We were honoured to host a very large party of visiting Rotarian’s who were in Auckland to attend the Rotary Symposium taking place primarily at Waipuna Lodge from 8-10 September. The symposium combined two events, ‘Institute’ and ‘Future Leaders Seminar’.
‘Institute’ is an annual event where each Rotary International Director convenes a meeting of senior leaders in Zone (past, present and incoming) to share information, ideas and resources, build new connections and reacquaint with old friends, and exchange ideas about Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.
The ‘Future Leaders’ seminar was open to any Rotarian wanting to learn more about Rotary from a leadership perspective. The symposium was preceded by pre-Institute events including Governor-Elect and Governor-Nominee training, Governors Forum and the best little club in the Biosphere (St John’s) hosting a joint meeting.
Our guest speaker was Rotary Foundation Trustee Mike Webb from England. To open, Mike told us his Rotary Club meets in the village of Cheddar, and how Cheddar (the Village) got its name. He then went on to talk about the Rotary Foundation.
The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. Mike reminded us that the Foundation both ‘gives’ and ‘receives’ with half of contributions directed to District fund and the other half to World fund. Funds come solely and voluntarily from Rotary members and Friends of Rotary.
Mike talked about the history of the Foundation which started in 1917. The fist first donation of $26.50 was made by the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world." It has grown from that initial contribution of US$26.50 to more than US$1 billion. The Rotary Foundation is now one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world. For a timeline of Foundation’s history follow this link: http://centennial.rotary.org/en/history-rotary-foundation
Mike then touched on some of the Foundations highlights. In 1930 the Foundation awarded its first grant of $500 to the International Society for Crippled Children. 1947 saw the first Paul Harris Fellow recognition; 1965 the first Group Study Exchange took place.
The Foundation is probably most known for its Polio vaccination campaign which began in 1979 and morphed into the PolioPlus campaign in 1985. Since the PolioPlus program’s inception more than 2.5 billion children have received oral polio vaccine. In the huge effort to eradicate Polio, the Foundation has partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Only nine cases of polio were reported last year! Rotary is not far from achieving its goal to eradicate this disease. Infrastructure supported by this huge program will continue to assist with other infection diseases.
The Foundation is also responsible for starting Rotary Peace Centres; supporting Rotary Peace Fellows, Rotary Scholars and providing scholarships. (For an extensive run down of the program the Foundation runs, try this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Foundation. It was great to be reminded and informed of the tremendous work the Rotary Foundation is involved with; continually enabled by member contribution.