My dear Golden
Milers,
As announced during the earlier weekly meetings, our club
had record registration of members taking part in the RI Presidential Conference
held between February 25th and 27th 2000. A total of 26 ( including our DG
and family). Our Rotaract Club was very much involved in the World Rotaract Week
2000, " International Service Month" Project, held during the same time.
The finale of the project was the "Rotaract International Night" held on
24th February. Our club was represented by your President and President-Elect.
And of course our DG was there with the Chief Guest of the night, RI President,
Carlo Ravizza.
We had another successful participation in the Annual
Conference held between 1st and 2nd of April 2000, in Macau. Including the DG
and family there were 17 participants from the club. In total there were more
than 500 participants. We had good fellowship and serious business too! RI
President's personal representative, M.A.T. Caparas (Past R.I. President 1986-87)
addressed the gathering. In his speech he touched on KINDLING THE SPARK
WITHIN, to REACH OUT and DISCOVER the new world of Rotary to bring HOPE -a
balm for the soul- for which we must necessarily ACT with CONSISTENCY,
CREDIBILITY and CONTINUITY. Thanks are due to Director Patricia Blair and her
team for putting up the nice display in the House of
Friendship.
Certificates of Recognition were received by our
Club for (1) Hosting the District Assembly and for (2) Best Club Website.
Additionally for outstanding and dedicated service, IPP Raju Daswani
(District Tailor), PP C.K.Tsang (District Assembly Chairman), VP Alex Lau
(District Rotary Foundation Sub Committee Chairman Scholarships), PP
Joseph Kwan ( Chairman-Hong Kong-District Community Service) and AG Louis
Thomas (Assistant Governor-HK Area 1) also received recognition. Our
gratitude and congratulations go to all the above. We must also
congratulate our own DG Dipo Sani for his wonderful performance in holding a
successful 40th Annual Conference.
During March, our Club had
participated in the Tree Planting and Walkathon events. We also won the trophy
for the Fastest Keen Walkers Team! A splendid participation and Contribution to
the Community! (Our club could gather about 23 walkers and raise HK
$23,500 !) A special thanks to all those who participated and to AG
Louis for showing us the way !.
For the information of our members,
this year our number of contributions as Paul Harris Fellows, touched
10 and as benefactor there is one. On the International front we have
already despatched our donation of US Dollar 5K, to our sister club, RC of
Paranaque, in the Philippines for their " Cleft Lip and Palate Programme".
As you all know the GSE Team consisting of 5 members from the District 7470, New
Jersey had visited our club and thanks to the good work of Director Elissa
Cohen and timely help of VP Alex Lau they had an enjoyable afternoon on the 22nd
March. The candidate recommended by our club (Mr.Gary Leung) has been selected
to represent our District along with other members, as part of the outgoing GSE
team to New Jersey. We also scored a double (community service and vocational
service) by participating and contributing to the Model Taxi Drivers Award from
the View point of People with Disabilities conducted by the Transport
Department of HKSAR Government. The award presentation was attended by your
President and Director Miranda Kong.
As you would have read in our
previous bulletin, the attendance in the recently held Rotary Information
Seminar was definitely not up to the mark. If you want to be part of
accomplishing some thing for the less fortunate ("Service above Self"), please
choose your theme as " ROTARY IS NUMBER ONE" and not "ROTARIAN IN
NAME ONLY."
Before I conclude, I have to remind you. We have a very
important event coming up. Let us show our Rotary Spirit and contribute to our
forthcoming Annual Ball (6th May 2000 ), in all ways to make it a grand
success.
Please bring in new members -Quality Members- as we had several
natural attritions this year. Please do not forget to improve your attendance
record for the coming weeks. I seek the help of each and every member to
participate fully in as many avenues of service as possible. (Note: A small
reminder to all the directors to present their up-to-date report to me for the
1999-2000 presidential Citation, urgently).
I wish you all, better
participation in Rotary Activities!
