Stephen's Blog - 5th September

 

With our New Year’s Eve Vienna Pops Concert now formally launched, it feels as if the holidays are just around the corner! And I think they just might be! Judging by last Friday night’s launch event, Marco Camer-Pesci, Mark Coughlan, and team look to have another great concert event in store for us this year. Please ensure that you book tickets at: http://www.ticketswa.com/event/vienna-pops-new-years-eve-2017 for either the afternoon Family Concert or the later New Year’s Celebration event. VIP tickets are also available from Marco (not purchased online): marco@elementcommgroup.com.  

 

Don’t forget that the proceeds of these two blockbuster events come back to our club to enable us to continue to support our community. In addition, they support three of our Cambodia based Projects which aim to restore the lives of others through projects benefiting water and sanitation, maternal and child health, and economic and community development; three of six key areas of focus for Rotary.

 

Emma Cork’s involvement with Helen and Vince Keane’s Cambodia Family Support group has enabled CFS to continue to provide needed support to the region and is one of the three beneficiaries of this project. Helen Keane recently provided the following background on who CFS is and how they intended to apply the funds generated via the Vienna Pops Concert:

1. CFS Objectives: To help Cambodian rural poor children and their families achieve a better life. Specifically this is achieved by:

1. working to help them achieve economic independence (including through animal bank activities);

2. improved access to water, good sanitation & hygiene;

3. better access to education for children (including literacy centres in villages where there are no schools);

4. establishing village self-help groups and working through local leaders, communities and groups.

2. How long operating in Cambodia: since 2008

3. What CFS plans to do with its share of the funds: Continue with activities we already do as each of the projects are easily reproducible. The more funds there are the more children and families can be helped. If there are specific activities ROP would like to support this can certainly be accommodated!

4. % of admin fees that will be paid from CFS’ share of the proceeds: 0% (however, RAWCS deducts 3% from donations to cover their admin fees)

 

We believe CFS is quite unique in many ways. CFS works in a part of Cambodia where there are few non-profit organisations (because of the relative remoteness of the area, difficulty in accessing, distance from Phnom Penh, etc.) CFS’ approach to development assistance is ‘gold standard’ - 100% local, 100% sustainable, 100% transparent. For more information on how you can get involved in directly supporting this work, please contact Emma Cork: emma.cork@macquarie.com

 

Switching gears closer to home, don’t forget that PP Larry Hirsch personally invites you to attend and participate in the District 9455 “Rotary Means Business” inaugural networking event which takes place next week on Tuesday, 12 September 2017. Rotary International was founded upon the concept of business leaders using their vocational skills and networks to better enable selfless service to the community.

 

The idea behind this networking activity is to gain useful and reliable business contacts, while at the same time opening the door for other Rotarians to use your products/services and refer you to their friends. In other words, Rotary members doing business with each other and helping each other get business – based on the principles of the Four Way Test: honesty, fairness, friendship and benefit to all concerned. Through building of genuine relationships, better community outcomes can be achieved. Please contact Larry on at larryh@chartermortgage.com.au for more details.

 

Finally, please check out the invite below to the Australian Rotary Health “Lift the Lid” lecture – Mental Health and Our Kids – on Wednesday 13 September. 6 pm UWA Club. A number of Perth Rotarians including PP George Etrelezis will be supporting the event. All Rotary Clubs in the District have been asked to support ARH’s efforts in this cause financially and our board is currently reviewing this request. If you have an opinion or want to get involved in this area, please let us know! George would be pleased to provide more info. He can be contacted via email at: george.et@bigpond.com

 

There are so many projects and ways to get involved. By providing a breadth of examples, it is our club’s intent to enable its members to find a cause they relate and to then encourage them in taking Action!