Gardens for roofs, wetas and other interests of science make a memorable meeting

Vocational visits are club meetings that take place somewhere of interest with the speaker slot being filled by someone from that place who speaks about what it is they do. For our first vocation visit of the year we visited Landcare Research, the NZ government's environmental research organisation. — at Landcare Research.

More photos at: HERE;

 

 

 

Thanks to Stonefields New World who provided the breakfast all were well fed before a hugely interesting presentation about the work of Landcare and its huge contribution of the effective management of New Zealand's biodiversity.  We were then treated to a behind the scenes tour of several of the  largest exclusive collections of insects,  fungi available in New Zealand and the contribution these make to research including aspects many would not have thought about such as the accessibility of exports into overseas markets.Who would have thought members would be almost captivated by fungi! ... but they were when its importance was explained.  Absolutely fascinating.

Changeover 2013

2012-2013 Achievements Listed

Just a few ...

• Students sponsored to the annual Challenge Camp for physically disable youth
• Funding for two Emergency Response Kits
• Members assisted the assembly of hundreds of Emergency Response Kits
• Funds to assist a Fijian Pre-school with learning resources
• Annual Peter McKenzie Scholarship to a senior accounting student from Glendowie College to assist their first year tertiary studies
• Wheelchair for Varayame - a ROMAC youth assisted to NZ by the club for life changing surgery
• Support for Varayame's mother Illie as she studies for a nursing degree so she can work and support Varayame and her family back in Fiji on her return
• Contributed to the RotaPacific programme that brings Pacific participants to the Auckland Rotary Youth Leaders Award week-long course
• Seven students selected and funded to RYLA by the club
• Sponsorship of students to the Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment leadership camp for secondary school students
• Sponsorship of a Glendowie College team to the Model United Nations weekend
• Hosted Sophia, our International Exchange student from Germany
• Continued support for the Glendowie Primary Tree for Survival planting unit and their planting day that club members also attended
• Club team in the annual Cure Kids $10 Queenstown Challenge (Auckland to Queenstown - $15,000 raised for life-saving medical research)
• Support funding for the Apia playground
• Support funding for Natabura School
• Major project organising the Stonefields Community Fair
• Funding for a Teacher Aide at Stonefields School
• Glen Taylor School Dictionarys
• Many fantastic social events + district conference

For the above:  Total funds contributed: $22,798 and Volunteer Hours:  LOTS


From the Sergeants fund (this is small donations not covered by normal service committee activity) to a total of $4,304:

• Suburban Newspapers Project Kidney
• Hospice Upholstery Cleaning Machine
• Life Line Donation
• East Auckland Home & Budget
• Outward Bound Emmeline Croft
• Xmas Puddings for Salvation Army
• Rossi Holloway Medical conference
• Stationary for Glen Taylor pupils
• Teddy Bear's Hospital
• Share of GSE airfares to Great Barrier
• Toni-Lee Hayward memorial fund
• Cost of Duty for clothing to Fiji
• Funding for St John Youth Festival
• Ruby Seeto fundraising tea towels (Starship)
• Emergency Response Kits
• Support for the Glen Taylor School camp

Farewell - Sophia's NZ experience draws to a close

A farewell evening was held on the 7th June for all the District 9920 International Youth Exchange students about to depart home.   This was a great evening for all and our club's IYE student of the past year, Sophia spoke so well.

The stories told by all the students made us all feel proud of their achievements and the personal development they have experienced in NZ. They are now all much more worldly and wise, ready to follow their dreams.

Thanks to all of Sophia's host families, counsellor Angela and Louise Moore (Glendowie College was her school for the year) for the support of Sophia during the year.

Sophia with her host "parents", her counsellor and Louise

It was noted that Sophia raised $500 towards an Emergency Response Kit and this equated to over a third of all the funds raised for this by all the IYE students thanks to the German Breakfast she organised (http://stjohnsrotary.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/sophias-germa-style-brunch-tasty-success.html).

Sophia's German Style Brunch a tasty success



Our ever-resourceful International Exchange Student Sophia held a German style brunch at Bruce and Dawns (her Host parents) place last weekend.  The purpose was so we could all have an enjoyable time together with the added benefit of raising funds towards funding another Emergency Response Kit; organising a project was  part of Sophia's commitment as an IYE student.

 

Many members and partners, plus some other IYE students attended and had a fantastic time with amazing food.  Thank you to all involved as these opportunities to socialise are a valued part of being a member of St Johns Rotary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting the environment and education is so much fun!