Yours in
Rotary,
Ramadasan
President 2000.
Annual Ball - 6
May 2000 - Grand Hyatt Hotel.
If the ball is to be a
success, we need the support of EVERY member in KGM. Unfortunately we keep going
back to the same old pots each year, but it's about time you, yes YOU, got off
your backside and did something positive for the club for a change, OK ??. There
are a number of ways in which you can assist, and the main three
are:
1) Take
at least ONE TABLE - no, you do not have to pay for it yourself -
ASSEMBLE a table among friends who are not members of KGM. You do have other
friends, don't you ? Or why not use this opportunity to invite your Bank
Manager, your Accountant, your Legal Advisor and your Parole Officer ? Table
sales are being handled by PP Raju and Rtn. Notan Tolani.
2) Place an ADVERTISEMENT IN THE BALL PROGRAMME - contact Neerja
Sujanani, who will happily suggest an advert which is not one of those boring
"With Compliments" styles, but something which is more interesting AND more in
keeping with the "4-Way Test". For example, "Buy your next suit from Ali Baba's
Tailor Shop - ready in 24 hours, guaranteed for 12" !
3) Contribute A PRIZE - no, I don't mean that free lunch for one at
McDonald's which you won last week at another ball. We don't need a lot of
crappy stuff that you don't want - we only need a dozen DECENT prizes,
OK ? Contact Rtn. David Harilela with your proposed
contribution.
OK ? Get the hang of it ?
Simple really.
Annual Ball - Next Committee
Meeting:
This will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday 19th April 2000 immediately after
the regular club meeting that day.
A separate reminder notice
will be sent to Committee members shortly, however committee members are asked
to please mark your diaries NOW !
Vocational Service:
Vocational Service Director
Miranda "King" Kong informs us she has arranged an exciting new Vocational
Service visit, as follows:
Venue: Hong Kong International Airport (Chek Lap Kok) Airport Control
Tower.
Date: Friday 28 April 2000.
Time: 11:00 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m.
The assembly time and place shall be
10:45 a.m. at the 2/F lobby of the Regal Airport Hotel. Moreover, after the
visit, there will be an optional lunch at the Coffee Shop of the
same hotel, at a cost of only HK$110.00 per head. Excellent value
!
KGM members who are
interested in attending this Vocational Service visit are asked to email Miranda
at miranda@clotex.com.hk as soon
as possible. The DEADLINE for
your reply is not later than Monday 24th April 2000.
Space is limited,
and KGM members will have first priority, however vacancies can be filled
by family members and friends.
Given the absolutely
pathetic response to the last Vocational Service visit arranged by Miranda, I
sincerely hope that she will not be let down yet again.
International
Service:
International Service
Director Patricia "Maggie" Blair informs us that our Japanese Sister Club, the
RC of Hammamatsu South, will celebrate their 35th anniversary on 23rd
April, 2000, which is over the Easter weekend AND during Cherry Blossom
time !
KGM Members who would be
interested in making a visit to our sister club during that time
should send a brief email to Patricia care of patricia.blair@regus.com.hk as a
"non-binding" expression of interest !
Welcome !
A warm welcome to our
newest members Danielle Adams-Hausheer and Clarissa Bellstedt, who were recently inducted into
KGM.
If you have not already
done so, please introduce yourself to both ladies and make them
feel welcome.
We look forward to seeing Danielle and Clarissa as a
frequent participants at regular club meetings & fellowship events, and as
active contributors to our various club projects.
Change Of
Address:
Our old mate Mervyn
"Peabody" Cragg wishes to advise members that his business address has changed
to: 23rd Floor, 1063 King's Road, Quarry Bay, however his
business contact numbers and email address remain
unchanged.
Young Mervyn also
recently moved his residence to Baguio Villas but, since we do not usually
publish private addresses here, please contact Mervyn at mcragg@ibm.net if you want to send him a bottle
of champagne to his new
home.