THE GIST
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Breaking News
District Conference 25 Newsletter
The Rotary Poet of the Year Awards!
 
 
In association with Rotary International, the e-Club of Innovation presents:
The Rotary Poet of the Year Awards!
This fantastic and exciting competition is open to every Rotarian, Rotaractor, Interactor, Rotakid, Rotary Club, and friends of Rotary!
Whether you're a seasoned poet or a first-time rhymester, this is your chance to shine. So let’s put pen to paper or fingers to keys and unleash your creativity!
 
Who can enter?
Everyone! Individual and club submissions are welcome.
 
Categories:
  • Open: Let your imagination run wild!
  • The Magic of Rotary: Celebrate the heart and soul of Rotary.
 
If the winner is in our district, they will receive their award from me personally at a club meeting or a special Rotary event.
Or—if you’re lucky enough to attend the Rotary International Convention in Calgary in June 2025, the award will be presented by RI President Stephanie Urchick herself!
 
Why not make it a club event?
Raise Rotary awareness, inspire creativity, and share the joy. Host a club poetry night and get everyone involved!
Now it’s time to let your creativity flow.
 

Good luck, wordsmiths—remember: roses are red, violets are blue, the Rotary Poet of the Year could be YOU!
Inquiry into Volunteering in QLD
Inquiry into volunteering in Queensland
 
On 11 December 2024, the Legislative Assembly agreed to a motion that the Local Government, Small Business and Customer Service Committee (committee) inquire into and report on volunteering in Queensland.
 
About the inquiry
 
The terms of reference call upon the committee to inquire into and report on:
  1. The current state of volunteering in Queensland and the value it contributes, including benefits to volunteers, organisations, communities and the State;
  2. The views of volunteers, prospective volunteers and the volunteering sector on the current barriers to volunteering, including excessive legislative and regulatory burdens and other restrictions adversely limiting active volunteers;
  3. The current experiences, motivations and challenges for volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations and their recommendations for addressing challenges and improving the volunteering experience;
  4. The unique challenges experienced by people from diverse backgrounds, genders, age groups, abilities and locations, and opportunities to improve volunteering participation, accessibility and experience for these groups;
  5. The extent, effectiveness and efficiency of current government support at all levels for the volunteering sector in Queensland and sustainable opportunities for improvement;
  6. Opportunities for the Queensland Government to leverage all portfolios to support growth in volunteering across Queensland, including through hosting the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games;
  7. Opportunities to increase emergency response volunteering in Queensland, including how to optimise the engagement, support and integration of volunteers assisting with natural disasters and community recovery;
  8. First Nations peoples volunteering, including in remote and discrete communities, and the role of First Nations volunteering in Closing the Gap; and
  9. Any other relevant matters, including academic and other diverse sources, and any relevant reports and reviews at the national level and across other states and territories.
 
 
Information regarding the Call for Submissions and How to make a Submission are in the attachment.
 
Clubs and Individuals are welcome to make a submission. 
 
If you would like to be included in a District wide submission, please reply to me with your thoughts
 
Cut -off for these will be 15th February as the closing date for written submissions for the enquiry is 5pm, Friday 28 February 2025
 
Sue Mulraney
Rotary Leadership Institute
RARE Help Needed
The last of the building renovations and upgrades to meet the requirements of RARE and the Redland City Cou
ncil is presently underway and will be completed by the end of January 2025.    One of these upgrades will provide extra storage space that RARE can utilize.
 
With the completion of these works, there will be a need for the relocation of some work areas and stock to achieve the ideal layout within these buildings for the future long term operations of RARE.     To finalise the relocation of work areas and stock, RARE is planning special working mornings as per the attached flyer.
 
Volunteers are urgently required for these mornings.
THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN CHARITY CATTLE DRIVE ROTARY LAUNCH

 
Please join us on Friday 21st February from 5-7pm, when the RC Brisbane Centenary will be hosting the Rotary Launch
of THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN CHARITY CATTLE DRIVE at Kingsford Terrace – 260 Cliveden Ave Corinda 4075.
The Great Australian Charity Cattle Drive is an initiative of BeefBank which was instituted by the Rotary Club of Brisbane Centenary  over 10 years ago. BeefBank supports those who are experiencing food insecurity in Australia through the sustainable supply of Australian beef which is then supplied to FoodBank. Through cross sector collaboration with the beef, tourism and agribusiness industries , as well as other charitable organisations and government, the aim of the GACCD is to raise up to $2 Million for BeefBank.
At the launch, Andrew Rodgers, the Chair and Founding Director of Beefbank will discuss the Cattle Drive and describe how people can be directly involved in the Drive which will take place over a 3 month period from the end of May from Longreach to Roma. We are hoping there will be over  2000 head of cattle involved  The launch will provide the information on how you can be involved. There will be great entertainment with a magician, food and drinks, auction articles (including a 3 day package to join the Cattle Drive with horse, food, camping gear etc included- actual cost of that package will be around $3000) and raffles with a great variety of prizes .
   "..."
Event Reminders (In case you missed them last time)
Are you heading to Calgary for RI Convention 2025?
 
