• Advised that Kris’s mother had gone to hospital and wished Kris and Ian Ash all the best.
• Next Monday is the anniversary of when Kris and Ian joined our Club 13 years ago.
• Wished Ev. Hargreaves a happy birthday for the 17^th of Sept.

• The Club members were very happy to witness Tracey Lee Bannister’s induction into our Club. Tracey thanked the Board and said she wanted to be able to participate in helping the community and the committees. Tracey’s mentor will be Marcus and she will be joining the Youth Committee.
• Greg King felt honoured to see the induction
• AG Mark passed on DG Daryl Moran’s personal congratulations to Tracey. Also, that Tracey had joined one of the good clubs, one that knows how to have fun AND do good.

• Attended with PP PHF Emma
• Some facts and figures from the devastating storm in June:

1. 25,000 trees lost
2. 2,000 cubic metres mulched
3. 350 sites affected by loss of phone connection
4. 220,000 properties affected
5. 800 roads impacted.

Guest Speaker PP PHF Greg King

1. Is a Rotary Foundation Fellow
2. From 1976-79 he was an Ambassadorial Scholar in the U.S.
3. Started his own business in 1979 and has been self-employed ever since
4. Has been actively involved in many projects, local, national and international
5. Hosts the radio show Rotary In Action -1,360 episodes to date
6. Current President of 3 IMR
7. Has many interests including being a 3^rd generation Carlton supporter

• Recognises Rotary members who contribute USD$1,000 annually
• Became an official Rotary programme in 2013
• Its purpose is to identify, engage and thank members who make substantial gifts to projects around the world

• A PHF is awarded as a result of a cumulative contribution of USD$1,000 over years and are awarded by Clubs.
• A PHS member contributes USD$1,000 or AUD$1,500 approx. annually.
• You can join the PHS before you’ve donated the $1,000; you are signalling that you intend to donate, it’s not a pre-requisite.
• If you don’t fulfil the annual commitment, you are not expelled
• After 2 consecutive years of non-payment, you are removed from the Society, but throughout this time, you receive Rotary support
• You can keep your membership private if you prefer
• Others prefer to wear their regalia to show that the TRF is their Charity of Choice
• 2.3% of members contribute almost 28% of TRF’s funds
• There are 36 Rotarians in D9810 who are PHS members
• Our Club has a new PHS member, and Greg will visit us to present the chevron, when in-person meetings resume

• Ongoing financial support is still needed to eradicate polio
• Eradication of polio will be the greatest gift Rotarians can give to the world
• Rotary International is the founder and one of the 6 partners in the campaign
• Greg went to school in the ‘50s and ‘60s with kids who had polio
• Then the vaccine was discovered
• The decision to eradicate polio was taken in the mid ‘80s. It would be only the 2^nd virus after Smallpox to be eradicated
• 1,000 childrenin 125 countries a day were diagnosed with polio paralysis in 1985
• Polio was eradicated in India 6-7 years ago, and in Africa 4 years ago
• It costs USD$3 on average to be fully vaccinated
• As of January this year, there is one polio case in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan.
• Despite the changes in Afghanistan over the last 3 weeks, the news is positive, as the Taliban have children too. See latest RotaryDownUnder P.48.
• Hopefully the Taliban Govt. will allow the vax programme to continue
• If not, we could see a global resurgence in the next 10 years
• The District is continuing the campaign of matching the first 10 Clubs who donate USD$1,000
• With matching also from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the donation of USD$1,000 works out to USD$9,000.
• The Club donation needs to be sent to RISPPO in Parramatta

• You have to vaccinate over a long period of time. Once there are no morecases for 3 years, you continue to vaccinate until there’s no trace elements at all in the waste water
• Thanks to the PolioPlus network, it was an easy move across to be able to measure where Covid-19 was in most developing countries; the infrastructure was there, that is the Plus in the PolioPlus campaign.
• Re the Paul Harris Fellow, you can contribute financially, or have it presented by your Club based on your work, up to Level 9. The highest award is PHF plus 3 rubies; after that, you become a Major Donor but only on personal donations.

Chairperson's Reports

• Marcus issued us a challenge last week, to reach out to one of our Rotarian friends and have a chat. He called Kerry Champness, and Kerry was able to attend our meeting.
• Marcus thanked those who had made the call and to keep doing that.
• Greg Adams will also be inducted into our Club once in-person meetings resume.

• Youth  have started collecting for the Year 12 Care packages
• Shalini acquired 75 toothpaste tubes from the dentist.
• If you shop at Woolies, collect the Lego pieces for “Stocking fillers”
• When you do your weekly shop, please consider buying a $5 box of chips, which contains 10 packets, or biscuits such as Tiny Teddies, or tubs of fruit.If members do this, Youth can spend their money on something better.
• A $100 will be given to a young artist in the Emerald Arts Society. The President will mention our name then in their Newsletter.

• Thanked Liz for attending. Her club in Wales is working on a project in Jamaica.
• Spoke about Times Square in Emerald. In 2005, on the centenary of Rotary International, a Time Capsule to be opened on the 28^th of February 2030 was placed under the trolley. Greg Adams’ dad PDG Ray Adams made up the time capsule. Deciding against putting the information on a floppy disk, Ray printed a hard copy.
• How will we remember to open the Time Capsule on the due date? – Emma has entered it into her phone!

Next Week:

Newsflash!!