Abbeydale Rotarians will be hosting visitors from their twin club in Bochum during May.
There will be a wonderful opportunity for other rotarians (and guests) to meet with the visitors at a celebration dinner on 28th May.
The dinner will be provided by the Whirlow Farm Trust who specialise in home grown/reared food. (See poster for booking details.)
Posted in: Abbeydale
Leave a Comment (0) →It is a tragic and sad time for the people of Ukraine and the world.
At Rotary, we are deeply concerned by the devastating situation in Ukraine and the escalating loss of life and humanitarian hardship there. Continued military action against Ukraine will not only devastate the region, but also risk spreading tragic consequences across Europe and the world.
As one of the world’s largest humanitarian organisations, we have made peace the cornerstone of our global mission.
Following a meeting this afternoon with Rotary International General Secretary, John Hewko, which included more than 40 Rotarian leaders from Ukraine and neighbouring countries, plans have been put in place for Rotary to respond and support the horrific and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
On a global level, a central disaster response fund is being launched, which will be coordinated through The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees. Our efforts will principally focus on refugees escaping the war.
There are many existing infrastructures that we can work through to reach those most in need, including the Rotary Action Group for Refugees and Intercountry Committees.
Collaboration has also begun with ShelterBox, our global partner in disaster response, and they are in direct contact with Rotarians in Eastern Europe. As well as ShelterBox, Rotary is also in contact with other emergency response organisations including Red Cross and the United Nations to ensure our efforts are complementary and coordinated.
In Great Britain and Ireland, we have established an operational taskforce, which will be led by Allan Smith, Rotary GB&I Humanitarian Disaster Response Lead. This will give Rotarians, who are always so quick to respond with support in situations such as this, a central point of contact and assistance through their District International Team.
In addition, we have our own Rotary GB&I Disaster Recovery Trust, which can also act as a vehicle for channelling donations that can be used for the recovery phase of this crisis. An appeal will be established in due course.
Rotary International will be communicating directly with all members around the world, and will advise Rotarians on how they can provide humanitarian relief via My Rotary.
Our thoughts are very much with the people of Ukraine, and our fellow Rotary members. Rotary will do everything in its power to bring aid, support and peace to the region.
Posted in: Emergency, International, Rotary International
Leave a Comment (0) →Following recent disasters both Tonga and The Philippines are in desperate need of clean drinking water.
At this time of the year in Southeast Asia, disasters seem to come thick and fast. Aquabox are currently looking at ways to send water filters to both Tonga and the Philippines.
In late December Super Typhoon Rai hit the Visayas and Mindanao Islands in the Philippine leaving millions of people in need of assistance and over half a million people without access to clean water and sanitation. Typhoon Rai brought torrential rains, violent winds, landslides, and storm surges that cut off water services and contaminated reservoirs and water sources. It compromised access to safe water and sanitation facilities, heightening the risk of communicable disease outbreaks. Many affected people are now subsisting on springs and hand pumps for water, many of which are reported to have been contaminated by flood and sea waters.
Then in January, the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano, near Tonga generated tsunami waves up to 49 feet (15 meters) high that hit the west coast of Tonga’s main island. It also covered the whole island in a 2cm layer of fine ash. All 100,000 inhabitants were affected. Widespread stagnant pools of salt water, coupled with the volcanic ash, are polluting drinking water sources, according to the Red Cross. “Securing access to safe drinking water is a critical immediate priority,” pointing to the mounting risk of diarrhoea and diseases such as cholera.
Aquabox is currently working with its partners on the feasibility of establishing safe and secure distribution routes to both disaster areas. We are planning to ship a combination of Family Filters and Community Filters. The filters will enable more than 16,000 people (8,000 in each area) to have clean, safe water for drinking, cooking, and washing but with airfreight costs, the shipment will cost the charity £30,000.
Aquabox needs your help with the cost of these humanitarian aid shipments.
