At the invitation of President Laurie Doube, the Rotary Club of Onkaparinga hosted Stirlinng at a joint meeting of the two clubs.  It is now 46 years since Onkaparinga was first chartered with the sponsorship of Stirling, 

 

PP Susanne, PDG Jeff and Jenny Neale and President Malcolm

in high level power discussions!

 

  

             Our Host, President Laurie Doube                Michelle and Taras Lesiw

                     and AG Shiralee Judge.                          enjoying a night out

 

Held at the Loebethal Recreation Centre at the Oval, it was a gala affair in recognition of both clubs' many achievements throughout many years of service to the community. 

 

 

Great food and good company!    The event even attracted the paparazzi!

 

The Guest Speakers were PDG Jeff and Jenny Neale who entertained all with their anecdotes and highlights of their year of club visits when Jeff was District Governor.  In 2021-22, such is the breadth of District 9510, they chalked up some 26,000kms on the road, visiting 90 Rotary and Rotaract Clubs.in every corner of the great state of South Australia and in parts of NSW and the NT! 

 

In describing some of the many terrific projects undertaken by clubs in the District, they came away understanding that it did not matter how many members a club had.  The Rotary Club of Charles Sturt Grange, for instance, a small club of only 9 members, manufactures and distributes over 500 large and small wooden toys at Christmas every year.  Click HERE to watch the 7News short feature broadcast on Wednesday night.

 

Other small clubs found clever ways to increase their reach into the community by using volunteers. 

 

Several clubs, for instance, host op-shops generating tens of thousands of dollars a year staffed exclusively by non-Rotarian volunteers. 

 

Another way of extending a club's reach into the community at little or no expense, is to collect food items for Christmas hampers by simply handing out Christmas hamper wish lists of grocery items needed for Christmas hampers to arriving customers at large grocery stores.  The lists would include a plea to shoppers to ask them to consider buying something from the list for those less fortunate and to then drop it off at the Rotary collection point upon departure.  

 

A great variant of that concept was successful for the RC of McLaren Vale.  They partnered with a local nursery, asking customers to buy a plant and donate it to Rotary for a garden they were building at a local Retirement Village.

 

Jenny Neale who took on advocacy for All KIDSs, then took to the podium to update everyone on progress in in the Cambodian schools project..

 

The All Kids Learning Centres offer additional tuition for all children in the community to supplement the public schools' programs by offering such things not taught, such as English and IT. 

 

There are currently over 700 students enrolled and 32 young, enthusiastic local staff.

 

 

A new centre which is now the focus of their efforts to address needs in other locations, is nearing completion but to meet unexpected rising costs, the project still in need of more funding to complete the toilet block and security fencing.

 

On 10 December, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  This year marks the 75th Anniversary of its adoption.

 

In the lead up to the anniversary, Shelterbox has declared 9 December their annual Giving Day; its major annual fundraiser.

 

 

Click HERE to visit the UN's Human Rights page and HERE, anytime until 10 December,  to make a donation to Shelterbox to continue to provide shelter those who have been displaced by natural disaster or conflict. 

 

If you, or the club, were thinking about giving this year, now is the time to do so to make twice the impact!

 

 

Here is a photo of a priceless (to somebody) item of clothing left at PDG Dick and Liz' home after the Bonfire Night. 

 

Dick would like to return it to its proper home, though...

A little three-year-old boy is sitting on the toilet. His mother thinks he has been in there too long, so she goes in to see what's up. The little boy is sitting on the toilet reading a book.