President's Desk 18-03-13

From the President's Desk

Good Morning Rotarians and Friends of Rotary,

It truly is a wonder I am awake today, we had such a big weekend. We had an awesome time at Tweed Civic Centre for MUNA 9640 2013. For those of you who have not been to this fabulous event, here is a little synopsis of the day, "The Model United Nations Assembly is a Rotary International Project. Teams of three students nominated from Years 11 or 12 meet under the auspices of Rotarians giving the students the opportunity to select a country, research its history, politics, economics, people, international alignment and make real life stances on world affairs. Having chosen a country they then debate selected resolutions from that country's point of view. At the end of the day, Awards are given out to The Best School, The Best Dressed, Encouragement Awards and then the two big Awards are for the two students that get to go to Canberra for the Nationals".

This year's students have pretty big shoes to fill as last year our two representatives came First at Nationals, no mean feat when they were from different schools as well as different states.

One of our newest Members Kaye was there to help out with the International notes that get passed from country to country but also she had been helping her 'old' school, Boonah High with their two teams in the weeks leading up to the event. One of the teams received an Encouragement Award, so that was a bonus.

We also took the opportunity to ask Graham Howie the Chairman of MUNA 9640 to award Kaye personally her e-Club Membership Certificate and Rotary pin. As Ingrid is the official photographer I have included a few photos and if you would like to check them all out, they are available on www.facebook.com/groups/muna96402013

At our Forum last Tuesday which I might add was a way more relaxed affair from the amazing Forum the week before, we had a Special Guest Jane Loxton at 'The Shed' who spoke to us on Pancreatic Cancer and the Research that goes into a cure. Jane is doing amazingly well at raising $11,000 for three years for University of Melbourne PhD student Dannel Yeo's Internship.

Our main Guest Speaker was Zanon Pforr, has a Bachelor of Creative Industries with Major in Drama at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) as well as a short course with the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). He began a radio career as an announcer and co-producer of "The Basement" at 100.3 Bay FM. All of which have allowed him to be involved with the Youth Radio Training Centre as a volunteer. Through his belief in the YRTC, he is proud to be General Manager and Head Trainer of the facility.

It was great to hear this project was started to reduce crime in the Northern end of the Gold Coast which it has done. Giving the students a place where they can sit and listen to music or get training on become a DJ at a Radio Station. This is a wonderful project, it was sponsored by Hot Tomato, RC of Hope Island (while I was President), The Lions Club as well as YPC - Youth Point Connect. Thank you Zanon for a wonderful presentation.

Tomorrow Night's Forum is one of our special event nights. Every three months members throughout Australia and the World will open their homes and invite family and friends over for a meal and social evening.

At the end of this dinner, Members at the homes will 'beam in' to the Forum to listen to a Peter Baumann and participate in a friendly competition between houses. The competition will focus on 10 questions related to Rotary.

Peter is 27 years old and currently working in the solar and energy efficiency industry, he deals with anything from residential solar, off-grid and commercial solar and complete energy solutions for high rises and hotels etc. He is a very active person, with a previous career as a professional volleyball player in Holland. Peter will be telling us about Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) and what he gained from the experience.

If Members could please text Mary (0418 728 885) our Admin Director and the wonderful lady that opened her home for Gold Coast Members to have dinner at, that would be great.

Yours in Rotary,

Rick Jewson
President