Check the 'Resources' tab to view last year's TV ad on Television New Zealand

Vison + Image = Membership

New Zealand Rotary Club Vision Trainer, PDG Ross Murray, in action with a group of new District 9940 facilitator trainees at Foxton on 30 July. Fourteen District Rotarians attended this training session with Ross. District 9940 now has a pool of 23 trained facilitators to work with Clubs across the District using the tools of Club Vision to help strategic planning.

The News has been in the News lately!

Nicole Parry (Rotarian from Eastern Hutt and Bulletin Editor) writes on 'The Role of the Journalist'.  She writes ...

I found two definitions of interest: in 1690s, it was stated as “one whose work is to write or edit public journals or newspapers; and from 1712 a journalist was said to be “one who keeps a journal”.

I made my own definition by looking at the noun journalist.
French - Journaliste Jour journal liste
English - Journalist Day Daily paper/diary list

Journalists obtain and collect lists of news and then publish/broadcast them to inform us. 

There are many ways to get news according to our preferences; whether on the radio, television
or the written form. Most newspapers can be found on the internet. What is newsworthy? Blogs? Websites? Publications? Bulletins? Newsletters? Twittering news? Facebook? 
We all have an idea of what is newsworthy, considered as being of local, regional, national or international interest. Some others might be considered as pointless, worthless or even a nuisance.  With their Code of Ethics and Standards; journalists share the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability. All these are required to acquire newsworthy information and delivery to the public.  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers”. This is very important for all journalists and not just Reporters Without Borders. However, how far can one go to obtain news? Should all types of imaginative Investigative Journalism be acceptable? It would make a good moot debate.  

I will conclude by quoting Tony Burman, ex-editor-in-chief of CBC News - “Every news organization has only its credibility and reputation to rely on”.  
Below is a link to the main newspapers around the world, very worth bookmarking. http://www.thepaperboy.com

Nicole Parry

Check under the "PR Grant" tab for an update from RPIC Dick Garner

Profile high - image great!!

Well done RC of Palmerston North - keep up the great work.

Profile and image - especially with those hi-viz jackets - great!!

The correct image is no accident

If you fail to plan you plan to fail!

A Club Bulletin reported a great summary of their recent Club forum.  The members were obviously divided into groups and were given an area to 'brainstorm' and the findings were then documented.

What a great way to start the year - and in this case I was interested in what was mentioned about 'their image in the community'.  What does their Club look like from the prospective of a visitor?

Programme Group
The guiding principles:
• An interesting evening that will make people want to come back
• The club is only as good as its last meeting
• Always have a high caliber of speaker
• Check with other clubs to find speakers they would recommend
• Greater variety
Whats not working
• Keep announcements to essentials, use the bulletin for directors reports, keep the meeting tight.
Rotary in the Community Group
• Do we know what the Community wants? No.
• How could we find out? A survey is probably not viable, bets we work alongside other community groups or
community “stake holders” Fire brigade, Community Centre etc• Should we be doing something in the community? Yes, that is part of being in Rotary
• Possible Projects include:  Memorial Project, The Shared Path “landscaping”, Flower baskets for main road, Shopping Mall Kereru project completion,

Read more ...

DG Raewyn doing her bit for Rotary’s public image

DG Raewyn Kirkman (9930) writes on hrer Blog:

A few months ago I decided to get the Rotary wheel put on the cover of my spare tyre on the back of my little red Terios - number plate VRYRED.  When I was interviewed by the Waikato Times a few weeks back, they took a photo of it – looks really sharp out on the road and I have had quite a few comments about it – so come on you  4WD owners – how about matching me??

 As well as the full page article in the Waikato Times, I have had two television interviews lately that you might like to tune into.  While Geoff and I were doing our club visits in Hawkes Bay last week, I was interviewed for the 30 min Hawkes Bay TV show called ‘Chatroom”.  That will show on Friday 5 August at 7.30 pm on TVHB on UHF channel 51 and be re-broadcast on Saturday 6 August at 7.30 am and 12.30 pm.  Apparently it will also be sent to the other regional channels and could play on Cue TV which is on Sky 110 or Freeview channel 23.  You can also see it on www.tvhb.co.nz after Friday.

This week, I was interviewed for a six minute slot on Central TV news (Waikato Bay of Plenty), and that will show on Monday 1 August at 7.30 pm and repeated again the next day at 12.30 pm. Central TV broadcast on UHF channel 40 and Freeview channel 30. 

