Reel 27/8/13

Meeting,Caloundra Rotary Club 20/8/13
Chairperson; Lauren
Desk; Alan (supposed to have been Roger)
The meeting  opened with the usual protocol ,Stuart Glover gave the international toast honouring his favourite city , New York.
Cathleen Phillips was our only visiting Rotarian from Thuringowa, a suburb of Townsville.
Visitors from Unity College were students Chole and Kayla with Lisa the College's year 10 coordinator ,they were here as our guest speakers.
Deborah and Ann made up at Meridan Downs College where the conducted mock job interviews with students ,they both agreed that the standard of those interviewed was very high and they would all have been successful !
Apologies were received from Margaret ,Genta and Neil
We received a " thank you " letter from Catrina Nelson, a single mother and student of Burnside who was awarded our bursary of $300.00 ,we obviously chose well as so many recipients don't bother to acknowledge their benefactors.
Be also aware that the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce AGM is on 12/11/13 , as we now have an affiliation with them it may be advantageous for some members to attend.
Deborah is hoping to secure the booking of Phyl Emmanuel ,a guitarist of great acclaim ,to donate his time towards a fund raising concert with the proceeds going towards "The Food Bank". Apparently she has some influence / connection with the artist and believes that he is more talented than his highly accomplished guitarist brother Tommy Emmanuel , I hope you are successful in your quest Deborah!
On Friday, 23/8  there is a concert at the CCSA hall ,Nutley St. Caloundra  doors opening at 9 Am.for a 9.30 concert start all for $3.00, RSVP please by 21/8/13 . The invitation was accompanied with a sincere " thank you " from the " Hall Committee" and the promise of a Certificate for our continued generous support both financially and with equipment.Its always pleasing to receive recognition for donations /  support 'though it's not sought.
Helen has requested that those attending the DG's dinner on 5/9 /13 would you please deposit the $21.00 per head directly into our Rotary account by 30/813 BSB 633 000 Acc.130984073 Reference
DG and then your surname .
Rudy introduced Chole, Kayla and Lisa who then spoke of their recent trip to Tonga , this the school organises every two years while hosting Tongan students and teachers in the intervening years all at the expense of the Australian side. The girls pointed out that Tongan people are very poor and very devoted to Christianity are subsistence farmers and education is compulsory . We were amazed to hear that Tongan girls predominantly attend further education and hold a higher status than males!
As meat is such a delicacy tinned meats such as "bully beef " and "spam" are substituted ,all of those who attended agreed that they were "off" tinned beef , fruit , vegetables and eggs comprise a large part of the diet which are in abundance.
The visiting Aussie students paid not only for their travel but also their host families for their accommodation , apparently hot showers , comfortable beds and the little luxuries we take for granted were missed . The generosity and friendliness of the Tongans is  legendary  ,a nation that is a kingdom ,never been colonized  and has a very  pious  populace and therefore probably run on Christian lines with the Mormons claiming  the title as the principal religion .
A lot of Tongans travel overseas to earn money to send back home to subsidise their families , many work in fruit picking gangs in the Burnett where they are most welcome as they adhere to strict Christian principles of honesty , sobriety and hard work.
The girls were wearing hand made dresses which they modelled very well, apparently the Tongan ladies make clothes without the convenience of patterns, very clever indeed !
Lauren thanked our guests for a most informative and interesting insight into Tongan culture and  their way of life , it seems to be such a simple existence to us but I suppose to them it still holds all the pressure of modern life !
Ian belcher spoke regarding membership,wishes to join Cal .Pac. to invite business people to attend our meetings and perhaps join Rotary, sounds like a good idea Ian !
On the 17/10/13 Pam informed us there is to be an Inner Wheel National  Conference  Dinner to which we are invited with an interesting  guest speaker.I am presuming we would transfer our meeting of the 15 Th. to this event , the cost is $25 for Rotarians  , 6.30 for 7 Pm.
John asked for more golfers to make a team to compete in  Caloundra Pacific's golf day as this was only reciprocating .
Helen is investigating the possibility of an out of town over night meeting in January at the Imbil Caravan Park ,cabins, vans and tent spaces are available.
 Darryl is  investigating new badges for the club, I think we all agree that the present ones are aged and are dinner plate sized , the new sample which Darryl had with him was quite tidy!
The meeting close early due to,the absence of our AWOL  sergeant but we did pass the dish around for donations .
Next week .Chairperson  ;Julieanna . Desk ; Alan .Introduction ; Bruce
Guest speaker ; Geoff Moller , marketing and Rotary.