threw a dart and wherever it landed was to be their holiday destination. It seems like they will have an extended holiday behind the fridge!!
Keep yourselves and family safe and find ways to connect with others, whether that is by phone or face to face technologies that seem to be a plenty these days!
Liza