When I spoke at a district membership and PR seminar five years ago and commented that we needed a new poster boy or girl for Rotary, I didnt plan on being it!!  I guess the novelty value of being a (reasonably) young and female District Governor has its benefits for Rotary’s public image so I am making the most of it!!

Hitting the press for humanity

One of the 'shelter boxes' that has provided emergency supplies for nearly 750,000 disaster victims is on display at the Ideal Home Show, as Palmerston North's Rotary Club works to raise $4500 to buy three more.

Kitted out: Rotary members Philip Boulton,
left, and David Jopson, with a temporary
disaster shelter.
Photo: LEILANI HATCH

The boxes – made of sturdy plastic and a little over 80cm wide – contain enough essentials to support 10 people. A standard kit can include a tent, sleeping bags, mosquito nets, clean water and water purification tablets, tools, utensils, cooking supplies, wet-weather gear, children's school supplies and a burner capable of running off unleaded gasoline.

New Zealand has a stock of more than 300 shelter boxes. One shelter was used as a temporary classroom in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake and others served as emergency health centres for earthquake refugees in Japan .

Rotary Club president David Jopson said the $1500 pricetag for each box included the cost to transport it anywhere in the world.

The box was usually dropped into the disaster area by helicopter.

More than $2000 has already been raised towards the cost of the three new shelter boxes, and Mr Jopson was confident people would support the cause.

"New Zealanders are often the first to put up their hand."

The Shelter Box project was launched in 2000, and since 2007 shelter boxes have been deployed in Afghanistan , China , Pakistan , Myanmar , Sudan , and Sumatra , he said.

Donations can be made at the Ideal Home Show at Arena Manawatu this weekend or to the Rotary Charitable Trust, PO Box 1454 , Palmerston North.

- The Manawatu Standard

46 days to go ...

More info ...
The Rotarians of New Zealand have combined forces, are scrumming down and are getting all fired up to host other Rotarians from overseas.  It's not too late for you to book your airfares and head on over to New Zealand.  It will be worth  the trip!!

Click on the link above to find out more.

Another great initiaitve

Picked this up in my email recently:

We all receive Rotary Down Under, the monthly magazine for Rotary members in Australia, New Zealand and all the neighboring countries. Some of us read it with interest. Some of us may just recycle it right away (note: recycle, not trash!). We would like to collect all these unread copies and give them away to prospective members, speakers, or anybody who could be interested. We would also add a sticker with the club's contact information in case this gives ideas to the reader.

So if you don't read (or have read) your copy of the Rotary Down Under please bring it with you to our next meeting..

Does our organisation reflect a 2011 image?

This

or this?

Keeping NZ Beautiful for Rugby World Cup

Progress on the nationwide cleanup campaign COOL.

We are now gaining momentum with our campaign.
Keep New Zealand Beautiful are right behind us and as I have mentioned before they have targeted a national cleanup week of 21st August to the 28th August.
There are 73,123 farmers in NZ and so Keep NZ Beautiful are allocating us 70,000 litter bags. These will be available for collection at the following outlets:_-

• PGG Wrightson (100 stores nationwide)
• Farmlands (46 stores in the North Island)
• CRT (28 stores in the South Island)
• RD1 (not on board at present but hopefully they will join us)

The litter bags are packed into boxes of 200 each and each pallet has 10,000 bags.

We are planning to drop the 7 pallets progressively throughout NZ and then each pallet can be dispersed to the various outlets in each District.

This will involve Rotary members in each District being responsible for getting the litter bags to their outlets in their respective areas.

We are notifying all District Councils and they are being asked to make available their refuse tips, free of charge, for the weekend of the 27th and 28th August.. The Rotary Clubs within each District Council’s collection area are asked to liase with their Councils as to the collection of the litter bags. I would think that Rotary Clubs will be responsible for the collections.

We are having printed 25,000 flyers to go out with litter bags and also posters to go into the various stores to assist staff in promoting the campaign. All the store managers have been notified by their respective Head Offices to help with promotion.   Also we are planning nationwide advertising on TV, local radio stations, farming publications and local newspapers. We are planning to build up a strong momentum.

This campaign is not just for rural roads. Many city clubs will have walkways, beach fronts and the like which may need inspections.

This campaign is a wonderful window for Rotary and so with support of all Clubs, not only are we putting Rotary in the public eye, but also making our country looking “polished” for all our prospective visitors.

In summary:-

To distribute litter bags to outlets in each District.

To assist and or liase with District Councils with the collection and disposal of the litter bags.

