Volume 07 Issue 04

 Report of Meeting, 8 September 2006
(Prepared by Rotarian Pauline)

For once, President Maureen arrived very early – in fact the first one to arrive!

They were no guests and no visitors today. President Maureen reminded Rotarians about Camp Quality Film Premier (19/9) and Night in Calcutta (27/9). For the latter, members do not have to form team if they do not wish to, but can still participate by helping with the coordination. The money raised will be for Crossroads.

President Maureen informed members that Suzie is coming back to us, and members took the opportunity to give her a warm welcome back.

PDG Joseph and returned Rtn Suzie

President Maureen and Suzie

The speaker today was our very own PP Bill.

Ooo….Recognize this handsome man? It is our very own Bill with his special hair cut and without his beard!! We heard that his was the result of a very special grooming session!

PP Bill’s talk was about Global Hand (www.globalhand.org).

In the recent years, there has been an increase in the desire among business corporations to make their goods and services available to help the humanitarian sector. However, many large NGOs or UN agencies said they typically have to turn away 95% of goods offered simply because they do not have the resource to distribute them to people in need. Global Hand is an initiative of Crossroads International. It is an attempt to replicate what Crossroads International does at a global scale via internet. It is a non-profit making website which handles offers or requests real time with an international community of >2000 NGOs. Users can indicate what they need or what they would like to offer on line.

Rotary Club has a hand in helping to develop Global Hand. Global Hand engine may be placed within other sites, e.g. of associations or clubs. We have one such engine – Humanitarian Service Rotarian Action Group (HSRAG). This new initiation from HSRAG was launched at the Rotary International Convention in June 2006.

Members are invited to try out the website, to see how well it works and how it can be improved and changed – YOU are invited!

 “You are invited”….

Members thanked PP Bill for this most informative talk and for his untiring support towards people in need. Needless to say, we are all very proud of PP Bill’s benevolence and zeal towards charity work. With Bill leading the way, it is not difficult to imagine how much charity work we will be able to achieve in the years to come. We do not just donate, but we also act!

Before we close the meeting, we sang Happy Birthday to MS and Michael. President Maureen also made an announcement that PP Bill has made a substantial donation to Christian Action on our Club’s behalf to support school uniforms and books for the children of asylum seekers in Hong Kong.

(Prepared by President Maureen)

These children were granted school places by the Government but not given any money for uniforms, school books or travel (Many of the children live near Yuen Long but the only secondary school places allocated were in Kwun Tong! The parents waiting for a decision on their refugee status are not allowed to work nor do they receive any cash help from the Government, so the school places could not be taken up. Some children were sent home because they did not have uniforms. This generous donation has meant that the children can all go to school for the whole of this academic year properly dressed complete with their books and a lunch box. We are hoping to arrange a Press conference to publicise this timely help.

With a toast to RI, the meeting closed at about 2pm.

 

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Note to Rotarians from PP Ian.

“To the uninitiated the RI website can be quite daunting. But don’t despair, here’s a 3.5 MB PowerPoint presentation file to show you how to navigate it and find out what you need to know.
http://www.rotarydistrict3310.org/Docs/elearn_website_tour.ppt

Please follow the link to download the power-point which contains a very short and yet comprehensive description of the layout of the RI web-site. After you have read this power-point, you will discover that
finding something in that web-site is easier than you thought.”