Exploring “My Rotary”

IPP Carol Stier, (standing in for President Linda for one more time), welcomed all to the meeting.  We were rather thin on the ground as a lot of members are away for the holidays. 

We welcomed a visitor, Jenny Baker, who was invited by Helene Bramwell.

Helene Bramwell, Julian Nagy, Jenny Baker and Carin Holmes, with Frayne Mathijs in the background

IPP Carol announced the exciting news that we had received two awards at the recent DISCON; namely an award as the No. 2 Club in the District for Annual Fund Giving to the Rotary Foundation as well as a certificate of appreciation for financial support to the "End Polio Now" Campaign. These awards were presented to Amina Frense by the RIPPR, Gordon McNally. Frayne Mathijs gave feedback on DISCON and said that the conference reported on the efforts on the Mozambique flood situation which covered all six of the Rotary focus areas.

Amina Frense receiving the awards from the RIPPR, Gordon McNally

D9400 Discon Gala Dinner - Jenine Coetzer with Steve Du Plessis and District Governor Nominee Designate Stella Anyangwe of Pretoria West

IPP Carol, with her District Marketing hat on, gave a summary of MY ROTARY on the Rotary International website and encouraged all members to use the site to learn more about Rotary. 

IPP Carol Stier exploring "My Rotary"

My Rotary allows members to add:

·       A personal profile

·       A Showcase of projects that Clubs are running with

·       A Learning Centre

·       Discussion groups

·       Events

·       Grant applications

·       Resources and tools

·       Policies and Procedures

·       Rotary Foundation

·       Other information

Carol recommended My Rotary to all new and even existing members to update information on Rotary.

Members listening to the presentation on "My Rotary"

Ian Widdop updated the Club on the Meriting Project and said that they were beginning to identify potential businesses for the project.

Lucille Blumberg sent a photo of the handing over of the annual influenza and cold medication to the Immaculata Centre in Rosebank.  This annual donation facilitated by Lucille allows indigent people in the area to access much needed medication at this time of the year. 

Lucille Blumberg is with Ernest Tebele of the centre

Lucille Blumberg also reported: "Frayne and I took the liberty of organizing a wheelchair and walker for an 11 yr old with Lupus who  had bilat midfoot amputations recently. She is the daughter of  the  wonderful Petrus Sibiya who is the rehabilitation practitioner at the Hluvekani clinic in Bushbuck ridge.  We have worked with him on the Rotary wheelchair outreach programme. He will now help to rehabilitate his  own daughter. Seems so unfair that  this should happen. Pretoria University will assist to transport the chair/ walker to BBr using their vet students who go on a rural block to the clinic.

We understand that PP Paul Kasango is back in the country, but unfortunately hospitalised after an operation on his ankle.  We wish you a speedy recovery, Paul!

Next week sees the return of President Linda and Treasurer PP Mike from their travels and we hope to see a few other members who have returned from their trips, including attending the Rotary International Conference in Hamburg, Germany. A big thank you to IPP Carol Stier and Treasurer Elect Julian Nagy for holding the fort in their absence.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: “To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own” Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)