May 2020 Page 1
In twenty-four hours, thirtythousand three hundred people looked at this post. Six-thousand four hundred people took time to read it and fourthousand two hundred and ninetyeight clicked through the photos All from 80 shares ! The power of FaceBook to get information out there
and it’s free.
The compounding effect of your friends ‘sharing’ your Club’s post is amazing. Ask your friends to ‘Share’ it !
https://www.facebook.com/diamondcreektramproject/ Diamond Creek Rotary are working to set up a W Class Tram as a coffee shop, run by local community groups. All profits made will be donated back to those groups who assist in running the tram. Page 2
Contents 4
DG Brian
6
New Members
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Virtual Rotary Club Changeovers
11 ROTARY CREATES RECORD
On the Cover : Welcome to Rotary Chris White Article on page 6.
The Rotary Club Southern Mitchell - 0419 890015.
Murray Connects the District 9790 is the official monthly publication of Rotary International District 9790 Inc. Publisher : Editor: Greg Adams, Art Director: Greg Adams. Advertising: Greg Adams Chief Cook and bottle washer : Greg as well Contributions are always welcome: Please contact the Editor to discuss your ideas. ferrarigreg@gmail.com All photos/images submitted for publication must include detailed captions : IE names of people, event locations etc. It is presumed that the supplier of all photography/images owns or has approval from the owner of said copywrite to reproduce the photograph/image Closing date is by the 26th of each month. (give or take a bit) Note: The views and opinions expressed in this publication represent those of the contributor/s and are not necessarily those of or shared by the District, the Committee any Club, the members or the Magazine.
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Zooming Along
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his month there is only positive news!
Are you over the doom and gloom of everything we’re hearing? Don’t get me wrong, the situation we’re experiencing is very serious but……it is time to move on to how Rotary Connects the World.
It’s become obvious that Rotary is really important in terms of engagement. I’m pleased to confirm that most of the Clubs in our District are now meeting
online – mainly through Zoom. Most of you will know I belong to a whisky club and on Friday 8 May we are having a virtual whisky tasting evening. Every Friday I have a virtual ‘drinks with Wayne’ with my friends. This week I connected with my District Governor classmates and discussed current issues; we connected with RI President Mark Maloney and General Secretary John Hewko; Two weeks ago, we connected with Mary Beth Growney Selene (past RI Director) on Zoom (3am her time) and last night we connected with Past RI President Ian Riseley.
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How does this happen? Well in this case Belvoir Wodonga Rotary have been very active. They arranged for Mary Beth to attend the Zoom meeting. On 6 May they had Past RI President Ian Riseley attending their meeting and on 27 May they have current RI President Mark Maloney attending.
The main thing is Rotarians want to stay connected. Rotary is a very important part of their life. It’s certainly an important part of my life.
This week was my birthday and my youngest daughter and her partner came to visit me. I got a fantastic hug from them both. That is the first human contact I’ve had from anyone in five weeks! Is there someone in your Now just explain to me how any club, in contacts that lives alone? Do they need the current circumstances, could your support? arrange these meetings? Zoom of course! Belvoir Wodonga have done a tremendous job organising such I’ve been asked about the District eminent meetings and every club can Changeover. I don’t believe we will be achieve this. Belvoir Wodonga are just able to come together. Even if showing how it can be achieved. Who restrictions are lifted, I’ll be surprised if would you like your guest speaker to more than 10 people can come together be? Even better extend the invitation to at any one time so plans are in place for our District and Clubs outside of our a virtual District Changeover using District. Who cares if a Rotarian attends Zoom. You’re all invited! I also believe another Club’s or another District’s most Club Changeovers will be meeting? We’re all Rotary. Rotary completed using Zoom. How’s your Club Connects the World. going to handle their Changeover? I’d love to attend! I would love to receive invites to Club Zoom meetings, especially Clubs I DG Brian haven’t Zoomed with already. I’ve been asked continuously (in hook ups with Rotary Clubs) about the Upper Murray. Well in this edition there’s an update but the reality is we are still supporting the Upper Murray but we’re not physically able to be there. With Covid-19 we can’t travel and they don’t want us to. And I understand the reasons why.
DGE Bruce Anderson has been, and is continuing to do so, the ‘District Assembly’ through online Zoom meetings. Please support these. It’s a different way of working but it sure beats travelling to Benalla for the District Assembly.
