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January 18 2018

2018/19 RI PRESIDENT BARRY RASSIN WANTS ROTARIANS TO BE THE INSPIRATION

Rotary International President-elect Barry Rassin laid out his vision for the future of the organization on Sunday, calling on leaders to work for a sustainable future and to inspire Rotarians and the community at large.

Rassin, a member of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, unveiled the 2018-19 presidential theme, Be the Inspiration, to incoming district governors at Rotary’s International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA. “I want you to inspire in your clubs, your Rotarians, that desire for something greater. The drive to do more, to be more, to create something that will live beyond each of us.”

View Slideshow

2018-19 RI President Barry Rassin announces his presidential theme, Be the Inspiration, at Rotary's International Assembly.

 

Rassin stressed the power of Rotary’s new vision statement, “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.” This describes the Rotary that leaders must help build, he said.

To achieve this vision, the president-elect said, Rotarians must take care of the organization: “We are a membership organization first. And if we want to be able to serve, if we want to succeed in our goals — we have to take care of our members first.”

Rassin asked the incoming district governors to “inspire the club presidents, and the Rotarians in your districts, to want to change. To want to do more. To want to reach their own potential. It’s your job to motivate them — and help them find their own way forward.”

Progress on polio

Rassin noted that one source of inspiration has been Rotary’s work to eradicate polio. He described the incredible progress made over the past three decades. In 1988, an estimated 350,000 people were paralyzed by the wild poliovirus; just 20 cases were reported in 2017 as of 27 December. “We are at an incredibly exciting time for polio eradication,” he said, “a point at which each new case of polio could very well be the last.”

He emphasized that even when that last case of polio is recorded, the work won’t be finished. “Polio won’t be over, until the certifying commission says it’s over—when not one poliovirus has been found, in a river, in a sewer, or in a paralyzed child, for at least three years,” he said. “Until then, we have to keep doing everything we’re doing now.” He urged continued dedication to immunization and disease surveillance programs.

Sustaining the environment

Rotary has focused heavily on sustainability in its humanitarian work in recent years. Now, Rassin said, Rotarians must acknowledge some hard realities about pollution, environmental degradation, and climate change. He noted that 80 percent of his own country is within one meter of sea level. With sea levels projected to rise two meters by 2100, he said, “my country is going to be gone in 50 years, along with most of the islands in the Caribbean and coastal cities and low-lying areas all over the world.”

Rassin urged leaders to look at all of Rotary’s service as part of a larger global system. He said that this means the incoming district governors must be an inspiration not only to clubs, but also to their communities. “We want the good we do to last. We want to make the world a better place. Not just here, not just for us, but everywhere, for everyone, for generations.”

SUPERCHARGE YOUR ROTARY WITH RLI IN 2018

The Rotary Leadership Institute course is now run over two days, powerpacked with information, learning and skills you can use in your Rotary life straight away. 
 
Networking with other Rotarians and led by experienced facilitators, you are sure to enjoy what others are describing as the best Rotary training they have had.  Register online now at rli.rotarydistrict9685.org.au and supercharge your Rotary.
 
There are 2 courses available for registration:
 
RLI 45 - Sunday 18 February and Sunday 18 March 2018
RLI 47 - Saturday 5 and 19 May 2018
 
Please share this with your club members, particularly new Rotarians and new 2018/19 Board members.
 
 
SOKS - BENEFACTORS & BENEFICIARIES NIGHT - 26 FEBRUARY
 
 
TWO AMAZING EVENTS

 

Would you like to help a child in a wheelchair to experience the thrill of summiting Mt Kosciuszko this March?

Or would you like to experience the thrill of trekking to Everest Base Camp this April/May?

 

Both events have been arranged by Turramurra Rotary as part of a world record attempt by a spinal injury survivor to climb the “Seven Summits” in just four months.  The events are raising funds for SpinalCure AustraliaSurf Life Saving and Wheelchairs for Kids.

