President Brian was proud to receive at District Conference, held 23rd-26th October 2010, the Howard Caskie Foundation Award 2009-10 for the highest per capita contribution to The Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Club of Belfast having contributed the equivalent of £283 per member.
This is the second year the Club has been awarded a District Foundation Prize having been awarded last year The Chris Croft Trophy - for making the best effort in Foundation Service. £10,800 was raised by the Club 08/09 which, together with funds raised in 07/08 and matching funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, added up to $60,000.
President Courtney presented a cheque to RIBI President Ian Thompson on his visit to the Club. Full report can be seen here .
The Club is honored to have received these awards on behalf of all the members who made the award possible.
Group Study Exchange Programme
The Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) programme is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The GSE programme is designed to develop skills among young adults, so that they can address the needs of their communities in an increasingly global workplace.
Rotary districts in different countries are paired and travel grants are provided for teams to exchange visits. For four to six weeks, a Rotarian team leader and 4-6 non-Rotarian team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships and exchange ideas. In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the District Conference and free time with host families who are Rotarians in the local area.
The Club hosted this year's group whilst they were in Belfast as part of their visit to Ireland. During their visit to the Club the team members spoke and exchanged banners. Report can be seen here.
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Ambassadorial Scholarships
Ambassadorial Scholarships, The Rotary Foundation's oldest and best-known programme, was founded in 1947. Since then, nearly 38,000 men and women from about 100 nations have studied abroad under its auspices. Today it is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships programme.
This year we have the pleasure of hosting Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Tom Eisenhart (Rotary Club Downtown Statesbro, USA). He is very welcome.
Last year the Club organised visits, led by President Courtenay, for the District 1160 Ambassadorial Scholars to facilitate the scholars’ visits to all three seats of Government as part of their post-graduate year studying in District 1160 to the House of Lords and Leinster House (having visited Parliament Buildings, Stormont previously). Our thanks go to our hosts Lord Laird of Artigarvan and Shane Ross TD.
Full report here .
The group with our
host Lord Laird
standing on the
'Commons Gallery'
on the banks of the Thames. |
 |
 |
front row: Ambassadorial Scholars Donna Swanson, Skye Geerts,
Emily Just, Martha Josephson and Rotarian Laura Steele;
back row: Rotarian Ronnie McLean, President Courtenay Thompson
and Past Presidents Albert Baird and Derek Baxter |
We are currently processing applications for Ambassadorial Scholarships for Post Graduate Study overseas in the academic year 2011/2012.
Last year we had the pleasure of hosting Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Borjan Zic. He proved an outstanding representative of his sponsoring club, The Rotary Club of Montgomery Village, Washington DC. Borjan was studying at Queen’s University Belfast for a Masters Degree in Comparative Ethnic Conflict.
He addressed the Club and was a regular attendee at our meetings. Borjan also supported the Rotary Club activities and was an active member of the Rotaract Club. He was active in their fund-raising and was involved in organising an abseil down the Europa Hotel.
Borjan was also involved in painting the peace mural on a wall in Glengall Street. see below
We would like to thank his host Counsellor PP Bryan Johnston who has accompanied Borjan on his round of talks to Rotary Clubs and the US Consul General in Belfast.
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Fundraising
Our thanks go to those members who have driven a programme of fundraising for Foundation and specifically for the Help End Polio Now Programme.
Polio was a scourge. It could be again. The working out of Rotary's original Polio Plus campaign reduced the countries in which it was endemic from 150 to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria. Great work but it's still only a flight or a return from a tour of duty away.
Rotary has pledged to put an end to this monstrous deforming and debilitating illness and to this end the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has set Rotary the challenge to raise $200million by the middle of 2012 and it will contribute $355 million . In announcing the challenge Bill Gates said: "… complete elimination of the polio virus is difficult and will continue to be difficult for a number of years. Rotary in particular has inspired my own personal commitment to get deeply involved in achieving eradication."
Thanks for Life - Focus on the crocus
This year Rotary Day was celebrated with a blaze of colourful purple crocus flowers. RIBI have partnered with the Eden Project and the International Flower Bulb Centre in Holland to take part in The Big Bulb Plant in support of the Rotary ‘Purple pinkie campaign to End Polio Now’. Crocus ‘Ruby Giant’ bulbs have been planted in gardens, parks, schools and communities across the country so that they will be in mass blooming on Rotary Day - 23 February 2011.
The Ruby Giant ‘purple' crocus represents the dye colour dabbed on children's little ‘pinkie' finger to indicate they have been immunised against polio in the few remaining parts of the globe since Rotary International commenced its campaign in 1985.
On Friday 1st October the Belfast Rotary Club planted more than 5000 crocuses in Botanic Gardens in support of the Purple Pinkie Campaign.
Belfast City Council donated the grass area, in front of the Ulster Museum, for planting. Members of the Club, pupils from Mitchell House special school in east Belfast and Parks staff were there to plant the 'Ruby Giant' bulbs.
Unfortunately, due to the severe weather, the bulbs were not in bloom on the 23rd February but finally on 9th March staff and pupils from Mitchell House School joined President Brian and other members of the Club to see the results of their planting.