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Chris’s connection with RYLA and Rotary has brought him in a new direction and a new focus for a career path. In July he will commence studying a course in Youth Work. He is also in the research and development ow do you inject new enthusistage of establishing a non-for-profit asm into a Rotary Club, especial- supporting youth, Blurred Lines which ly in the current times? will be offering ongoing support and mentorship to at risk youth. His enthusiasm for helping young people Induct four new members under 30! knows no bounds and he will be the Diamond Creek Rotary is very excited incoming District Rotaract Chair. to have gained four new members in the past couple of month, but even more exciting is that all of those members are under 30.
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Darcy is passionate about media and has already started working on the club’s website, has set up an Instagram account for the club and has been posting to our Facebook page. She says, “I want to bring Diamond Creek Rotary into this century and I want everyone to know just how great we are and the wonderful things that we do.”
How did we do it? Well, all of these young people already had strong links to Rotary and all had been previous participants at RYLA in the past few years.
Nathan Stuart, also 20, had exposure to Rotary over a few years. His first experience of Rotary was whilst a Darcy Williams, aged 20, was the Year 9 student at Diamond Valley Colschool captain at Diamond Valley Sec- lege. Diamond Creek Rotary sponondary College in 2018 and she was sored a leadership program, High Reinformed about RYLA by the school solves, at the school which Nathan librarian so attended it at the end of attended. Not long after, he attended her school year. She introduced her- RYPEN and was instrumental in self to Diamond Creek Rotary and starting an Interact Club at his school. Chris White, aged 26, is a single Dad came back in 2019 to make her Putting his leadership skills to good and is passionate about youth. A presentation about her RYLA experiuse he became the school captain. friend of his attended RYLA in 2014 ence. Passionate about RYLA, she beand frequently asked Chris to attend it also. Finally in 2018, he relented and came a RYLA Supporter in 2019. In 2019, encouraged by Darcy, he he was hooked! Although not sponattended RYLA where he said, “I sored by Diamond Creek to attend Eager to do something for her comfound out a lot about myself”. He RYLA, he attended a couple of Diamunity she joined Diamond Valley then took up the offer to support Dismond Creek meetings when his Rotaract, but that wasn’t enough for trict 9790 RYPEN and has become the friends were making their RYLA her. Darcy wanted to find a way to District Ambassador for RYPEN. presentations in 2019. He liked us, he connect more with her community came back to a few of our meetings and saw Rotary as the perfect vehicle and he joined. An email from Linda Gidlund sugin which to do this. gesting he may like to join Rotary, Page 6
prompted an immediate response and he quickly returned the membership form to the club.
Like Chris, Rotary has also helped Nathan to find his career path. He will complete a Diploma of Photography in Diamond Creek Rotary has a special July this year but has decided that is not the career path discounted rate of 50% Membership that he wants to follow. He is also passionate about fees for members under 30 helping young people and he will start studying a Diploma of Youth Work. He says that Rotary has provided him with a wealth of experiences and he wants to be And we are super excited to have all four of them as able to do the same for other young people. members. So, did we do anything special to entice them? No. But we stayed connected with them from their first Rotary experience. We welcomed them to our meetings and tried to make them feel a part of us. They are all keen to contribute to the community and see Rotary’s project based approach as a great way to make a difference. Each of them will be given an experienced Rotarian to mentor them and assist them in their Rotary journey. We look forward to working with them and are delighted to welcome them to our club.
Kerry Jones & Linda Gidlund Rotary Club of Diamond Creek
Sally West, aged 23, has had a strong connection to community all her life, as a scout and currently a Rover Scout. Her brother, Norton, attended RYLA in 2014 and encouraged Sally to attend the following year. She was hooked! She was a RYLA Supporter from 2016 – 2018 and became the RYLA Program Director in 2019. Following her attendance at RYLA, she joined Gateway Rotaract. Over the years she has attended Diamond Creek Rotary meetings from time to time and assisted us at our Diamond Creek Rotary Town Fair.
Working as an Early Childhood Educator in Diamond Creek, it took little prompting for her, too, to become a Rotarian but still to stay a member of Gateway Rotaract. With such an involvement in RYLA, it is little wonder that her Rotary passion is youth. Sally hopes to be able to give back what Rotary has given her. She wants to help young people find their place and find their sense of community, whatever that may be. On being inducted as a member, Sally said, “I am super excited to join Rotary.”