To ask for more details click here

Children's Home Receives Welcome Gift

At their meeting this week Keith de Dulin, President
of the Rotary club, presented Shane Murdoch
General Manager and Edwina Poynton of
Cholmondeley Home with the keys for the van.

Recently it came to the attention of members of the Bishopdale/Burnside Rotary Club that Cholmondeley Children's Home, based at Governors Bay, had received structural problems with their building during the February earthquake and had to relocate all their children to Living Springs.
Added to this dilemma was the need to urgently replace one of the vans they use on a daily basis to transport children into Christchurch City for medical care and activities.

When this situation became known to members of the Bishopdale/Burnside Rotary Club, a unanimous decision was made to proceed with the purchase of a suitable vehicle for Cholmondeley.

Murdoch said the gift of the van was greatly appreciated and would make a big difference to the comfort level of the children being transported to and from the city on a regular basis.
Cholmondeley has been providing care and education to children from families struggling in the Canterbury community, for over eighty five years, and since the recent earthquakes the demand for their services had increased even further.   
Mr de Dulin said "this is a very satisfying project for our club and we are pleased to be in a position to support this very worthy organisation in this way.”

The van proudly displays the Rotary Wheel logo as “it’s important that Rotary is visual because we need a lot more members to enable us to do even more for the Canterbury community” he said.

District 9970 - well done - more promotion and excellent Rotary profile on wheels

NZ Rotary Rugby Hosting catching on!

Click here for more details...

News Flash!  [I received this report this evening]

Hello to all and with the RWC getting closer by the day thought it would be good to give a quick update.

After a bit of a booking lull earlier in the year we have now got a bit of a rush on and have had 10 bookings in last 10 days or so. Mainly from Aus, UK and even from NZ. It looks like people have left some of their bookings to the last minute and a number are booking in locations outside of game days and are using the booking system to fill in some gaps in their rugby itinerary.

We now have bookings for nearly every game location with bookings mainly from the main rugby playing nations but have one from Geogia although we are still waiting for payment but expect this thru soon.

Thanks again for all being involved and we hope to get even more bookings thru in the next little while and will be doing one more marketing push mainly in Aust and NZ where we think the last minute demand will come from.

All Australian Rugby fans - come on over, support your team and the Rotary Foundation at the same time - as well as have a lot of fun!! 

Jenny and I are realy looking forward to hosting a South African couple during the World Cup.

Great cause - huge profile for Rotary

Each year some intrepid Rotarians seek adventure and to represent Rotary in the Cure Kids Accor Hotels $10 Queenstown Challenge.  Clubs are encouraged to support the team and therefore support Cure Kids and their amazing research.  It's for the kids!  This event is not far away (16-18 August 2011) so help out soon.

To support the team (and the kids) donations can be made via the links list below but note that larger donations are best made direct to Cure Kids with the specific request that the "[team name]" team be credited

 

Teams are:

Rotary Woolly Wanderers (RC St Johns, Auckland, D9920) http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/RotaryWoollyWanderers/

 

Ambassadorial Scholars http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/RotaryAmbassadorialScholarBucc

 

Grant and Sarah Smith (is a Rotary team
– RC Albany, 9910)
http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/GrantandSarahSmith
 

NOTE that all funds donated "to the team" go to Cure Kids.

The $10 Challenge fundraising event involves teams of two undertaking a series of innovative challenges en route from Queenstown to Auckland over three days all on $10!  The Queenstown $10 Challenge was first run in February 1993. The event started as a fun challenge between two Queenstown locals and was to see who could make the return Queenstown to Auckland trip with no money and no assistance from friends and relatives along the way. Over the years the rules have changed slightly but the principles remain. Each team gets a $10 note to survive on throughout their travels.

Click here for more info.

Cure Kids (previously Child Health Research Foundation) was established over 30 years ago to address the lack of research into life-threatening childhood illnesses in New Zealand. Since then, they have invested over $25 million in medical research. This research has helped save hundreds of young lives and has improved the quality of life for thousands of children. They are committed to help find answers to the many cruel, life-threatening illnesses that devastate the lives of young children and their families.

Key partners are:

Accor - Armacup - Briscoe Group - Colliers International - Contact Energy – Crane Distribution - David Reid Homes - Harvey Norman - HireQuip - Paper Plus Group - Peugeot - Pumpkin Patch – Qantas - Rotary in New Zealand

More info at these links

http://www.curekids.org.nz/

http://rotarystories-nzandpacific.blogspot.com/2011/07/rotary-wooley-wanderers-need-your.html