“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life“

                                             Albert Einstein.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone. For those lucky enough to have family close by to celebrate Mother’s Day with, enjoy being together. As Albert Einstein says in the above quote  “rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.”  Some of us remember and honour our Mothers in Heaven and think back on wonderful memories of happy times we shared with them. We never stop being a Mother no matter how old we become; the switch is never turned off.  We change our styles to suit the ages of our children and there are times when we look at ourselves and think that’s just like my Mother. 

I think today we realise just how important family time is. Self-isolation has been particularly hard on the older members of our society. There were many of my patients this week wondering about how they were going to spend Mother’s Day without their families, especially their beloved grandchildren. Yesterday at the drive through Flu clinic there  were some patients having the flu shot so they could go and visit their Mothers in the Nursing Home or similar facilities. No shot, no visit. Dare I say the NRL could take a lesson from them!!! 

This week’s meeting, we will continue to use the original Zoom meeting Number. I have asked for use of the District Zoom Meeting Number but so far haven’t heard back.  So, we will continue to have the 40 minute limit then we have to reconnect back on. If I do hear back before Wednesday,  I’ll email everyone on Clubrunner with a new meeting ID.

                                 Meeting ID  :  3175079242

Haruka will be talking to us about her hometown in Japan this week. This should prove very interesting. Haruka has certainly had an interesting 2nd half of her stay here in the Tweed. Tomorrow she goes back to school which will make her happy. There will be another guest speaker the following week as well, so our meetings are hopefully being varied. Our Youth Team is busy organising our meetings and maybe an activity.

Hopefully most of you saw our photos on Facebook of Judy, Helen and I delivering the Mother’s Day mugs filled with chocolates to Greenhill Nursing home on Friday. The staff were blown away by this act of kindness from our Club. Susan advised us that there was a shortage of mugs and Judy and Helen sourced some lovely mugs, roses chocolates and the beautiful crafted gift cards made by Marissa finished a simple but meaningful gift off.  29 ladies were remembered by our Club today and hopefully felt loved. The other Nursing homes were contacted but told us they were okay at this time.  Simple Acts of Kindness are all that is needed to be rewarding.

Thank you, Judy, Helen and Marissa. Thank you Don Parker for being the errand man. 

Last week we delivered to Wollumbin High School a basket of cheese, crackers and fruit as a thank you and acknowledgement to the staff for their effort and hard work during this COVID- 19 crisis. How great was it to have Brendon Quinn talk to us on Wednesday about his school’s experiences during this present crisis. We  certainly gained an  informed perspective of the difficulties faced by our teachers. Thank you, Judy, for organising Brendon to talk to us.

We continue to acknowledge the wonderful work of  our health workers by our partnership with the Modern Grocer of a free coffee for all health workers. This has been well received and workers are grateful. 

This Tuesday the Board will be meeting via Zoom. The next Board meeting in June will be a combined meeting with the incoming Board. 

Last week we had Marissa’s birthday on Wednesday and tomorrow we have Cherry’s birthday.  Happy birthday to these lovely ladies. Cherry, we wish you a happy birthday for the 11th May . 

As we are nearing the end of the Rotary year we are beginning to think ahead for the next year. We also are looking at our Rotary membership and some of us maybe considering whether we will continue on as members of our amazing club. There may be a number of reasons for members considering not renewing their membership . We naturally do not wish for members to resign but this is a personal thing . If you are considering this, we need to know your intentions before the end of  June please.  At this stage we do not know what our fees will be for the new Rotary year as the District has not advised us of their fees. 

COVID safety app. – please consider downloading this app to your phones if you haven’t already done this.

AS we are not meeting in person weekly most of us are not contributing to Rotary International. We’ve spoken in recent meetings the importance of Rotary international and how the money we donate is used world-wide to make a difference.  We’ve even seen in recent times that the Stop POLIO  program has assisted in the fight against the COVID -19  in identification of contacts and  stopping the spread.  You can donate directly on your “My Rotary” account and receive a tax deduction. 

Facebook :  There continues to be articles  posted on FB.  Please, please share these. Click like and share. This is one way of spreading the good that Rotary does. The article may not be of particular interest to you but it may be to someone else. Some people reading may not be Rotarians, but an article may interest them enough to consider coming to a meeting. The use of social media is so important. 

So that’s all for another week. Buddies remember each other and keep in contact. Please continue to follow the rules of Social isolation. We don’t want to go backwards. Keep safe everyone remembering any little sniffle, sore throat, chill, or fever like symptoms, contact your GP and get tested. This all still applies to keep us safe. 

Love to our members who are isolating because of compromised health. 

Remember we may be isolation in the flesh from each other but that is not an excuse to be isolated from each other or our community. There are many ways to stay connected.  If you see or hear something that is needed let the Board know . 

See you all Wednesday on Zoom. 

Your in Rotary 

Mary Lynch