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Virtual Rotary Club Changeovers
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he Rotary year’s end is fast approaching. OfficersElect are planning their year in office. Serving Officers are ready to put their feet up. And everyone prepares to celebrate a year of hard work with one of our annual ceremonies: The Changeover. Our traditional Changeovers, like many things in the world of COVID-19’s Global Pandemic, aren’t an option. But where some clubs are opting to cancel or postpone their Changeovers, many are asking another question: “How might we do our Changeover online?” Whilst we might feel this a challenge beyond what we can execute, we see just how much has adapted recently. My fellow Australians would remember the recent highly successful re-imagining of ANZAC Day; an entire set of cultural ceremonies build around physical proximity. And unlike ANZAC Day, we already have lots of experience in the world of virtual events.
hard work. Such reflection shouldn’t just be a vanity for the President and Board, but something all Rotarians can take pride in.
Acknowledging Service follows on from this. Honouring those Rotarians who stand out among us remains ever so important. Hard work in service to the club and their community, and generous to our Rotary Foundation are things to be celebrated. Looking Forward to the year ahead, where we can see new opportunities for Service above Self, and working together to build an even brighter future for the world. Fellowship and Banter can be more difficult over Zoom, but is even more critical than ever. Let’s remember why we love doing what we do, joined with our fellow Rotarians not just as partners in service, but as dearest friends.
What’s important in a Rotary Club How should we structure our Changeover? Agenda?
The “Rotary Chicken” dinner aside, why is it that Changeovers are important to us? This answer will vary from Club to Club. It’s important to think about what is important to us. We can design Changeover events that reflect what we value most and remembering why they are so important. Celebrating Accomplishments are integral to Changeovers, and being able to look back on a year of Page 8
Fortunate news here: It doesn’t necessarily have to change! If your club has a Changeover program that they are particularly attached to, see what you might do to convert it to working online. If in doubt, think about the discussions above around what is vital for your club. Discuss it with others in your club, including your Presidents incumbent and elect, your Sergeant-at-Arms/Master of Ceremonies, your
Changeover committee, or your general members.
Unlike most things that we do, Changeovers are absent presence in our Constitutions, Bylaws, or formal practices. Instead, let us make it something to reflect what our Club wants and needs it to be
How do we practically run the event?
How might we run our particular rituals?
Most active Rotarians will now have experience using videoconferencing for their club meetings
Award Ceremony Honouring our fellow Rotarians is just as important this year, as any other. And the process can Online Meetings can be a bit like herding cats; things are be very much the same, with the Club President constantly changing, everyone wants to do their own announcing the recipients of the awards. thing, and nobody is quite sure what the purpose of what having a herd of cats is in the first place. So, what Not all awards are a surprise. Your Paul Harris Society is the magical solution to running a good online event? members likely know they’re due to receive the upgrade for their PHF. Mail them early, and have members show We already know the answer: Having a good Master of oa their new award as they’re announced. Ceremonies Surprise awards are still similar; just mail the award on Being able to keep the event flowing, audience the day of the Changeover. They’ll find out before it interested, everything on- time, and in order is the arrives, and receive it soon after Investitures due to the hallmark of a good MC, equally online as it is in person. limitations of the physical universe, your Club’s Having someone in charge who can keep things going in Presidential Collar (or other regalia, like a gavel) can the face of disruptive audiences, or an honoured only be in one place at any given time. How might we member wanting to recant the history of their Rotary life handle this difficult challenge? is a essential to a good event. How should you do this? Consider the significance of the But there’s another part here: Knowing the platform physical transfer, and how it works with your club, given Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms have a lot your own culture and traditions. Is it a symbol of the end of a year, or the start of a new year? Does the special of useful features for an event host. Being able to significance attach to the Collar, or the President? Does forcibly mute participants, having people raise their the Collar hold any special significance for your club at hands to indicate a desire to speak, and sharing all? presentations are all handy. Don’t worry, your MC doesn’t have to be an expert on Zoom. You might find it useful having an Assistant MC to manage the technology. Meanwhile, the MC oversees the event itself. You could also consider technically experienced friends of the club, including family members, or Rotaractors to act as Assistant MC.
You might consider whether to physically hand over the collar between Presidents before, or after the event. You might have each President take a photo or video with the Collar as part of the presentation. You might simplify the process by not using the Collar in this year’s formal ceremony at all.
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Zoom. Similar to Speaker view, it allows the Host to display to everyone, a single person of the Host’s choice on the screen. During Awards or other processes, this could help share the focus of the audience. Other videoconferencing platforms have similar features. Badges for Officers are much simpler and can be mailed Even larger events with hundreds of participants or ahead of time, similarly to awards. As the incoming complex practices may find that they require additional President calls their names, they can display the badge of tools to broadcast their Changeover effectively. In this, their position to the audience. the advice is simple and no different to any major event: National Anthem: Ever heard two people trying to talk at Start planning now. once on a video call? Multiply that by several dozen, and you have an attempt to sing the National Anthem together at your changeover. Even with disciplined timing, the nature of the technology is that it just doesn’t work.