We have expanded the Just Giving page to cover both disasters: www.justgiving.com/campaign/Aquabox-Philippines-TyphoonRai or you can donate through our webpage www.aquabox.org/donate-online
Any surplus donations will be put towards similar disasters in the future.
PLEASE HELP US HELP THEM
#aquabox #cleandrinkingwater #charity #rotary #humanitarianaid #tonga #philippines #District1220
Posted in: Aquabox
Leave a Comment (0) →Could your club do with a helping hand on your Santa’s Sleigh this Christmas. The Business Partnership team will work with the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce to canvas for volunteers from the business community to support with your Christmas activities. Contact partners@rotary1220.org today and let them know what you would like help with.
Posted in: Uncategorized
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AQUABOX has responded promptly to the devastating earthquake which hit Haiti on August 14. Our volunteer teams immediately concentrated on stepping up production of Aquabox water filters, and an initial consignment of both community filters and family filters left our depot in Derbyshire on September 17, to join an Air France air freight consignment to the Haitian capital Port au Prince.
This Aquabox consignment will ensure that thousands of people in Haiti – one of the poorest countries in the world – will at least have access to clean, safe water for drinking, for cooking and for washing. But the sheer scale of the disaster means that much more aid is desperately needed.
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the Tiburon peninsula, about 150km west of Port au Prince, at 8.29am on August 14. The scale of the damage is horrifying – it is the worst natural disaster the world has seen this year. As of September 7, at least 2,248 people were confirmed to have been killed, and the number of injured was estimated at 12,000 and rising. At least 136,800 buildings were damaged or destroyed, and more than 900 aftershocks were recorded in the following weeks.
Les Cayes, Haiti’s third-largest city, was the closest to the quake, and suffered massive damage. On August 18, the Haitian Civil Protection General Directorate reported that more than 60,700 homes had been destroyed, and 76,100 others were damaged. At least 53 medical facilities suffered partial damage, six were totally destroyed, and the quake damaged or destroyed more than 300 schools.
The Haitian government immediately declared a state of emergency, and on August 30 Unicef reported that that at least 650,000 people – 250,000 of them children – were in need of humanitarian aid. An estimated 81,000 Haitians had no access to safe drinking water.
Faced with numbers like this, you might think that you couldn’t possibly make a difference. You would be wrong! One Aquabox family filter costs about £30, and has the capacity to process up to half a million litres of water over its life.
The basic human need is about four litres a day to sustain life – so just one Aquabox family filter can provide life-saving water for scores of people, day after day, week after week. The larger community filters, intended for use in schools, hospitals and community centres, can help to save thousands of lives. And because Aquabox is run almost entirely by unpaid volunteers, nearly all your donation goes directly to making more water filters, and shipping them to where they are needed most.
Will you help us? We need to assemble and pack more filters, and to get them to desperate communities in Haiti as fast as possible. Aquabox can’t do anything about the massive destruction or the thousands of injured people in Haiti, but we can ensure that desperate Haitians at least have access to clean, safe water. Because without that clean, safe water, in a very short space of time nothing else matters.
Please support this vital work. Go to https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Aquabox-Haiti2021 and give whatever you can. Thank you!
Posted in: Aquabox
Leave a Comment (0) →Sheffield Vulcan Rotary are pleased to report that The Queen’s Pageant Master, Bruno Peeks, has informed them that they are the first Club in Rotary GB&I to register with him for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Event, and will be lighting a beacon on June 2nd 2022 at 10pm to celebrate it.
It will be a private event. Rotary GB&I hope that 70 Clubs will be involved, one for each year of the Queen’s reign. Registration with him, automatically records our involvement in a book to be presented to Her Majesty.
Posted in: Uncategorized
Leave a Comment (0) →Can you guess Martyn’s carbon footprint over the coming year?
He invites you to have a guess, and potentially win a prize.
All proceeds to the End Polio campaign
Posted in: Uncategorized
Leave a Comment (0) →After years of planning the Laligurash Community Hospital opened its doors to patients on the 17th May 2021. The 15-bed hospital is located in a remote region of the Himalayas in Eastern Nepal and serves a scattered population of 10,000 people.
