This week was a busy night with visitors and Dave Wylie and I reporting back to the club about our experiences at the recent district 9920 conference in Fiji.
Firstly congratulations to Bill Charkow who has accepted DG Elect Ingrid Waugh's invitation to become ADG for a number of clubs in South Auckland. Well done Bill for taking up the challenge. We look forward to hearing from you about your role during your term.
Another example of "Service before self." Helen Donoghue thank you for your work organising the Rotary support of blood bank in Howick.
We had the pleasure of hosting Tracey and Jon Faber from the Rotary Club of Papakura. Tracey is the new chair of the youth exchange program for the next three years. They have hosted a number of students in the past and Tracey spoke to us and her enthusiasm for the task was infectious. Jon is the President Elect for their club and their daughter is involved so truly a Rotary family.
It was a special treat to have Marie's family join us for the evening. The entire family was all together and obviously delighted to be together. Frank Carette spoke to us briefly about their visit to New Zealand Mum, Dad, and 2nd daughter. Dave labelled her "mini me." another Marie!
Marie with Family
With all the visitors and multiple speakers stand-in sergeant David Fels had his hands full. Thanks for stepping up David.
I was particularly pleased to return to Fiji for the conference. If you were in Rotary in 2003 and 2004 you may remember we and other clubs sent FAIM teams to complete homes for poor families in the village of Ba. Those involved were Jim Duckworth, Gary Walker, Ralph Hall, Richard Green, Charles Davidson, Neil Green, John Built, Ross Forester and myself some of whom did both trips. District 9920, Howick Rotary and The Thomas Brydon Trust all contributed to allow us to complete 10 homes. I was keen to see how the homes and families were doing after 15 years. We can all hold our heads high the homes have stood up well and the families in them are still proud and grateful for the work we did to provide them with a secure home. A few weeks previously cyclone Winston, the worst to hit Fiji in many years hit the area, and I'm pleased to report all our construction was unaffected in the midst of great damage. Well done to the FAIM teams.
Visitors from South Africa
Watch out for upcoming events in our calendar including Changeover on 3rd July, tree planting on 16th June and Marie's fund raiser on Friday, 1st June from 6pm to raise funds for an ERK. Make sure to support her efforts.
Our best wishes go to those who are unwell and we want to see our travellers safe home with lots of stories to share.
Thought for the day:
To succeed in life you need three things
- A wishbone
- A backbone
- A funny bone
Have a great week
Gavin