New Farm Community Dinner Date Claimer
End Polio Campaign
2025 District Conference 
RCTE Outback Getaway
RC Toowoomba East Golf Day
How to get your news on the district Facebook page
The GIST and How to Get your Article in it
Welcome to the Gist! Rather than send multiple messages per week to club officers in the hope that they will channel your interests and pass on what is important to you, we will be sending one digest email per week using the Clubrunner platform which lists new things in the top section, and reminders of old news in the bottom section. That way, you only need to scan the top half of one email per week to get the Gist, and everyone gets the Gist!
 
This e-bulletin is published by your District Administrator and Webmaster to let Rotarians and any other subscribers know about what is happening in the district. The GIST is for time-sensitive brief stories sponsored by the District, a Rotary club, or a Rotary RAG or Fellowship.
 
  • District Announcements
  • Club event announcements
  • RAG and Fellowship event announcements
Event notices will run once only in the "Breaking News" section, and events will continue to be published down below in the "Event Reminders" section until the event has passed.
 
Articles that report on past events and projects, anything of enduring significance, and anything else that does not fit the GIST publishing guidelines should be sent to the District Newsletter editor at newsletter@rotary9620.org.

How to get an Event in the Calendar

To get an event in the Calendar, please send the following information to gist@rotary9620.org:
  • Mandatory: The text that you would like to appear in the calendar entry. Should include a teaser as to why someone would like to attend the event, ticket prices, etc etc. The text cannot include potentially sensitive information like email addresses, phone numbers and bank account details. If you wish to communicate these, put them in an image or PDF file that can be linked as a download document.
  • Mandatory:  Date, Time, Location. Please include the postcode in the location as this is needed to generate the location map. (Or the event could be online of course.)
  • Mandatory: Name of a Rotarian in the district who is the primary contact for the event.
  • Strongly recommended: An image to go in the calendar entry detail page. Landscape format works best.
  • Optional: Documents about the event like event flyers, etc etc. Max size: 5MB
  • Optional: Links that might be useful like bookings links, the home page of the charity you are supporting, etc.

How to get an event notice in the GIST

The GIST is published on Sunday. The deadline to get an event notice in every Sunday's GIST is midnight Friday. Requests coming in after Saturday morning will be handled on a "best effort" basis. To get an event entry in the GIST, please do the following:
  • Mandatory: Get the event in the Calendar (see above)
  • Mandatory: An image in square or landscape format to be the article. If you send an image that is in portrait format, it will be cropped to square according to the GIST editor's judgement. It's OK to send a PDF Flyer - the editor will just do a screenshot and use that.
  • Optional: SHORT explanatory text which will go under the image. 200 words max. Long explanations should go in the calendar entry.

Please send event info to:  gist@rotary9620.org

 
We are always interested in hearing your feedback and suggestions on this.
 
Maggie Kuok (District Administrator)
Roger Klaassen (District Webmaster)
Upcoming Events
Rotary New Farm Back to Business Dinner
Jan 15, 2025 6:00 pm
 
The Science Experience Combined Universities
Jan 21, 2025 – Jan 23, 2025
 
District 9620 Board Meeting
Jan 23, 2025
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
 
Rotary 2025 East Coast Youth Leadership Challenge
Feb 01, 2025
 
Ryla for 2024-2025
Feb 02, 2025 – Feb 08, 2025
 
District 9620 Board and DLT Meetings
Feb 20, 2025
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
 
LAUNCH THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN CHARITY CATTLE DRIVE
Kingsford Tce
Feb 21, 2025
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
 
District 9620 District Leadership Retreat
Feb 22, 2025 – Feb 23, 2025
 
New Farm Community Dinner Date Claimer
Mar 05, 2025
 
D9620 President Elects' Training (North-East)
TBC
Mar 15, 2025
 
D9620 District Assembly (North-East)
TBC
Mar 16, 2025
 
Support SWIM Nepal
Mar 20, 2025 – Mar 28, 2025
 
District 9620 Board Meeting
Mar 20, 2025
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
 
Annual Peace Scholars' Seminar
Mar 22, 2025
10:00 am – 6:30 pm
 
D9620 International President Elects' Training
TBC
Mar 26, 2025 – Mar 28, 2025
 
District 9620 Conference 2025
Mar 28, 2025 – Mar 31, 2025
 
D9620 President Elects' Training (South-West)
TBC
Apr 10, 2025
 
District 9620 Board and DLT Meetings
Apr 10, 2025
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
 
D9620 District Assembly (South-West)
TBC
Apr 13, 2025
 
District 9620 Board Meeting
May 22, 2025
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
 
RC Toowoomba East Golf Day
Toowoomba Golf Club
May 23, 2025
 
District 9620 Board and DLT Meetings
Jun 26, 2025
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
 
D9620 District Changeover
TBC
Jun 29, 2025
 
Rotary Club Toowoomba East Outback Getaway 25
Sep 20, 2025 – Sep 26, 2025
 
View entire list
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