 

 

St Johns Rotary has had a long association with Glendowie Primary School and were instrumental in the sponsorship and setting up of the plant growing unit at the school in association with Trees for Survival.  Each year club members support this environmental learning project by joining the students at their annual planting day and on 24 May a half dozen members went with the students to plant a variety of native flax and shrubs onto a farm in Clevedon. 

Environmental projects were recently identified as a priority by members for future project identification and planning - this will include opportunities to assist the projects of others whether within Rotary or elsewhere but where there is an association with a club member.


Low Down

Trees for Survival is a programme started by the Rotary Club of Pakuranga Inc that has moved on to be an independent organisation that continues to have strong Rotary support throughout New Zealand.  For more information  click here  

Having Fun, Doing Good Packing Emergency Response Kits

That’s the slogan for St John’s Rotary and this week, on a wild and wet Wednesday night an enthusiastic group of members, friends and family could be found in an empty Penrose warehouse packing Emergency Response Kits (ERK’S).

Prepositioned stocks of ERK’s are held in readiness by Rotary Clubs in Samoa & Fiji for immediate distribution when needed with backup and replenishment stocks of ERK’s held in Auckland & Christchurch ready to be air lifted by the NZ Government through NZ AID to any disaster areas in the South Pacific Islands. The kits contain a vast array of household items and clothing including cooking utensils, clothing, blankets and tarpaulins, hygiene items, first aid supplies and a few basic tools and cost approximately $700 each. There’s a degree of precision involved in packing over 120 items into the containers but with 21 able volunteers it was a case of many hands made light work and there are now, courtesy of St Johns Rotary, 75 more kits ready to be airlifted to Samoa.

 

If you’d like to know more about what Rotary is doing in our community, would like to contribute in some way email stjohnsrotary@gmail.com  or visit www.stjohns.rotarysouthpacific.org

We already do very well and we will be fantastic!

Last night a cross section of 18 club members including some just welcomed as members through to long serving got together for a facilitated club Visioning exercise that will be the start of a process that will grow the club in so many ways.  Next stage is to write up the ideas and preferences for presentation and discussion by the whole club in a Club Assembly meeting in a few weeks where everyone is encouraged to help shape the future of our club and their Rotary experience.

One item that came up was better use of technology across all we do ... but what is technology ...

A conference with everything

15 members and partners joined together for a fun and informative experience at last weekends Joint District Conference in Rotorua.

For some this started with organising or participating in a Rotary Leadership Institute Part 1 for 17 from both districts 9920 and 9940.  Some others took to the outdoor cycling through the thermal wonderland , bush and forests.

Then there was the conference itself with over 600 participants and a varied programme of information and motivational speakers but most valued was the chance to meet and socialise with others from across the districts.  The Saturday night saw us all get dressed up for a "Starry Starry Night" that commenced with drinks put on by President Miles and concluded with most dancing to the rip-roaring music of the Rotorua Rotary Sunshine Rockers (a band made up of Rotorua Rotarians).

Everyone, especially those for whom this was their first Rotary conference had a fantastic time and all are looking forward to next year's district conference at Chateau Tongariro

St Johns Rotary continues to grow

Newest member Supreen receiving her
membership certificate from President Miles. 
Supreen is a change manager with BNZ and lives locally.

Social Media is Here to Stay - the annual debate draws a crowd

The annual debate with the Rotary Club of Auckland East then took place with the Moot "That Social Media is Here to Stay"  

The St Johns team of newish member Gemma, President Nominee Anil and our 'resident techo' Wesley took the affirmative argument.  The negative therefore being taken by Bernard Kendall, Roger Cole-Baker and Owen Williams for Auckland East.  

The argument ranged mostly over the definition of the topic, and whether social media was just going to change over time, or die out altogether.  The arguments were somewhat mixed and at times it was difficult to determine who was speaking for which team.  

Considering the age difference between the teams it could be considered a member of the Auckland East team was on dangerous ground when using the word "decrepitude" in his argument!  Adjudicator John Cornaga awarded the trophy to St. John's on a close but probably politically correct decision!

President Miles awarding the debate trophy

Teddy Bear Hospital Sponsorship

The Sunshine Fund has donated a $300 sponsorship to the Teddy Bear Hospital.  The Sunshine Fund is made up of small coin donations by members at club meetings usually as the result of an active 5 minute fun session by the Club Sergeant, John.

Medical students put together a child-friendly hospital in which we welcome kindergarten-aged children and their teddy bears (or any stuffed toy for that matter) to come for a visit. During the visit, the teddy bears are then “fixed up” by their owners with the help of Teddy Doctors (medical students). The goal of the event is to decrease childrens’ anxiety and fears around visiting the doctor and hospitals through interactive play all the while giving medical students the opportunity to interact with children and practice clinical skills in a low stress environment. The children get full access to experiment and play with all of the doctor’s equipment in order to help establish a familiarity.