 

Click here for more info or visit www.turramurrarotaryproject7in4.com

 

 

IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE
In March 2018, it will be 30 years since Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) brought our first patient, 11-year-old Annand Chand from Fiji, to the John Hunter Hospital for life-saving surgery. Since then, over 500 children, from our neighbouring island countries have received life-giving or dignity-restoring surgery, thanks to ROMAC. We can all be proud of our efforts.
 
To celebrate, I invite you and your partner to attend our 30th Anniversary Dinner at Strangers’ Dining Room, NSW Parliament House, 6 Macquarie Street, Sydney on Friday 16 March 2018.
 
The dinner is $150 per person (inc GST), plus the online booking fee, and includes 3 courses and drinks. All meals are gluten-free. Dairy-free and vegetarian options are available when booking online. More information about the Dinner is available in the 30th Anniversary Dinner Flyer.
 
You will be in the illustrious company of the current Rotary International President, Ian H.S. Riseley, and his wife Juliet; The Hon. Brad Hazzard, NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research; other key Rotarians, members of the medical profession and government, former patients and of course, our ROMAC friends and volunteers.
 
I would be delighted if you can participate in this significant event because:
  • It is a time to look back and to look forward - and to thank and recognise all the members who made ROMAC possible, including your Clubs
  • We need to thank the medical profession - the specialists, nursing and support staff who treat the children - for all they do
  • The governments, agencies and friends who provide support should see what Rotary is made of and what it can achieve
  • You will be supporting ROMAC’s commitment to saving the lives of children
    Please register online at https://www.humanitix.com/event/romac/ as soon as you can because places are strictly limited. Also, please invite your ROMAC friends and your clubs to attend. Tables of 10 are available for $1500 (inc GST), plus booking fee.
 
Rob Wilkinson
Chairman
ROMAC - Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children
www.romac.org.au
 
 
WOULD YOU OR YOUR CLUB LIKE TO HELP FINISH THESE RAWCS PROJECTS?
CONGRATULATIONS - LOCAL WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Yvonne Taylor, a member of Lindfield Rotary Club, has been named “2018 Local Woman of the Year” by Davidson state MP Mr Jonathan O’Dea.  Yvonne is recognised for her dedication to “inspiring youth from all classes and cultures to contribute to their local communities”.  A teacher for some 30 years, Yvonne worked as an English as a Second Language (ESL) educator, and assistant school principal.  She served on the ministerial committee overseeing the first Aboriginal Education Curriculum for NSW and is still involved in peer support at Killara High School.  Yvonne is current a Lindfield Club director with Youth and Membership portfolios and has twice been club president.

 

Congratulations Yvonne.

GRIFFITH RAMPS UP WORLD-FIRST MALARIA VACCINE CAMPAIGN

Griffith University’s fight towards a cure for one of the world’s most deadly diseases is edging closer after human clinical trials of a malaria vaccine developed by the Institute for Glycomics were a success.

Researchers have shown the world-first whole blood-stage malaria parasite vaccine PlasProtecT®, tested in collaboration with the Gold Coast University Hospital, is safe and induces an immune response in humans.

Now efforts are turning to an international fundraising campaign to enable further evaluation of the vaccine in clinical trials, before researchers can shift their focus to malaria endemic countries.

The Malaria Vaccine Project, officially launched by His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, aims to raise $500,000 to get the research to the next stage through Rotary fundraising efforts.

Speaking at the Institute on Monday (March 27), Sir Cosgrove said the work represented Australian science and innovation at its very best.

“This is what will make a difference, a better world and save lives. It is being done in our corner of the world, for the world,” he said.

The malaria project has been years in the making for researchers Professor Michael Good and Dr Danielle Stanisic who first started clinical trials in 2013 working with medical staff at Gold Coast University Hospital.

Professor Michael Good receives PlasProtect from Dr John Gerrard at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

Professor Good has so much faith in a vaccine that could save millions of people that he was the first person to receive it.  As a study participant, he had to step back from his usual research role in the “first-in-man” clinical trial.

