Stories

ROTARY AUSTRALIA REPURPOSING EQUIPMENT (RARE)

SENDS EQUIPMENT TO UKRAINE

By PP Philip Newall

This is the new name for HEERA, which itself was formerly called Donations in Kind.

On 23^rd June, Chris Johnson, Ed Strom and John Davidson of our Club worked at RARE, assembling two pallets of non-perishable pre-boxed medical items and creating packing list waybills. These were hospital beds, which needed separating, testing, matching to accessories and organising.

The pallets were addressed to the Ukraine and Qantas was taking them as free freight to Heathrow. From there Rotary has arranged road transport, which may go via Poland if it cannot be direct. 

As some members will know, RARE is a Rotary organization, which is, involves in collecting items of medical and educational equipment and consumables. These are stored, sorted and packed into containers and sent to developing countries. Great efforts are made to ensure that the items are sent to organizations (usually connected with local Rotary clubs) and put to appropriate use. The work in NSW is currently organized by an experienced Rotarian called Keith Roffey.

Our Club has been involved with RARE, which has a very large warehouse in Castle Hill and our Club has committed to helping out there on the fourth Thursday each month.

Cristy and I were unable to help on this occasion as we were out of town.

Our colleagues from the Club did a great job, and everyone should be aware of the ongoing commitment undertaken by some of our members. This shipment to the Ukraine, which as you all know is suffering so badly, is a great thing for our Club to be involved with.

As in previous years, our Club sponsored lunch at the Parramatta Mission on the 15^th of June. Members who volunteered to prepare, cook and serve meals were Tom Burke, Sophie Bayar, Ed and Nola Strom, Philip and Cristy Newall, Chris Johnson and his friend Gerald Willis-Jones. We were met by Chao Zhou, Volunteer Coordinator and Paul Moussa, Meals Plus Program Coordinator. 130 take-away meals were served, with the help of our volunteers, to the poor and needy.

Paul Moussa indicated that, whilst the donation of $2000 was very welcome, we can just volunteer to help preparing and serving meals. He would also welcome donations of clothes, books and DVD’s.

-PP Philip and Cristy Newall

A vibrant group of about 40 people from diverse professional and ethnic backgrounds, since 1972. We espouse Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self” and live by Rotary’s 4-way Test.

Our focus is to serve humanity through our various projects in the local community, international, vocational, and youth programs. We build relationships with other community organizations, and charity groups.

Our projects are funded primarily by our Market at North Rocks which we manage every Sunday morning. Our voluntary work is done in the spirit of fellowship and fun.

Please join us Tuesday evenings, or on a Sunday morning at our Market.

An estimated 500 million people worldwide became infected. Many cities closed theaters and cinemas, and placed restrictions on public gatherings. Rotary clubs adjusted their activities while also helping the sick.

This is how Rotary responded to the influenza pandemic that began in 1918 and came in three waves, lasting more than a year.

The Rotary Club of Berkeley, California, USA, meets in John Hinkel Park during the 1918 flu pandemic.

Photo by Edwin J. McCullagh, 1931-32 club president. Courtesy of the Rotary Club of Berkeley.

Rotary and the United Nations have a shared history of working toward peace and addressing humanitarian issues around the world.

During World War II, Rotary informed and educated members about the formation of the United Nations and the importance of planning for peace. Materials such as the booklet “From Here On!” and articles in The Rotarian helped members understand the UN before it was formally established and follow its work after its charter. 

Many countries were fighting the war when the term “United Nations” was first used officially in the 1942 “Declaration by United Nations.” The 26 nations that signed it pledged to uphold the ideals expressed by the United States and the United Kingdom the previous year of the common principles “on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.” 

Every hero has an origin story. “I was 10 years old when the entire journey started,” explains Binish Desai. It began with a cartoon called Captain Planet, an animated TV series from the 1990s about an environmentalist with superpowers. Desai can still recite the show’s refrain: Captain Planet, he’s our hero / Gonna take pollution down to zero! “That tagline stuck in my mind,” he says. “I wanted to do something to help Captain Planet.”

In early 1919, Rotarian Roger Pinneo of Seattle, Washington, USA, traveled to the Philippines to try to organize a Rotary club in Manila. Leon J. Lambert, a Manila business leader helped Pinneo establish the club. Several months later, on 1 June 1919, the Rotary Club of Manila was chartered and became the first Rotary club in Asia.

The club would be the only one in the country for more than 12 years. Eventually, Manila club members organized Rotary clubs in the Philippine cities of Cebu (1932) and Iloilo (1933). Iloilo club members then started a club in Bacolod (1937), and Rotary continued to expand across the country.