Wow what a month March is shaping up to be in getting the Rotary brand out there.
The common thing I heard as I travelled around the clubs, was that people don't know what Rotary is or what we do and that we need advertising. I said I would try to assist in getting the word out there. Well, we have started...
We have had a half page editorial in the Ballarat Courier regarding our District conference, plus a radio opportunity and newspaper advertising and the Courier are doing a story on one of our conference speakers, John Marsden, this Friday. This will now lead to follow up articles from conference where you get a chance to talk to your own local newspaper about a story.
Plus, we had 24 pages in the Rotary Down Under magazine showcasing our District covering an assortment of projects from many of our clubs including:
Multi club Northern Rivers Flood Assistance led by Alfredton club,
Defying the Drift with the Beaufort club,
Garden Designfest with Ballarat West and Kardinia clubs,
PNG Projects with the Geelong and Warrnambool clubs,
Community assistance raffle - Ballarat South,
Shelterbox - Kardinia club (silver champion award), Beaufort, Belmont, Grovedale Waurn Ponds, Horsham East, Ocean Grove and Warrnambool East (all bronze champions)
Books in Homes project - Mount Gambier club,
Community Book Fair - Mount Gambier club,
Nepal Student Scholarships - Ocean Grove club,
Community Markets - Ballarat South, Lara Districts, Swan Hill and Camperdown clubs,
Kilbur Domin Foundation Timor Leste - Mount Gambier Lakes and Casterton clubs,
Pets on Parade - Torquay club,
Banjari Project Tanzania - Port Fairy club,
Police Awards - Bellarine North, Bayside Geelong and Warrnambool clubs,
School Lunch Program - Portland club,
Aeromedical Transfer Station - Maryborough club,
Say No 2 Family Violence - Maryborough, Portland Bay & Portland clubs,
Science & Engineering challenge - Ballarat West & Alfredton clubs,
Park Bench - Bordertown club,
Music for Dementia - Mount Gambier West club,
Father of the Year Award - Warrnambool club,
Samaritan House Geelong - Kardinia club,
Vocational Training Team to Portugal - Ballarat South,
Surf Coast Trek - Kardinia club,
Use your printed copies of RDU to promote Rotary at any opportunity you get. We will have a flyer out to you soon with all these projects on so you can use in your own club marketing or for attracting members or taking to your own local media outlets as a promotion.
This week sees us having a Civic Reception in Ballarat with the Mayor, Counsellors and Politicians with media coverage. We have many Presidents and Assistant Governors from all around the District attending this event with the opportunity of talking to media about their own club projects. We are then taking the opportunity to have lunch together and share our ideas.
This week I will also be on radio talking about our conference and what Rotary is. We are also working on a new radio campaign to run throughout the district, kicking off in Millicent with their club doing a live interview.
If you are not one for talking on radio, we are producing a 30 sec advertisement and will take it out to your radio stations to promote Rotary in your own area. Please do some research and get back to us with your radio station/s contact details and we will do the rest.
We are now only days away from conference, with registration closing in a couple of days so make sure you have booked to come along and connect with our members from around the district, see some fabulous projects, learn some new things and have a bit of fun.
DG Kathy and the conference team are excited to welcome you to join in the fun in Ballarat in March and to invite your friends and family to join us on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday afternoon is open to the public, so spread the word that they can join us to hear Jelena and John speaking and even get a book signed, if they would like.
Scan the QR code or go to https://www.trybooking.com/CGDXK to book a ticket to the Saturday afternoon session. Bookings close 5pm 20 March.
Details about all of the fantastic Speakers are on the Conference website.
For more information about the conference program and venuesand to register for all or part, click here .
Our District has Assistant Governors who aid the District Governor by managing a specific area. Some assist clubs, some assist various District Committees and others manage a specific aspect of our District organisation. Each month we focus on a different Assistant Governor, and let you get to know them a little better.
This month we head to Geelong with a bit of information about Cats supporter and
Assistant Governor for Youth, Wendy James from Horsham East Rotary.
I am delighted to let you all know that our first surgical team to visit one of our partner countries since March 2020 is currently in Fiji. This is the 145th visit to Fiji since the initiation of the program.
While there, Dr Anand Ramakrishnan (Interplast surgical volunteer and team leader) along with Dr Sanjeet Ram (Fijian plastics trainee) spoke on Fiji One Breakfast show about the work Interplast have been doing in Fiji for the last few years in the area of plastic surgery. Watch the interview here.
In September the Defying the Drift team held a very successful 3-day residential program for 30 Yr 10-12 students at Longerenong College near Horsham. Since then the students have completed their DtD experience by honing their presentation skills reporting back to their sponsoring Rotary Clubs. Congratulations to all participants on a fabulous program. Read the DtD Committee's report for 2022 here.
An interesting article Tony Alsop came across in a Scout publication that has relevance to our own organisation and lives. (Used with permission)
"A lot of information that comes across my desk is about Adults who are upset with other Adults. They may not agree with each other, they may have been offended by the tone of a conversation or they may be upset by the content of an email. To be our best selves, we need to look at the way we communicate. Here is a story and some tips that may help you when you are angry, upset, annoyed, or are writing an email.
