From the President's Desk
Dear Rotarians, e-Club Members and Friends of Rotary,
The Rotary e-Club of Next Gen, Queensland, Australia - it's all in the name.
'Rotary e-Club' an electronic and new form of Rotary Meeting and Club.
'Next Gen' the Club was started to encourage young adults that had previously gone through the Rotary Camps, RYPEN, RYTS, RYLA or Interact, NYSF, MUNA, Rotaract, GSE teams. With our youngest member just turning 19 years old.
'Queensland' the first e-Club to be Chartered in Queensland.
'Australia' the second e-Club in Australia.
At the beginning of May we were lucky enough to find two amazing young ladies to attend Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN), Amy and Brittany. We are looking forward to hearing all about the camp at one of our Forums in the coming few weeks. Here are a few quotes from them and their parents after the camp:
"Brittany had a wonderful three days on the camp and not only made some good friends but learned so much from the speakers and camp experience";
"THANK-YOU all so much for giving her this life changing experience!";
"She hasn't stopped talking about the camp and has made many friends who she is constantly in contact with from other schools";
"I am just emailing you to say thank you so much for the opportunity to attend RYPEN. It was amazing, and I have made so many new friends and have great memories. I learnt a lot as well. But it would not have happened without you, so I can not thank you enough!"
While we are talking about RYPEN, our own e-Club Member and 'Purple Shirt' wrote an article for the front page of the District website: http://www.rotary9640.org/. "Thank you Kaye" and all the attendees think she's just brilliant, which she is!
Last week's Forum was Jyllie from LightnUp that puts on the Lismore Lantern Festival and 35 other festivals in the three Eastern States. Jyllie is so young-at-heart and provides many opportunities for the young people of her community, refugees, primary, secondary and university students as well as students with disabilities. The Lismore Lantern Parade is held on Saturday, June 22, 2013, this year's theme is Imagine.
This week's Guest Speaker is Paul Stolz and his presentation is entitled Early Invention Adventure Therapy for Young People. Paul started working in the Youth Support field in 1989 setting up what was to become The Regional Extended Family Service in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne to support young people at risk of being rendered homeless. Tuesday, May 28th at 8pm hope to see you there.
RYTS - Regional Youth Transition Seminar will be held November 30 to December 6, 2013, to find out more about it please download the PDF
We are hoping to send at least one student this year, so please be on the look-out for students in Year 11 or 12 aged 17 and 18. Please let Tim Egan PHF our Youth Director know of possible candidates: tim.rotary@gmail.com
RYLA - Rotary Youth Leadership Awards will be held Jan 25 to Jan 31, 2014 all details are available online at: http://www.ryla9640.org/ Once again we are hoping to give one applicant to experience this "once-in-a-lifetime" event. It is open to youth aged 19 to 28 years. Please contact Tim: tim.rotary@gmail.com
This year for RYLA we had two great finds Peter Baumann and Adam Myers, they both found it to be a very uplifting and a positive experience. So much so that Peter was asked back to be an attendant for RYLA 2014 and Adam was asked to be an attendant for RYTS 2013. I feel they both will make awesome team members and have a lot to give, using skills they learned at RYLA 2013.
KIVA is a Club project taken on by our younger Members and Lauren has written a KIVA report for the front page of the e-Club website: www.rotaryeclubnextgen.org Kiva lenders combat poverty daily by making small loans to borrowers around the world. We believe in fair access to affordable capital for people to improve their own lives. Often only a relatively small amount of money stands in the way of Kiva borrowers and their dreams.
Please note that applications to attend NYSF - National Youth Science Forum in January 2014 close May 31st, 2013 and once again please contact Tim if you need any help. Apply HERE!
Today, our youngest Member, our gorgeous daughter Kristen is on her way back to Germany, we wish her well with her adventure and hope to see her online at the Forums, if the time difference works out favourably for us.
Rick Jewson
President (soon to be feather duster)