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HOSTS RI DIRECTOR |
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| John Saggers (Mansfield), Di Andary (Euroa), Rotary Director John Lawrence, Mary Greenshields (Seymour), Rodney Ridd (Yea) and John Bassett (Alexandra) at the meeting |
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| RI Director John Lawrence Rotary Club of Yea President Rodney Ridd exchange Club banners |
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| RI Director John Lawrence and Past Yea President John Sinclair in discussion |
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| RI Director John Lawrence and Rotary Club of Yea member Catherine Rattray at the meeting |
The Rotary Club of Yea hosted Rotary International Director John Lawrence at its weekly meeting on 27 May.
The meeting served as an opportunity for the RI Director to meet with other Club members from the immediate area with Presidents and members from the Rotary Clubs of Alexandra, Euroa, Mansfield and Seymour.
John Lawrence and his wife Janet travelled from Brisbane for the meeting. He is one of 17 Directors of the Board of Rotary International who serve two years terms with half the Directors retiring each year. The RI President and the RI President Elect are also members of the nineteen member Board.
Each of the five Clubs represented briefly identified key projects they have been involved in over the past year. Alexandra Club President John Bassett highlighted the involvement of the Club with bushfire relief, particularly in the Maroondah corridor. The Rotary Club of Alexandra was instrumental in establishing the voucher scheme to aid all survivors of the February 2009 tragedy in being able to buy urgent needs and this has now been extended to a second voucher scheme to support the reestablishment of gardens as homes are rebuilt.
Rodney Ridd, President of the evening's host Club, Yea, highlighted the Club's role as the event manager for the "Kick Up The Dust" event in March, the awarding of 40 bursaries across the eight schools in the catchment area as a bushfire recovery effort and the development of international projects especially water in South Africa, initiated by the Sacred Heart Primary School in Yea and at the Mando Village school in Papua New Guinea.
John Saggers, President of Mansfield, Mary Greenshields, President of Seymour and Di Andary, representing President Linda Bennett of Euroa also outlined highlights from their respective Clubs over the past year.
Director John Lawrence, in his address, said he was impressed by the depth and breadth of the involvement of the Clubs, and their projects, he had just heard. He said the Board of Rotary International had recently adopted the 2010-2013 Strategic Plan which focused on three key areas: how Clubs can be strengthened, better publicity for what Rotary does and helping Clubs develop better service projects. It was clear from what the Clubs reported during the meeting that they were well on the way to fulfilling the direction of the Strategic Plan.
In his address, he reiterated Rotary's commitment to the eradication of polio which was boosted earlier this year with an extra USD $100 million from Gates Foundation to an already announced similar amount. Although the number of reported outbreaks of polio this year is less than last year at the same time, new outbreaks in Tajikistan and southern Russia show how quickly the polio virus can spread. Already through Rotary's efforts, the type 2 polio virus has been eradicated and Rotary and its partners in the Eradicate Polio Now campaign are moving to now eliminate the type 1 and 3 viruses.
At the end of the day, Director Lawrence said, Rotarians are just volunteers. We don't have to do anything, he said, but, as Rotarians, we do it because we want to make a difference.
It was the second visit by an RI Director to the Club in three years following past RI Director and Treasurer Ian Riseley speaking at the Club in September 2007. John Lawrence's two year term as a Director will expire on 30 June. His replacement, Stuart Heal from New Zealand, has already agreed to visit the Rotary Club of Yea and speak during his two year term.
