Other Rotary News (RCCS, District and Beyond)

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2021-22 Rotary International Theme | Serve to Change Lives

For the 12 months from 1 July 2021, Rotary International's theme is "Serve to Change Lives". Incoming Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta has urged members to become more involved in service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also our own.

Mehta, a member of the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Mahanagar, West Bengal, India, revealed the 2021-22 presidential theme, Serve to Change Lives, to incoming district governors on 1 February during the Rotary International Assembly. In announcing the theme for the year,

Mehta spoke about how participating in service projects through Rotary changed him as a person and made him empathize more with the needs of others. Soon after joining his club, he helped carry out projects that benefited rural communities in India.

Some of the poor conditions he saw in those communities strengthened his commitment to service. “I truly understood the plight of my brethren,” he said. Mehta participated in initiatives that brought artificial limbs to children, clean water and sanitation to homes, and better health care facilities to communities.

“Rotary kindled the spark within me to look beyond myself and embrace humanity,” he said. “Service became a way of life for me and I, like many others, adopted the guiding philosophy that ‘Service is the rent I pay for the space I occupy on this earth, and I want to be a good tenant of this earth.’”

Focusing on diversity, membership

For the 2021-22 Rotary year, Mehta wants members to focus their efforts on empowering girls and ensuring their access to education, resources, services, and opportunities so that future generations of women leaders will have the tools they need to succeed. Mehta asked members to use Rotary’s belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion is critical in all we do as a compass to guide this work.

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Rotary Zone 8 Conference - Showcasing the wonderful impact of Rotary

To further celebrate the Centenary of Rotary in Australia, this year’s Zone 8 conference is all about sharing the wonderful impact of Rotary. (Rotary Zone 8 is our geographic region including Australia, NZ and the Pacific). The conference will take place on 11 & 12 September.

There are some great reasons to attend this year’s event:

Be inspired by Rotary projects in communities around our Zone
Meet some of our Rotary heroes – dedicating their lives to making a positive difference
Learn new ways to deepen engagement and impact from Rotary’s senior leaders
Connect with Rotary friends old and new
Share the ‘big picture’ of Rotary impact with your newer members
Be inspired to deepen your engagement and make an even greater difference through Rotary

The 2021 event is going virtual with a flexible two day program designed to inspire and energise you. The event will have all the best elements of the face to face conference – you can listen to great speakers, ask questions, network with Rotarians friends (old and new) and choose the sessions you want to attend – all from the comfort of your home or in a shared space with other Rotarians and friends.

This event will bring together the best of Rotary in one place over one weekend, running on both days from 11.30am - 1.00pm AEST.

Keep up to date with all the speakers, sessions and sizzle at the conference website. Registrations open 5 July 2021.

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Summary - 2021 Virtual Convention: Rotary Opens Opportunities, 12-16 June 2021

The annual Rotary Convention is now over. This year the event was a virtual one - undertaken on Chicago time, which presented some late night and early morning challenges for Australian participants. However the great news is that club members who registered have access to keynote speeches for another 12 months. So we will aim to show some of the best elements at a convenient time to the Club if there is sufficient interest.

A summary of the event is available from the Rotary web site: here.

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Targeting the Last Case of Polio

Check out the article in the June Rotary Down Under where Mike McGovern, Chair of Rotary International's PolioPlus Committee advises that he has never been more optimistic about the ultimate success of Rotary's 45-year campaign to eliminate the virus. "For the first time, recent sampling along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border (60 sites) has found no trace of the wild polio virus. It has been 14 weeks since the last case of wild polio virus was reported - and only two cases (in the world) this year", he advised. He continues to cite caution, but noted the signs are encouraging.

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Australian Rotary Health Turns 40!

It’s our birthday and after a year of COVID-19 restrictions that cancelled many of our plans, we want to celebrate!

40 years ago, Australian Rotary Health (ARH) was established as a charitable fund by Rotarian PP Ian Scott and the Rotary Club of Mornington, Victoria, to research the mystery of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).