Read Ricks latest report of his work with Dream Cricket. Incredible what he gets up to.
For those not aware, DreamCricket was initiated by the Movement Disorder Foundation in concert with the Rotary Clubs of the Southern Highlands and the Bradman Foundation. The aim is to provide an opportunity for primary school students with a disability to play on the Bradman Oval and to visit the Bradman International Cricket Hall of Fame. The program has grown to encompass schools and children throughout Australia and internationally. DreamCricket clinics are conducted in schools as part of an experience culminating in a DreamCricket Day on a significant local oval involving all schools within the area.
Every child should have the opportunity to play cricket!
Rick McCarthy of The Bradman Foundation and a member of the Rotary Club of Bowral Mittagong is spreading the message across Australia. Read some more about the fantastic and exhausting work Rick McCarthy has experienced in the last couple of weeks while he travels the country setting up DreamCricket sessions. Click on "More..." below to read his reports.
See also http://www.dreamcricket.org.au/ and http://www.internationalcrickethall.com/even-more-dreams-come-true-on-bradman-oval/
The Trustees of The Rotary Foundation have identified six areas of focus for the new grant structure. These areas reflect critical humanitarian issues and needs that Rotarians are addressing worldwide. They will align Rotary with other international development efforts and will strategically further the Foundation's mission.
Statements of purpose and goals
Each of the six areas of focus begins with a statement of purpose, followed by a list of specific goals. The Foundation will use the goals to establish
- Projects and activities for packaged global grants
- Possible strategic partners for packaged global grants
- Evaluation criteria for club- and district-developed global grants
- A system for measuring outcome for all global grants
Rotary Clubs worldwide meet US$200 million fundraising challenge & Rotary celebrates India’s first polio-free year
I have written many times about the wonderful work Rotary is doing to eradicate polio worldwide. Recently we have reached some wonderful milestones in this effort, and I would like to share them with you.
Rotary International world-wide has succeeded in matching the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s challenge to raise US$200 million funding for polio eradication, raising more than $202.6 million as of 17th January.
“We will celebrate this milestone, but it does not mean that we will stop raising money or spreading the word about polio eradication,” Rotary Foundation Trustee John F. Germ said. “We can’t stop until our entire world is certified as polio-free.”
The fundraising milestone was reached in response to $355 million in challenge grants awarded to The Rotary Foundation by the Gates Foundation. All funds have been earmarked to support polio immunization activities in affected countries where the vaccine-preventable disease continues to paralyse children.
In recognition of Rotary’s great work and to inspire Rotarians in the future, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is committing an additional $50 million to extend our partnership. Rotary started the global fight against polio, and continues to set the tone for private fundraising, grassroots engagement, and maintaining polio at the top of the agenda with key policymakers.
Since 1988, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99 percent, from about 350,000 cases annually to fewer than 650 cases reported in 2011.
To date, Rotarians worldwide have contributed more than $1 billion towards the eradication of polio, a cause Rotary took on in 1985. In 1988 UNICEF and the U.S Centre for Disease Control & Prevention joined Rotary as spearheading partners of the Global Polio Eradication initiative. In 2007 the Gates Foundation gave Rotary a $100 million challenge grant for eradication, increasing it to $355 million in 2009. Rotary agreed to raise $200 million in matching funds by 30th June 2012.
Rotary Club members worldwide are cautiously celebrating a major milestone in the global effort to eradicate polio. India until recently an epicentre of the wild poliovirus has gone one year without recording a new case of the crippling, sometimes fatal, disease.
If you would like to be part of this amazing organisation or would like to find out how you could join the Rotary Club of Bowral-Mittagong, please visit our website, www.bowralmittagongrotary.com or contact our Secretary on 02 4861 6917
Our Club was established in 1940. We currently have 55 Active members. With a history of hands-on involvement in local, state and international projects, our members commit themselves each year to our major fund-raiser, Tulip Time, held in Bowral.
We are one of three Rotary Clubs in the Highlands and are part of Rotary International, the world's first service club organisation, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.
Our New Website:
ClubRunner will revolutionise the way we manage our day to day club activities, as well as help us to communicate more effectively.
ClubRunner is an all-in-one membership and communication software package designed by Rotarians for Rotary Clubs. More than just an easy-to-use website, it is a complete online package comprised of several modules, all designed to maintain our member data, facilitate interactive communication, organise events and volunteers, distribute email newsletters and broadcast communications, improve public relations, and help run a club more efficiently.
Accessible by all club members through a password protected member area, it allows every member to access key information to communicate much more effectively, as well as share information and collaborate better. We can also minimise the effort involved in administrative functions.
We hope that you enjoy it!