Co-Presidents St. Johns Rotary, Penny McGarry (Ph: 021 702 310), and Lesley Harris (Ph: 027 4935 498).
From L and P “In absentia”
As you are aware both Co Presidents were off in the South Island last week and as there was ‘no spare’ President, Past President Hugh stepped up and ran the meeting – thanks Hugh, we were confident the meeting was in good, safe hands.
Further absences saw Robyn standing in as Editor, to record "Meeting in Review", and Simon Jones as Speaker, thanks to Robyn and Simon also for your update on Hospice.
Good old School Holidays, all back to normal next week when school resumes and grandparent duties are less.
In last weeks Bulletin, the following story appeared. However, there was one significant error under the heading Honorary Members, with the omission of Peter Boshiers name. The Editor offers his sincere apologies for this error.
Did You Know the following about your Club Membership;
Current Membership: = 52
Honorary Members: = 15
(John Anderson, Donald Bowie, Peter Boshier, Mary Ann Davison, Mike Henry, Tim Jones, Ainie Kwok, Gary Lord, Andy McCarrison, Alex McKenzie, Toni Miller, Dr Paul Shard, David Stone, Neville Sturmfels and our most recently appointed - John Cornaga)
July Membership Movement:
Newest Member: Namrata Guland. Re-joined 1st July after two year absent
Transferring Rotarian: Avi Figuelredo. Avi has moved to Wellington and will be looking to transfer to a Rotary Club in Lower Hutt
Our scheduled speaker (Conrad from Habitat) had to defer his appearance until next week, so our Membership was extremely fortunate that Simon Jones was able to step in at short notice to present to us on ‘Dove Hospice’.
Simon reminded us that our Club has played a huge part in the development over the years of Dove Hospice, with member Isabella Tedcastle being one of the founding patrons, and noted that next year will be the 30th Anniversary of the organisation (established in 1992). Member Graham Fabian (New World Stonefields) is their Deputy Chairman and this year he was instrumental in underwriting the Club's Annual Golf Tournament, which was very successful and resulted in RC St Johns making a substantial donation to Dove Hospice.
Simon has been a Volunteer Trustee of Dove Hospice for six years and CEO for 18 months and was invited in by club member Gary Key, also a long serving Volunteer Trustee.
Based in the grounds of St Andrew's Retirement Village (Glendowie), the tendrils of Dove have supported many people and the impact of the high-quality care offered by Dove Hospice is profound.
Simon advised that $100 million of Government funding is invested into approximately 40 Hospices throughout NZ, with an additional $60 million raised by Hospices through their retail shops, gifts and donations.
Hospice deliver services to approximately 40,000 New Zealander’s every year. Dove is different because unlike the other Hospices, they receive no direct government funding, with around $6 million coming in from the community with almost 100% of this coming from the Retail shops (with two new stores opened recently).
All Dove Hospice services are provided to the community at ‘no charge’. Dove at St Andrews offers Outpatient and Inpatient care; has 100% occupancy of three beds and access to a further eight beds. In addition to Palliative care they offer Respite care and a long list of clinical services. They recently employed two full-time palliative care Nurse specialists. The three pillars of Dove Hospice are: 1] Clinical, 2] Retail and 3] Volunteers & Donors.
During lockdown, because the retail shops were closed, Dove lost ALL income, but despite this they we able to retain 100% of their clinical capability with only some admin roles cut back during that time. 18 months later, Simon reports their budget is 30% higher than they ever had!
Through their retail shops they ‘Turn Second-hand goods into first class hospice care’. At present Dove have approximately 60 staff, with about 60% of whom are clinically focussed. Around 25 staff run the very complex and large contribution centre and retail operations.
Dove is very proud that for every $1 donated to them, approximately 40-50 cents goes directly into Hospice. For context Simon advised this compares with World Vision where for every dollar donated to them, 80-85 cents goes into the admin cost of delivering their services globally. Dove is very proud of these reinvestment ratios.
Of those who use Dove Hospice services, two thirds have some form of cancer and one third other illnesses. Often not known is their services have an additional and very positive role in assisting with returning many clients to ‘Wellness’. Around 50% of Dove’s service (unique to Dove and not offered by other Hospices) is in return to ‘wellness’ services. There is shortly to be a rebrand of ‘Dove Hospice and Wellness’ to recognise this ‘Wellness’ component.
Thank you, Simon for giving us such an interesting and comprehensive update on Dove Hospice. Our Club is very proud of the close association with have with Dove Hospice.
(Note From Ed. Many thanks for this story Robyn in my absence last week)
Conrad is the General Manager for Habitat for Humanity Auckland, a non-profit organisation that helps families build and improve a place to call home, here in NZ and around the world. They believe affordable housing plays a critical role in strong and stable communities. Conrad (who has been a guest of our club a number of times over the years) and advises this time he will be coming with some controversial statements on housing to illicit debate!
