Weekly meetings are via Zoom due to the situation with Covid-19
President
David Shackleton
It was wonderful to see everyone come together this week. We had a record turnout on Wednesday, with 41 members attending, 38 physically and 3 through Zoom. That represents a 77% attendance, the highest this year. The meeting had a marvellous buzz, and from my standpoint, the term “herding cats” springs to mind.
The last three months have been one of change. We have all had to adjust to the current situation, learn new skills, innovate, adapt, and even evolve. This is certainly true of our Club. To ensure we meet the changing needs of our members and understand your views we are developing a questionnaire. This goal of the questionnaire will be to assess how we can best meet your needs going forward and remain relevant and attractive. We anticipate having the questionnaire to you in July.
The Rotary Down Under magazine tends to evoke some strong opinions amongst our members. However, the magazine does provide a sweeping review of some of Rotary’s many projects. The way Rotary touches the lives of many and the enormous good we do in the world, is hugely impressive.
Reading the latest edition, I learned of the Arch Krumph Society. The Society is named for the man considered the father of the Rotary Foundation and recognises the top tier of donors. Rotarians who have given more than $250,000 to the Foundation. As you know, the Foundation helps fight COVID 19, provides clean water, saves the lives of mothers and children etc.
Last year there were 95 new members of the Society, with a total membership of 509 in the USA, 111 in Taiwan, 106 in India, 95 in Korea and 20 in Australia etc.
Our speaker this week was Reimer Freitag from Good Bitches Baking (gbb.org.nz). This name surely catches attention but at their core, GBB is about kindness. Their vision is ‘we want to make Aotearoa the kindest place on earth’.
GBB is about breaking the mould and doing good. The idea was born over a few wines shared between Nic Murray and Marie Fitzpatrick talking about people who live in not particularly happy circumstances or who are just having a hard time. They wanted to develop a system of small gestures to spread a little kindness. Arise Good Bitched Baking, and when they reached out to their community, they had an overwhelming response to their call from others who understood the power of the small gesture.
There are now 2100 Good Bitches all over the country in 25 chapters. Wellington is the biggest with 650 bakers and each month 400-500 baked good portions (cakes or slices) go out in this region alone. They have an established infrastructure to manage newcomers, rosters and distribution – all delivered in new clean boxes. One of their challenges is to maintain baker/recipient balance with each Bitch baking about once per month.
Where does the baking go? Ronald McDonald House, the Children’s Ward at Wellington Hospital, Hospices, Men’s and Women’s shelter; Women’s Refuge, Rape Crisis - all Charities or organisations that support people are having a tough time. They have worked in prisons with both men and women, many of whom are the perpetrators of the violence that are the reason these charities exist.
So why the name Good Bitches Baking? The title ‘Good Bastard’ has positive connotations in New Zealand – and they felt there wasn’t an equivalent for good women with more than a bit of attitude. Actually, it’s quite a masterful marketing tool – as you do pay attention!
GBB has received a number of accolades. See https://www.gbb.org.nz/in-the-news. Fittingly, on their 5th birthday the Governor General threw a party and Government House and had her chef make a cake with Good Bitches Baking on it. High recognition indeed.
Brenda Lazelle
Our newest member, Phillipa Bascand, was inducted during lockdown via a Zoom meeting. Here she is at our first face to face meeting in Level 2 receiving her pin and Rotary information from President David Shackleton.
Come together during general sessions to witness the power of Rotary connections. Learn new skills, explore thought-provoking topics, and discover inventive ways to engage and adapt at our breakout sessions.
Visit the convention’s event page on Facebook to connect with other members. And use the hashtag #Rotary20 in your social media posts to share what you’re looking forward to at this year’s convention. Don’t forget to invite a friend from your club or share the convention with your Rotary family.
Women in Tech Breakfast -
"This is life, but not as we know it"
Register now!
IYM is excited to be involved in TechWeek 2020. We are hosting an online Women in Tech Breakfast in conjunction with SSS IT Security Specialists. Our theme - "This is life, but not as we know it".