For more:  http://teddybearhospital.co.nz/ 

Rotarians building sandcastles ... you bet

The inaugural St Heliers Sandcastle Competition was held last Saturday 23 March 2013 and the Rotary Club of St Johns was there!

A very credible result!

This competition replaced the St Heliers Festival of previous years and instead of community stands up the main drag, the stands this year were along the waterfront and St Johns Rotary was again there to promote both the club and Rotary and ShelterBox.  As in previous years, the ShelterBox display dragged in the families and provided the perfect opportunity to talk to them about Rotary and Beryl now has a list of names to spin her charm on and try and get some along to the club!

Clearly the Rotarians needed a helping hand from more
experienced sandcastle builders

The members, including some of our newer members looked after the stand throughout the day but for some the lure of actually taking part in the sandcastle building was far too great ... maybe it brought back memories? ... under the guise of promoting Rotary of course.

New member Anne and Andy at the stand
(not showing are the tear drops and the pull up banners)

This was another great day in the sun at the seaside and all enjoyed themselves.


Low Down

The display had the usual:

Green was the colour, fun was the activity!

Not sure that the rain Gods were invited but they came anyway, along with 27 other happy "Irish" St Johns rotarians. All were dressed in something green.

There was even green cocktails to start the afternoon off, followed by yummy food delightfully prepared by Marg and her two helpers Ali, & Jilly.

Through out the afternoon there Irish music playing (not that you could hear it above the talking) and many Irish Paddy jokes enjoyed.

Many did say it was an earth moving Rotary event, particularly as we all felt the earthquake (except Peter & Patrick)

The pictures tell the story ... it was fun!

Telling the Varayame Story

The story begins when Sarah Graham was holidaying in Fiji and came to meet a teenage Fijian boy, Varayame, confined to a wheel chair since a very young age. Having been denied proper medical treatment for a open wound in his lower back, he eventually lost the use of his legs and developed club feet.   Sarah, a student studying documentary making at the South Pacific Film School, made the decision there and then she would do all she could to help this unfortunate soul.   She returned to New Zealand and galvanised the help of ROMAC, St Johns Rotary, Parnell Rotary and a number of specialist surgeons to perform corrective surgery on Varayame.                                                  

 

She was passionate about making a documentary of the entire story and managed to convince our guest speaker, PAULA JONES of the film school, to allow her to undertake the venture.   The school broke all the rules and gave permission for Sarah to travel to Fiji to begin filming, and this is when Paula became involved.  They encountered enormous political barriers to do the filming, but won through in the end. Sarah clocked up 240 hours of film on a Canon 5D camera. This camera did not possess audio capability so this all had to be synchronised in afterwards. An enormous task that would take many, many days to accomplish.                                              

 

Finance was a problem to begin with, however TV NZ came to the party and decided to adopt the doco., provided there was a professional director appointed to oversee the project.   This came to pass and work began in earnest. Filming was completed by the end of 2011 and then went to processing.    Paula described in great detail the technical processes involved in producing the film, including the difficulties encountered in the synchronising the audio, transcribing 250 hours of filming from three languages, English, Fijian and Indian. All to produce 1 hour of documentary.    Production has been held up by other events such as the London Olympics and other priorities.                                                                                       

 

No screening date has as yet been set.  The doco will screen on TV and at film festivals around the world.  

Latest news on Varayame is that he is enrolled in a course at the Fiji Vocational & Technical Training Centre For Persons With Disabilities (FVTTCPD) He's been chosen for the disabled games in Brisbane and is training.    He is looking forward to doing his best in the games.

 

The Great Car Rally

Organised by Michelle and Eddie a whole bunch of members and partners departed for places unknown (at that point at least).  The directions had many surprises with many twist and turns but fortunately not too many false starts or wrong turns taken.  The sights were amazing and included a regional park or two.

A fantastic time was had by all and this definately must become a regular feature of the club's social calendar.

Visiting Auckland Harbourside Rotary

Our regular breakfast meeting was replaced by a very convivial visit to the Rotary Club of Auckland Harbourside at their usual meeting place in Mission Bay on Wednesday evening this week. We were treated to a sumptuous meal, wonderful company, the induction of a new member for them and a very interesting talk by Geoff Hunt - CEO of Kordia the government-owned broadcast and telecommunications company during which he explained current myths and the latest developments in broadband and its impact on our lives.  A good exanmple of a weekly sdpeaker providing interesting yet useful knowledge.