“I wouldn’t ask people to do what I wouldn’t be prepared to do, and we couldn’t do this without the volunteers who give their time to us knowing they are helping further work towards a cure,” he said.

Gold Coast Health Director of Infectious Diseases Dr John Gerrard said ground breaking collaborative research of this type cemented the role of the Gold Coast University Hospital as a leading medical teaching and research centre in Australia.

“For the past four years eight medical specialists have provided medical oversight for the volunteers participating in the trial,” Dr Gerrard said.

Dr Stanisic said volunteers, who had to attend appointments at Griffith University’s s Clinical Trials Unit every two days for a month, were administered with the vaccine which consists of inactivated human malaria parasites that prevent them from growing and causing a malaria infection.

“Initially we showed that this vaccine was able to induce cross-species protection in pre-clinical trials,” she said.

“We’ve now taken a human version of the vaccine and tested it in volunteers and shown it is safe and induces an immune response.

Professor Michael Good and Dr Danielle Stanisic.

“This is a world first. We are the first to put a vaccine like this into humans that has potential to protect against multiple strains and species of malaria.”

There are approximately 3.2 billion people currently living in malaria endemic countries worldwide and of the 500,000 sufferers who die each year, 80 per cent are young children who are simply not strong enough to fight off the killer parasite.

Rotary past district governor Graham Jones AM said Rotary’s work with impregnated nets was helping in all kinds of endemic countries but an effective vaccine was sorely needed.

“This research could be the gateway to sustainable development of the vaccine and its use in eradicating malaria worldwide,” he said.

Steve Carroll, Rotarians Against Malaria chairman for District 9670 who lost his daughter Michelle to malaria when she was 19 years old, said they were on a crusade to make malaria the new polio for Rotary.

“She was our baby and for the first couple of years we were just devastated until we found Rotary,” he said.

“People don’t think of malaria as being much because we’re in a nice safe country but if we can get this vaccine out there, just imagine all the lives it could save.”

The next trial will test whether or not the vaccine protects people by immunising volunteers and challenging them with the malaria parasite.

To donate visit the Malaria Vaccine Project fundraising page.

For more information on how to donate to the Institute visit their website.

 

 

In Memoriam
  • Ivan Fedor - Springwood
  • Manmohan Baveja - Lindfield
Please email editorial@rotarydistrict9685.org.au to let us know of any bereavements you would like published.  
You may also inform your Assistant Governor, the District Secretary, or the Governor.  Remember to also update your club's member database on the District website.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS
 
COTA Meeting
District Office
Jan 19, 2018
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
2017/18 District Team Meeting
District Office
Jan 20, 2018
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
 
DG 2020/21 Nominating Committee Meeting
District Office
Feb 04, 2018
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
 
2017/18 District Team Meeting
District Office
Feb 17, 2018
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
 
RLI Faculty Meeting
District Office
Feb 17, 2018
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
 
RLI 45.1
District Office
Feb 18, 2018
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
 
Rotary Foundation Committee Meeting
District Office
Feb 22, 2018
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 
Youth Exchange Students Weekend @ Umina Beach
Umina Beach
Feb 23, 2018 6:00 PM –
Feb 25, 2018 2:00 PM
 
President Cluster Meeting
Various Locations
Feb 23, 2018
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
DG 2020/21 Nominating Committee Meeting
District Office
Mar 04, 2018
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
 
District Conference
Fairmont Resort
Mar 10, 2018 8:00 AM –
Mar 11, 2018 1:00 PM
 
COTA Meeting
District Office
Mar 16, 2018
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
RLI 45.2
District Office
Mar 18, 2018
8:00 AM – 5:10 PM
 
2018/19 Presidents Elect (PETS) Training
MGSM
Apr 07, 2018
8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
 
PDGs Meeting
District Office
Apr 07, 2018
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
 
2017/18 District Team Meeting
District Office
Apr 14, 2018
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
 
DG 2020/21 Nominating Committee Interviews
District Office
Apr 15, 2018
8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
 
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