The plot looked resplendant with many of the crocuses finally in bloom. A sign was erected to identify the plot and explain its reasons for being there.
Further information on Focus on the Crocus can be seen here andThe Big Bulb Plant here.
Thanks for Life - National Immunisation Day
Last year PP Marnette Lyons participated in Rotary’s Thanks for Life - End Polio Now Campaign - National Immunisation Day which took place on November 8 2009 in Bareilly in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. On the day, thousands of children across the country were protected from the crippling and paralysing polio disease assisted in administering Polio vaccine on the day.
As well as visiting orphanages, schools hospitals and local medical centres, volunteers travelled to the slums of Delhi where hundreds of people survive by scavenging through rubbish heaps and there are no sanitation measures. The team also went on the road to the remote villages, knocking on doors and immunising the children with the special polio vaccine as part of the service to the communities. 
Once immunised, a child’s little fingers is dyed purple to keep track of who has already been given the protective medication, now known as the Purple Pinkie.
The trip was an amazing experience: PP Marnette says: “The visit was an emotional roller-coaster ride which nothing can prepare you for. Bareilly, where my group was based, is in a very poor area and senses were totally bombarded. We saw, heard, smelt, felt and tasted authentic India. Seeing the terrible suffering caused by polio spurs you on to take action. This vaccine costs less than a penny per child so we can save thousands of young lives. If you were to meet these children you would do everything within your power to make sure they did not suffer from polio. You would want to ensure they had a better future.
It has been such a privilege to have been part of the historic effort to rid the world of a crippling polio disease that has impacted millions of lives throughout the centuries. An effective vaccine has made polio totally preventable so no child today should have to suffer from the disease. The feeling of saving a child from polio is very difficult to describe, however the image of this very tremendously worthwhile experience will be in our memories for the rest of our lives.”
Polio is a crippling, and sometimes fatal, disease and still a harrowing reality for children in parts of Africa, Asia and India. It is highly virulent. Rotary clubs work tirelessly throughout the year raising funds to pay for the Rotary End Polio Now initiative.
Since Rotary International got involved with the eradication work in 1985, new cases have fallen from 1,000 a day to around 1,500 a year, which is a reduction of 99%, saving over 5,000,000 children from being infected over this period. The images below show the worldwide results of the eradication of Polio 1988-2008, clicking on the first image will link to an interactive map.
Notable fund raising events have included:
The East Belfast Car Ballot - On 26th February 2010 teams of Rotarians and Rotaractors including President Donna and Borjan collected money at Tesco Knocknagoney and Tesco Newtownbreda for Thanks for Life End Polio Now campaign. The excellent sum of £ 1529 was raised. We would like to thank the many members of our Club who took part. Our thanks also go to the management and staff in Tesco for their support.
Slalom sking - After a break of nearly 25 years, Marnette Lyons took to the water for a 10 mile water ski on a slalom ski on 11th September 2009.
Report can be seen here .
Harvard Glee Club Concert - The Belfast Rotary Club invited the Harvard Glee Club to perform a charity concert. This concert, held on Friday 27th March 2009 in the Spires Conference Centre, Belfast appealed to all ages interested in traditional and classical choral works and raised £8,000.
A full report on the concert can be found here
Charity Social Event - This successful Charity Social event can was held in Hillsborough Castle, Thursday 23rd April 2009 and was greatly enjoyed by all who were there. The only dampener was the rain which began just as the evening began.
Report can be seen here .
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Belfast Rotaract Club
It has been a great pleasure for our members to see Rotary, Rotaract and Ambassadorial scholars all coming together in common endeavours. Council was pleased to support Rotaract with guidance and seed funding and has committed to provide further funding.
The Club has flourished and Rotaractors have been extreemly active.
They have been the star salesmen in the car ballot for Polio Plus, had a buskfest carolling for the Morning Star Homeless Centre, organised a pub quiz and ran in the Belfast Fun Run for NI Leukaemia Research.
They have abseiled down the Europa for the Simon Community and, thanks to Ambassadorial Scholar Borjan Zic, have created the latest peace mural!
Haaving been allocated a very uninspiring wall in Glengall St., Borjan designed the mural and it was painted by the following Rotaractors: Donna Swanson (USA Ambassadorial Scholar) Bri Symm, Michael Savage, Matt Birch, Graham Rainey, Wen Zhang, Ketao Feng and PP Laura Garland.
A total transformation!
On Saturday 4th September 2010 a number of members of Belfast Rotaract Club and our own intrepid member Past President Marnette completed a sponsored Zip Line across the River Lagan for MacMillan Cancer support.
A Zip Line involves being raised by a crane to a height of 150 feet and crossing the lagan suspended from a wire. Belfast Rotaract members Laura Garland and Tony Mairs completed the zip line as did Rotarians Marnette and Trudy Montgomery (a member of Belfast East Rotary Club, and Rotary District 1160 Rotaract Chair) who arranged it all.
Photo shows Rotaractor Tony Mairs flying the Rotaract flag high above the River Lagan.
Further photos can be seen here.
Many congratulations to all!
Details of the Club can be found here