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January is Rotary Awareness Month

The Rotary Theme for 2012/2013 was announced at the International Assembly in San Diego last week

RI President-elect Sakuji Tanaka will ask Rotarians to build Peace Through Service in 2012-13.

Tanaka unveiled the RI theme during the opening plenary session

 of the 2012 International Assembly,

 a training event for incoming Rotary district governors.

"Peace, in all of the ways that we can understand it, is a real goal

and a realistic goal for Rotary," he said.

"Peace is not something that can only be achieved through agreements,

 by governments, or through heroic struggles.

 It is something that we can find and that we can achieve,

every day and in many simple ways."

Peace has different meanings for different people, Tanaka said.

"No definition is right, and no definition is wrong," he said.

 "However we use the word, this is what peace means for us.

"No matter how we use, or understand the word,

 Rotary can help us to achieve it," he added.

Tanaka, a businessman from the greater Tokyo metropolitan area,

shared how becoming a Rotarian broadened his understanding of the world.

After joining the Rotary Club of Yashio, in 1975, he said,

he began to realize that his life's purpose was not to make more money,

 but to be useful to other people.

"I realized that by helping others, even in the simplest of ways,

 I could help to build peace," Tanaka said.

He noted that the Japanese tradition of putting the needs of society above the needs

 of the individual helped his country rebuild after the tsunami

and earthquake in March.

"This is a lesson that I think the whole world can learn from, in a positive way.

 When we see the needs of others as more important than our own needs

-- when we focus our energies on a shared goal that is for the good of all

-- this changes everything," he said.

 "It changes our priorities in a completely fundamental way.

And it changes how we understand the idea of peace."

Tanaka will ask Rotarians to focus their energy on supporting

the three priorities of the RI Strategic Plan , he said.

 He added that he will ask the incoming leaders to promote three Rotary peace forums,

 to be held in Hiroshima, Japan; Berlin; and Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

“In Rotary, our business is not profit. Our business is peace,” he said

. “Our reward is not financial, but the happiness and satisfaction of seeing a better,

 more peaceful world, one that we have achieved through our own efforts.”

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Rotary International has succeeded in meeting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s

 US$200 million match in funding for polio eradication,

raising more than $202.6 million as of 17 January.

“We’ll celebrate this milestone, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll stop raising money

or spreading the word about polio eradication,”

Rotary Foundation Trustee John F. Germ told Rotary leaders

 at the International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA.

 “We can’t stop until our entire world is certified as polio-free.”

The fundraising milestone was reached in response to $355 million

 in challenge grants awarded to The Rotary Foundation by the Gates Foundation.

 All funds have been earmarked to support polio immunization activities

 in affected countries where the vaccine-preventable disease continues to paralyze children.

“In recognition of Rotary’s great work,

 and to inspire Rotarians in the future, the [Gates] foundation is committing

 an additional $50 million to extend our partnership,” said Jeff Raikes,

chief executive officer of the Gates Foundation.

 “Rotary started the global fight against polio,

 and continues to set the tone for private fundraising, grassroots engagement,

 and maintaining polio at the top of the agenda with key policymakers.”

 Raikes also addressed Rotary leaders at the International Assembly.

The new $50 million grant from the Gates Foundation is not a challenge grant

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 invitation is available by download here

online registration form (click here).

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People of Australia Ambsaadors

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World President Kaylan Banerjee and Binota

with Past District Governor Brian Guest

What we do

Interplast Australia & New Zealand sends teams of volunteer surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses

 and allied therapists to developing countries in the Asia Pacific Region

to provide free treatment and medical training.

Treatment

Interplast volunteers provide free treatment to people living with a disability

 from a congenital condition such as cleft lip and cleft palate

 or aquired conditions such as burns scar contractures.

 Treatment is targeted to indigent populations who would otherwise

not be able to afford to access services.

People living with a disability are among the most disadvantaged in the world.

 Many suffer from treatable deformities and injuries

 but are unable to access treatment due to poverty,

isolation and the lack of surgeons skilled in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

70% of the patients of Interplast are under 15 years of age.

 Often these children are ostracised from their society simply because they look different,

 or cannot perform simple tasks for themselves.

 They often do not go to school because they are teased by their peers.

They potentially live a life without friends,

 or an education and often are a continual burden on their family.

 A simple operation will repair their condition,

and give them the confidence to attend school, restore functionality,

and grow up to contribute economically to their family

 and ultimately the community in which they live.

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Rotary Club of Belmont

Rotary Club of East Perth

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National Youth Science Forum

Rotary Club of Herisson

 

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D9465  Handicamp 2012

Rotary out West would like to thank Wilf Hendriks

of Photo Hendriks EastVictoria Park for

supplying the NYSF and Handicamp pictures

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Rotary Club of Manjimup

Annual BBQ

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Rotary Club of Karrinyup

Jacqueline Lynch  home from Denmark

Geoff home from Taiwan

Meagan Walters is Outbound

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Rotary Club of Belmont

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Rotary Club of Geraldton

Rotary Club of Heirisson

Jack Patterson is off to Belguim

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Rotary Club of Karrinyup

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Rotary Club of Rossmoyne

want to see your club sign here?

just email in a picture to philco@iinet.net.au

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ROTARY CLUB BIRTHDAYS

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I think i posted this before, but its worth another look

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I used to work in an art supply store.

We sold artists’ canvas by the yard,

 and you could get it in either of two widths: 36 inches or 48 inches.

Customer: “Can you please cut some canvas for me?”

Me: “Certainly, what width?”

Customer: (confused and slightly annoyed) “Scissors?