Dr Julie Monis-Ivett was our guest at the Rotary Club of Murray Bridge dinner meeting on Tuesday night. She is the Director of the Birthing Kit Australia Foundation whose Vision is A World in which all women and girls have access to a clean and safe birth. They aim to achieve this by having a positive impact on the lives of mothers and babies in developing countries, to advocate, educate and provide resources to improve outcomes for expectant mothers, and to enable systems where women and girls become truely empowered. The Foundation has been working in Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwi, Zambia and India. They started with 100 birthing kits in 1999 then in 2004 received a $30,000 grant from Aus Aid and have now distributed over 2.5 million kits. International Director Roxanne Rowland said the Rotary Club of Murray Bridge will soon be putting together kits for distribution to support the program. Ten thousand Birth Nurses have been trained. Education is also an important part of the program. A Midwifery College has been established in the Congo adjacent to hospital to support the project. Eleven shipping containers of equipment has been sent to date. Contraception is the next program going forward. Birthing Kits are considered to be the glue that holds communities together. 50% of babies die and with no social security there is a huge impact on family life particularly for the aged. Over five million people have been killed through the recent African wars.
This week we also have ALHD “Theo” being placed with his recipient.
Theo is an Australian Labradoodle from Rusty Amber Labradoodles. He has been sponsored and named by Lions Club of Theodore in QLD.
A big thank you to Lyn and her family for fostering Theo. They have done an amazing job at raising a well-rounded and socialised dog, which was a fantastic start to his Hearing Assistance Dog career.
Theo has spent the last few days learning the sounds in his new home that he has to alert his recipient to. He has also been accompanying his recipient on outings into the community with the guidance of his trainer.
Badging The Bridge
In the background of your Club there had been a small group addressing how we can “Badge the Bridge” from a Rotary perspective, when serendipitously a District Grant offer appeared offering the District Clubs monies that were surplus to requirements.
The guidelines were in brief: -
Show how your project will promote the Rotary brand within the Community
How your project will collaborate with other Rotary Clubs and/or other organisations
Supports one or more areas of Rotary’s areas of focus
The “Badge the Bridge” committee (which included reps from the Mobilong Club), morphed in to a group dedicated to developing a plan or project to garnishee this money from the District coffers ($5k plus one third of our own ie $6.6k total per Club or double if combined with Mobilong).
Our recently appointed Club Marketer in Steve Walker was challenged with putting together a presentation to this small group with a view to finding a project that would give us a very real chance of scoring some lazy dollars from District.
Keeping in mind that time is of the essence (the Grant has to be submitted on 31st of March 2022 and finalised by November 2022).
Monday night Steve regaled us with all sorts of ideas and signs and badging which in the end he distilled down to a project which was: -
Badging all the recycling wheelie bins in Murray Bridge with a large sticker which says “Rotary supports recycling” and the badge might contain the Rotary Clubs Logo, it might contain the Rotary website landing page, it might contain in small print the business that printed the stickers etc.
Steve will follow up on the costs, and present that detail together with an abridged version of his presentation to fellow Rotarians tonight with a further outline in two weeks time. This will give you all an idea of where this small committee is heading thus far.
Here’s the rub. We need you, fellow Rotarians, to give us some feedback on what you think of the idea. PLUS if you have a project that might better fill the bill then this will be the time to stand up and give us your idea. Indeed any project that you think might be worthwhile will be considered, if not for this Grant then perhaps later in the year.
Projects are the life blood of Service Clubs like ours.
CALENDAR WINNERS 29th MARCH 2022
$100
645
Jim & Vicki Mason
Murray Bridge
J. Mason
$30
426
Alan Pomery
Victor Harbor
Strath Darts Club
$20
792
Heath Sissman
Strathalbyn
J. Sissman
Object of Rotary
The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:
FIRST: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;
FOURTH: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
End Polio Now
In 1985 Rotary launched PolioPlus to immunize every child in the world against polio. Working with our partners and members of the global health community, together we will end polio.
Through the science of vaccines, Rotary & partners have saved nearly 19 million children from becoming paralyzed by polio. Learn more about our work to End Polio Now and how you can get involved: https://on.rotary.org/3eqtrrr
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years, and we’ve made incredible progress in the fight to rid the world of it forever.
It’s crucial to eradicate polio from the last two countries where it remains endemic and to keep other countries polio-free.
If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
What is polio?
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
What's happening on our Facebook page
John Scarvelis has been posting up a storm with some great content.