Rotary Acronyms Explained!
Every industry is subject to its own set of acronyms and Rotary really excels at it with a truly amazing array of its own. Sometimes we forget that new members don’t know what we are talking about, so here are a few of the main ones that may help next time someone mentions the DG or the PDG or a PHF. For a more extensive explanation, please log onto the RI website : www.rotary.org
AG – Assistant Governor – they look after each group of clubs in the district to help the District Governor. For instance, Sam Graham from the Rotary Club of Seaford-Carrum Downs is Assistant Governor for the Nepean Group, which consists of the Rotary Clubs of Frankston, Frankston Long Island, Frankston Sunrise, Frankston North, Langwarrin, Seaford-Carrum Downs and Mount Eliza.
DG – District Governor – runs the whole district. They are nominated by their club and chosen by a committee of Past District Governors and the current DG.
DGE – District Governor Elect – the next one in!
DGN – District Governor Nominee – the one after that!
PDG -Past District Governor – they’ve been there and done that!
ARHRF – Australian Rotary Health Research Fund
DIK – Donations in Kind
GSE – Group Study Exchange
MUNA – Model United Nations Assembly
NYSF – National Youth Science Forum
PHF – Paul Harris Fellow
PE – President Elect
PETS – Presidents Elect Training Seminar
PP – Past President
PROBUS – (Retired) Professional & Business Club
RAM – Rotarians Against Malaria
RAWCS – Rotary Australia World Community Service
RI – Rotary International
RDU – Rotary Down Under – Australian Rotary Headquarters
ROMAC – Reaching Overseas with Medical Aid for Children
ROTEX – Rotary Exchange Returned Students
ROTARACT – sort of junior Rotarians – 18 – 30 years old.
Rtn – Rotarian
RYLA – Rotary Youth Leadership Award
RYPEN – Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment
TRF – The Rotary Foundation
YEP – Youth Exchange Program
President’s Report 15.2.10
Hello Everybody
It is quite late at night and I am a bit exhausted after a weekend in town celebrating the Year of the Tiger and doing Chinese New Year things such as catching up with my Chinese relatives and eating a lot. Yes, my great-grandfather was from China. He was a gold buyer and owned a general store in the North East of Victoria. He married an Australian girl and they had 8 children, who went on to grow hops and tobacco and in fact, owned the largest hop farm in the Southern Hemisphere at Eurobin, just out of Myrtleford. Unfortunately, my grandmother didn’t manage to retain much of the family wealth!
At our last meeting, Susan Heron from the Cancer Council of Victoria talked to us about the Relay for Life program which is the biggest fundraiser for the Cancer Council. I am sure that we will be putting together a good team to walk through the night and day – as “Cancer never Sleeps” – at Ballam Park in Frankston. We have also been asked to run a sausage sizzle for competitors with money raised going to the Cancer Council of course.
Our Rotaractors, Laura and Carlee visited the club for brekky showing us that they are still very keen on getting their club up and running very soon.
Sunday 7th February was the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle. Thank you to all who helped us raise over $1,400.00 on the day, which was a bit quieter and hotter than usual. Nevertheless, a great result.
Just in case you are having sausage sizzle withdrawals, Wednesday, 17th February is the Mornington Cup . If you can make it to help on the sausage sizzle to raise money for Aimee Carter’s Ashan Development in Ghana, please ring Tony to tell him you are available.
Next Tuesday, 23rd February is the Rotary 105th Anniversary BBQ at George Pentland Gardens. AG Sam tells me that there are about 160 going, so if you haven’t already put your name down to attend you can still make it. After all the caterer is our very own Tony Carter, so I am sure he will allow last minute acceptances. We will actually have a pretty good representation from our club even though most of them are my friends, who seem to have got a bit carried away and invited other friends!
A very full Rotary week will culminate in the District 9820 Conference at Sale. If you have read your DG’s Newsletter, you will already know that there are over 650 people attending the conference. I am looking forward to another very full weekend. More eating and drinking with plenty of interesting Rotary content thrown in for good measure. Maybe you should all start saving up for next year’s conference, the destination for which will be announced at Sale at the end of the conference.
Nici will be heading off on Sunday for the Ride to Conference and I am sure that she will gratefully receive any contributions to her fundraising for the event. The Youth Exchange Students will be raising money for Shelterbox. The ride normally raises around $60,000 every year. So make sure you bring some spare cash with you on Thursday for Nici. Also if you are not going to the BBQ on the 23rd and you would like to donate $10 or $20 to The Rotary Foundation PolioPlus program, it all counts towards credits for a PHF for the club. All donations for whatever cause will be gratefully accepted!
More news about the Golf Day will be announced on Thursday. It looks like it will be April 23rd at the moment.
Cheryl Carter is still trying to organise the date for the Africa Night which will be a fundraiser for Gwen Jones’ orphanage in Tanzania and Ashan Orphanage in Ghana and also the Children First Foundation. We are trying to get Moira Kelly, Children First Foundation and guardian of the twins from Bangladesh who were separated a few months ago. She is a fantastic speaker and should create a lot of interest and hopefully will attract a lot of people to the function to be held at Mornington Racing Club. More information on this as soon as we get a date!
I notice in the DG’s Newsletter that our club attendance is the worst in the District. This needs to be rectified immediately as we are also losing money at our current meeting place as we have to pay for 20 meals every time we meet. If we get less than 15 members in attendance we are in deficit. We only meet twice a month so please, please make the effort to be here every time we meet. More members also makes for a more vibrant meeting, so those of you who haven’t been for a while please do make the effort. If you can’t come, please email Emily or myself to apologise.
See you all on Thursday and some of you on Wednesday!
Cheers
President Judy
RI President’s Feb Message
February – World Understanding Month
February Message from RI President John Kenny
Each of us has, at one time or another, been asked the question, what is Rotary? There are many ways to answer, depending on the questioner, the context, and the time available. The shortest and simplest answer is that Rotary is the world’s oldest service club organization. This is, of course, an accurate but necessarily incomplete response, for any true understanding of Rotary must include an explanation of how we in Rotary strive through our service to achieve more than the goal of each individual project. By working together in our clubs, our districts, and internationally, we strive to establish the simple foundations of a better society: friendship, trust, honesty, and hope.
The structure of Rotary, along with our international club projects, helps make friendly connections between Rotarians in different countries. Our emphasis on ethical and honest behavior works to build strong and open relationships between people and nations. Our service projects in water, health and hunger, and literacy help eliminate many of the practical obstacles to peace. And our Rotary Foundation and Rotary Youth Exchange programs go a step beyond by training the leaders of tomorrow to be active builders of a more peaceful world. These programs help shape responsible citizens of better communities – people who will have a broad and nuanced perspective, enhanced by opened eyes and open minds. They will be indelibly marked by their experiences, and throughout their lives — both now and in their later careers — they will not keep the benefits of these experiences to themselves. These are the people who will help build the kind of future that we as Rotarians strive to create through our every action.
What is Rotary? It is a network of people who care — people who are both realists and optimists. We recognize the challenges before us and our own limitations; we also recognize our abilities and our responsibility to use them to the fullest. If we are ever to realize Paul Harris’ vision for Rotary as an organization that promotes goodwill among nations, then, as he wrote, “the hearts of men must be so touched and molded that mutual understanding and goodwill will take the place of fear and hatred.” In this, World Understanding Month, we do well to remember these words — and to remember as well that in all of our service, we reach for the larger goal of fellowship, understanding, and peace.