Easter Was Also a Time of Giving

Holidays are fun, but somehow the work must continue and so it was with the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn this past week.
     Thanks to Judy Symons for arranging the Easter egg collection and drop-offs and to Paul Kasango for reading to the kids at the 5Cees.
     They made the Easter weekend become a time of giving for the club.

Paul Kasango reading to the kids at 5Cees

     Carol Stier reports that they went to the 5 Cees last Thursday evening to get photographs for the bookmark Frayne Mathijs is planning for the Jozi Book Fair in September. The visit turned into an impromptu reading session, with Paul holding his young audience spellbound.

Paul was on top form and the kids wouldn't let him go

     The care mothers organized three groups of kids and when he got tired of reading books on bunnies, he put the books aside and told them a story closer to home, featuring cows and other things the kids could relate to.

Paul paging through a book while reading to the kids. Thanks go to Carol Stier for these arresting photographs

     Judy reports that the club managed to collect about R2000 worth of Easter eggs, which were distributed to the Woodside Sanctuary and the Christ Church Christian Care Centre.
     Pastor Mike Sunker thanked the club for the eggs and said they had definitely helped to spread some cheer to the children as many faced Easter away from home.

Pastor Mike Sunker, Sarah Sunker, Judy Symons and (bottom photo) some of the 5Cees children with the Easter eggs donated by New Dawn

     The Easter weekend has also brought some good news on the Link Literacy Project front, with a Canadian Rotary club declaring a willingness to be a part of the project.
     As stated before, this is one of the major requisites for getting a grant, the other being local and district support, and then of course a pledge from our own club, which has already been done.
     In an email to Ian Widdop, Carole Rowsell of the Rotary Club of Parkdale-High Park in Toronto states that her club will be our official partner and that there are likely to be 6 to 10 more clubs in their district, District 7070, as partners.
     The project will be on display at their District Training session for presidents and club officers in May, the first formal presentation of the global grant project in the district. They expect to do the same at their Discon in October and to have firm commitments by November. They have asked New Dawn to supply literature and images to publicize the project.
     This is exciting news indeed!
     Meeting tomorrow: There is no speaker tomorrow, so Carol will be showing a short video and the rest of the meeting we'll discuss unfinished matters. Carol has promised two very exciting speakers for the week after to get everybody out of bed early as Autumn approaches.
     A Thought for the Week: In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing. - Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)