THURSDAY AUGUST 5th - Dinner Meeting - Guest Speakers; This years St. Johns Rotary sponsored RYLA participants.
This years RYLA was held from 3-10 July. We have invited our sponsored RYLARian's to report back on their experience. Always an inspiring meeting - be sure to get your RSVP in to PP Robyn, Director Club Services.
THURSDAY AUGUST 12th - Breakfast Meeting - Guest Speaker: Eddie Uini.
Orange Sky provides free laundry, warm showers and genuine conversation to people experiencing homelessness. Eddie is the NZ Operations Manager and will tell us about the NZ operation of this charitable organisation; exactly what they do and who they are helping. Orange Sky was started in Australia in 2014 by two twenty-year olds; and then came to NZ in 2018. https://orangesky.org.nz/
Let the fun begin! It doesn't get much better than this. A great night of fellowship, a great night of rugby, (potentially) and a great opportunity to raise some funds for "doing good in the community" .
Thanks to David James we recently had an inclusion in the July 2021 Glendowie College Principal's Newsletter. The item says it all:
The club wants to expand its presence in media like this so if anyone has a suggestion as to where we can submit an article please let Colin know on 021 652 801
Did you know that 85% of new members come from you as a valued existing member asking or referring someone to Rotary?
So, who do you know who would make a good Rotarian member of our club? Will you bring a friend, family member, neighbour and/or colleague along to discover more about us as a vibrant club in their community? Please don't pre-qualify them as to whether they have enough time or money etc - simply invite them to come along and experience who we are and let them make their own decision.
If you want to invite someone along, but are reluctant to do so yourself for whatever reason (we will not ask), then contact Beryl on 021 652 802 or email berylrobinson@xtra.co.nzwith their name, email address and mobile number, so she can encourage them to join us for a great experience at a meeting, event and/or project, then follow-up at their pace.
Let us ALL do something towards growing our club, as more members enables more ideas, more hands to do good at community projects, and more fun through Rotary! Don't 'hog' the joy of membership - share it around ...
On Friday 13th August the Ellerslie Sunrise Rotary Club has a guest speaker - Professor Shaun Hendy, the lead COVID-19 modeller to the Government.
Shaun is a scientist, he teaches in both the Department of Physics and the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland. He was founding Director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a national Centre of Research Excellence, and is a co-founder of the green fintech company, Toha. He has won a number of awards, including the Callaghan Medal, the Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize, and the E. O. Tuck medal for applied mathematics. In 2020, his team was awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Prize for their COVID-19 response. He co-authored Get Off the Grass with the late Sir Paul Callaghan in 2012, and has since written two other books, Silencing Science and #NoFly.
Shaun is very good at describing complex science in lay persons language. He is well positioned to present the topic COVID-19 describing:
What exactly is COVID-19?
How does it act inside our bodies?
Why are some variants spreading quicker than others?
What does Dr Ashley Bloomfield mean when he says ‘we in NZ are just at the end of the beginning of COVID-19’?
What does the World Health Organisation mean when they say ‘no-one will be safe from COVID-19 until everyone is safe’?
The science of the current vaccines available around the world – how do they work in the body, are some better than others, etc?
Why has NZ chosen the vaccines it has?
Why should I get vaccinated if it seems people are still getting the disease after they are vaccinated?
AND much more including the range of questions the audience will have.
We would like to invite you and your members to come and join us for our breakfast meeting so you can get all the latest information on COVID. It will be a very very interesting morning.
The meeting is at:
Ellerslie Convention Centre, Level 2, Silks Room
From 7.00am - 8.30am
Friday 13th August 2021
Breakfast cost is $28.00pp
It would be fantastic to have a group of Rotarians from different clubs along to join us on this special occasion. To assist, we are happy to bill your Club direct for breakfast costs.
For catering purposes, could you please advise if you or your Rotary members/friends would be interested by Tuesday 10th August.
The Rotary Club of Somerville, has sent the following invitation to an Anniversary Fund Raising Dinner;
Dear Lesley,
Rotary Club of Somerville is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a fundraiser. We would like to invite you and your club members to help us celebrate.
After 25 glorious years of selfless service to local and international communities, Rotary Club of Somerville is hosting an evening packed with charm, wit and wisdom with Chris Luxon, former CEO of Air New Zealand. Luxon will share his secret mantra on Leadership and success.
A three-course dinner with plenty of entertainments, silent and live auctions and raffles is guaranteed to make it a fun evening to remember. All proceeds go to Rotary projects both local and international.