The hospital has been sponsored by the RC of Wollaton Park, supported by the RC of Altadena, the RC of Lalitpur Midtown, and the generosity of several donors; and has been equipped with the help of a Global Grant from Rotary Foundation.
Since opening its doors, the hospital has been treating 20 patients per day, and its staff have been travelling to the surrounding areas to treat villagers affected by the Covid virus. Unable to work, many of these villagers are in desperate need of food.
If you can help with a donation, please contact Rtn. Chris O’Brien, obrien.chris24@btinternet.com
Posted in: Uncategorized
Leave a Comment (0) →Almost 300 people are now regularly taking part in the Mansfield Rotary Club Just Bin It litter-picking campaign to clean-up the town and surrounding area.
Rotarians are providing litter-pick tools free to anyone who will pick up litter around their neighbourhood, roadsides, pavements, parks and schools.
The campaign has been running since September and is gaining support from young and old.
Two regular supporters of the project, Debbie Williamson and Ann-Marie Cordon, joined together recently to clean up in Clipstone. They collected four full bin bags from Sixth and Seventh Avenues as well as the short sections of Mansfield Road and Forest Road.
Debbie also cleared rubbish at a park near her home and on Clipstone Drive, Forest Town.
Ann-Marie Cordon has also reported encouraging feedback from residents.
She said: “I was tiying up near Ruby Newsagents (Clipstone) and the lady who owns the shop kindly donated 30 black bin bags for me to use — and said when I run out I only have to ask and she will give me more.
“It’s so nice to know that people appreciate what we are doing.”
Mansfield Rotary is committed to providing a litter-picking tool to anyone who wants to play their part in keeping their neighbourhood clean.
Those interested are asked to register on Mansfield Rotary’s website — https://mansfieldrotary.co.uk/mansfields-big-clean — or call 01623 706540 and leave a message.
Kate Allsop, president of Mansfield Rotary Club, added: “We are still appealing for residents in the Mansfield area to come forward and litter pick in the vicinity of their own homes or whilst they might be out exercising or walking their dog.
“Let’s all make a positive difference to our town in these difficult times.”
Posted in: Mansfield
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With food banks already stretched to their limit, the COVID pandemic couldn’t have hit at a worse time.
However, a group of keen Rotarians made it their mission to step up and put a stop to thousands of people going to bed hungry.
Rotary4foodbanks is a project providing a sustainable supply channel for the future. The scheme dispenses food donations to food banks cost effectively and enables them to purchase foods at the most competitive price with the cash donations they receive.
The scheme has proven to be a huge success, with Rotary4foodbanks donating an initial £150,000 which has already enabled the regular supply of up to 60 food banks in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire area.
Local food banks can’t thank the scheme enough and say Rotary4foodbanks have saved them this year.
An army of volunteers are busily getting to know food banks on a personal level by carrying out interviews each week to find out specifically what is needed for their area. This means that many more families are getting the food they need!
With the summer months approaching, and the promise of life going back to normal in July, unfortunately it is inevitable that the level of support shown currently will decrease considerably. Many furloughed people will return to their jobs, and others will rightly so enjoy their summer socialising with friends and family. But this is when food banks and thousands of families will suffer.
With the age group of volunteers being 30-60-year-olds, there is a want and need for younger people and students with more time on their hands, to turn their attention to food banks and provide fresh and innovative ideas.
As a student, I understand that this might be easier said than done, but as I become more and more aware of this crisis, the urge to offer my help becomes ever stronger.
There are many ways to get involved, whether it be technical support, distribution, packing, or even raising awareness on your own social media accounts.
We are the future, and together we can make a difference!
I want to join the project team – John Cavey (rotaryfoundation1220@gmail.com)
I can help with physical distribution – Lesley Reynolds (lesleyreynolds1@msn.com)
You can support Rotary4Foodbanks through our JustGiving page
Posted in: Rotary4Foodbanks
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