We have three inspiring women who will share their story and how Covid-19 has changed life as they know it.
Victoria is passionate about making a difference to New Zealand. She has twenty years experience in the Communications and IT sectors, across strategy, partnerships, product, marketing, channels, business development, customer services, communications and brand. She is experienced in all customer segments (Corporate, Business and Consumer), across traditional and emerging products. Victoria is known as a results-driven leader. She has held many Board roles that cover a variety of private, social and not for profit enterprises.
Georgia Elliott - Project Manager @ SSS IT Security Specialists
Georgia leads the Project Management team at SSS IT Security Specialists. Her role is managing the translation of technical jargon into a common language for project teams or stakeholders to understand, resulting in success.
Maniaiwaho Phillips - PKI and IAM Specialist @ SSS IT Security Specialists
Maniaiwaho is PKI and IAM specialist at SSS IT Security Specialists. Her role is to enable the management of the lifecycle of identities within organisations including Identity Governance, Public Key Infrastructure, Certificate Lifecycle Management and Privilege Access Management.
There will be an opportunity for a few questions following each speaker.
We hope you can join us and our guests for an inspiring and informative start to your day. Don't forget to register!
NB: If you are rostered for duty and cannot make it, then please arrange for someone else to take your place and let Brent know at brent.gerrard@outlook.com or 021 725060 Txts are fine too!
When: 5.30 pm
Wednesday 1 July 2020
Venue: The Anteroom
Level 5
The Wellington Club
88 The Terrace
Wellington
Cost: $50 pp
Canapés and welcome drink
Cash bar
Payments to Club Account
03-0502-0132476-00
With Reference ‘Changeover’
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Joy's birdfeeder in Queenstown.
Enjoying their feast in the garden!!
Have you ever noticed how birds always have a 'guard bird'? Fascinating.
I did not even put an advertisement on Facebook but they all knew there was sugar/honey water here!!
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Rotarians enjoying a coffee catch up after breakfast on Wednesday.
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Guess the Rotarian
The “Guess the Rotarian” session this week was a great success and had members guessing until the end. Finally Haley got the right answer. The session featured Jane Paterson who provided these wonderful facts about her exciting life (with a little artist licence) .We thought they were worth sharing.
One of her ancestors was the first European woman to step ashore in Nelson in 1842
Modelled her own creations on the catwalk
Is the mother of a movie star
Interviewed Kiri Te Kanawa while sitting on her bed in her hotel room
Sang with the 5th Dimension
Led a male dance group
Is related to the country and western singer Tex Morton
Held provincial swimming records
Born in Palmerston North
Has wonderful children and five grandchildren
Was living in Washington DC at the time of Ronald Reagans attempted assignation
Rotary - 4 Ways to engage members online: Click here
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FUNNIES!
Last Christmas I bought my wife an artificial leg.
It was a stocking filler.
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If Watson isn't the most famous Doctor then Who is.
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If I was asked to pick one word to describe myself it would be:
Doesn't follow instructions
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What's the definition of a Will?
Come on guys it's a dead giveaway.
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Rotary Predator Free Waterfront Trapping Schedule
Week Ending (Sunday)
Volunteer 1
Volunteer 2
May 24
Jeff Lee
Brent Gerrard
May 31
Jenny Flannigan-Tong
Howard Tong
June 7
Bill Day
Steve Lawton
June 14
David Shackleton
Richard Brodie
June 21
Marc Rands
Bev Wells
June 28
Noel Winsloe
David Shackleton
July 5
Steve Lawton
Dennis Small
July 12
Brent Gerrard
Bill Day
July 19
Brenda Lazelle
Dave Lazelle
July 26
Jenny Flannigan Tong
Howard Tong
Aug 2
Richard Brodie
Peter Whittington
Aug 9
Noel Winsloe
Bev Wells
Please note: I have used Sunday as the service day for the week, but feel free to negotiate an alternative day to suit with your Service Volunteer Partner. If your allocated day doesn't suit please swap. Text Fraser Ebbett (WCC) 021 765 694 when you arrive and leave the site.