Could we put it on hold until
Another option might be for a recording of the National Anthem to be played, and having your members singalong on mute. Or if that might feel a little silly, even having everyone listen silently on mute is an option. Other things your club may have other ceremonies, rituals, or habits that you like to undertake at a Changeover event. So, how might you handle it?
after the pandemic?
Experiment. Practice.
Of course your Club’s Changeover belongs to your Club, Get your Changeover Committee together, and try things and the event is run for the benefit of the Rotarians of on a smaller scale in a meeting. There is no substitute for your Club. experimentation, and practice will reveal what can work. Before deciding on that, there are two things to be Other rituals may need to be adapted, modified, or in considered: some case, sidelined for the year. Changeovers are moments in time, and we hold them as close as possible to the turn of the Rotary year as a point of significance in transition. The further away from July 1 the event is, the less meaning it may hold. So, we might ask ourselves; Would a physical Changeover in November be more meaningful than a virtual one in June?
What if we have a large number of attendees?
COVID-19 is challenging member engagement, and even with all of our efforts, it can be harder to feel as attached to Rotary at the moment as we might otherwise be. Changeovers are a beautiful occasion for us all to celebrate what we do, and the value of being a part of our Clubs. If we just ignore such a pivotal event, would it Anyone who has been in a large Zoom call knows that it’s be harder for the individual Rotarian to hard to spot who is talking, or where a particular person justify paying those annual dues come is, even if they’re the only ones unmuted. July? Another option is to use the Spotlight Video feature of Page 10
WRITTEN BY Stephen Sennett
ROTARY
CREATES RECORD W
ednesday 18th March saw the induction of two new members to the Tatura Rotary Club; Cheree Neave and her son William. This makes it three generations of the one family in the one Rotary Club at the one time. Cheree’s mother, Carol Neave joined the Tatura Rotary Club in 2001. This is the first time since the Rotary club was first formed in 1962 that this has happened and I believe it’s also the 1st time this has occurred in our Rotary District 9790 and possibly even Australia and perhaps the world, Cheree has a background in hairdressing and William is involved in I.T. services. They bring a fresh, younger perspective into our club, President Bill Purcell said. This is not the first time this club has created history. Tony Casuscelli joined the club in 1963 and at the time he was the youngest person to join Rotary in the world, he was 21 years of age.
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n 2006 I visited Prague for a business conference. I had a couple of days free at the end and the weather was sensational so out came the camera and these are just a few to give you an idea of what this beautiful city looks like. One day, when this current situation is over, take the opportunity to visit Prague - the beer is pretty good too!
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District 9790 Bushfire Recovery Newsletter No 2 April 29, 2020 Hello Rotarians and friends
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e hope this newsletter finds you well and that you are managing the difficulties caused by social distancing. Many of the Bushfire Recovery projects have been put on hold for the present time to protect communities from the COVID19 virus. Nevertheless, behind the scenes project planning continues - to be ready when work can resume in the Upper Murray region.
FODDER AND PELLET FEED Another semi-trailer load of dairy pellets will be distributed to farmers, funded by the Rotary Club of Kinglake Ranges.
SHIPPING CONTAINERS A further eight shipping containers are being stored in Benalla, before being moved to bushfire impacted properties. Further donations are required to purchase shipping containers for property owners in desperate need of secure storage.
AIR PURIFIER PROJECT FOR ALPINE HEALTH Further funding is required to complete this project. For details contact Mark Lucey from the Rotary Club of Mount Beauty.
WALWA BUSH NURSING CENTRE PROJECT The Walwa Bush Nursing Centre provides community health and wellbeing services for the Walwa and Jingellic area. During the bushfires the centre, as it had a generator, became an important hub and safe place for locals and firefighters. The centre provided medical attention for those injured and the kitchen food for firefighters and evacuees; an invaluable service to the community. More than 600 meals were provided for the CFA. The centre’s kitchen and cool room suffered damage in the fires and needs financial assistance to modernise the facilities and upgrade outdated equipment in the centre.
The Rotary Clubs of Ivanhoe and Heidelberg are supporting this project and assistance from other clubs is welcome.
GENERATORS The Rotary Club of Tallangatta worked alongside the Saint Vincent de Paul Society delivering 30 donated generators to the fire affected region.
The Bushfire Recovery Committee ask that Rotary clubs provide details of any recovery projects they are currently involved in or propose for the future.
Bernie Bott, PDG Chairman District 9790 Bushfire Recovery Committee Page 13
Feelin a bit FLAT Mr Murray?
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