PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

The aim of the Interest Meeting is to publicize Rotary with the hope to increasing our membership. In his recent visit, our DG remarked that we should be’50 before 50’. And I’m confident that with the strong support from the Membership Committee headed by PP Tarcisius Chin, the membership for our Club may exceed 50. I would like to thank all Rotarians who have submitted the names of professionals who could be potential members. And also I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the Club the fine work and co-ordination of Rtn KO, Rtn Rianne Chin and Rtn Pua Boon Yee. It will be an evening that we look forward to.

Please invite your Anns for the evening. It will be great to have fellowship. We’ve not seen too many of our Anns at committee meetings. I would like to request all Rotarians and Anns to reach out to our guests that will number 28. Please make them feel at home by talking to them. The meeting will be short. The focus is on Rotary and how it has benefited the community. We’ve a speaker by the name of Dr Juli Edo who is going to talk about the ‘Plight of the Orang Asli’. Our Club is doing a Water & Sanitation Project in Sungkai. Interators Vijay Pillai and Yeoh Pei Tsen will talk about how the RCPJ has benefited them over the years. PDG Dato’ Dr Low Teong and Rtn KO will offer insights into Rotary. I’m sure it’ll be a great evening of fellowship and information sharing. Please attend this evening meeting with your Anns. Thank you.

Sunday, 18th October will be our Club’s Fund-raising event. It is called the ‘Dama Musical Show’, featuring Chinese songs (as well as English ones) from the 60s to 80s. The Chairman of this project, PP Teo Woon Hud has been working extremely hard to push the tickets. I have been informed that the tickets are selling fast. Let us co-operate and help the Club by a sell-out of the tickets before the 18th. This fund-raising event will boost our Club’s funds by at least RM30,000. We need your help to ensure that it will be a very successful event. Thank you, Rotarians and Anns.

Rotarians, the Board of Directors and I really appreciate your hard work and generosity. There’re many people in our community who are less fortunate than us socially and financially. A little kindness, a little thought and a gesture of compassion will go a long way to make a difference in the lives of these people. 

S O S 

  HELP!!!

Apart from PP Michael Toh who had kindly confirmed to take another 2 more tickets of RM500 (already taken and paid 10 tickets @ RM500), I have no response from the rest.

Please lah give some response please

Teo Woon Hud

I was very sad to see the SOS when I opened my emails after my return from London on Tuesday. From the information provided by PP Woon Hud less than half of the members have either taken/sold or committed the RM500.00 tickets. I hope the rest of the members would like to sell those tickets but were unable to do so for whatever reasons.

So what do we learn from this project as a club. We must accept that the number of members who have very strong financial muscles either of their own or through their contacts for fund raising is small. Most of our older members who in the past were able to bring in huge donations have retired. Hence we are left with only a small group. The newer members may not have the resources or contacts yet.

We had a huge fund raising during the 48^th Anniversary Dinner. We can expect contributions from members for the 50^th Anniversary Dinner that is being organized under PP Goh Seng Chuan. The anticipated expenses for the 50^th Anniversary cannot be avoided as that is literally a once in a lifetime event for all of us.

We are embarking on an aggressive membership drive. And I can safely say that most of the new members we are going to bring into the club are going to be the younger men and ladies. These new member may not have the financial resources to meet expensive fund raising activities of the club. We must relook at the cost of running our club if we hope to retain these new members.

Some members have asked how did we get into the situation requiring two fund raising projects at such close interval. The 48^th Anniversary Dinner raised over RM100,000 for the Charity Foundation. Our deficit this year is in the Club Account. The money in the Charity Foundation to is fund our humanitarian, educational and vocational projects. The money from the Club Account is to administer the club and pay for our international service activities under The Rotary Foundation (TRF) committee. It is in the RM25,000 expenditure in the TRF Committee that we all approved that  has created the budget deficit that necessitates the Charity Musical Show fund raising project.   

IPP Dato’ Kevin Yong and Rtn Pua Boon Yee shared with us our Club’s commitment and long association with the six Interact Clubs in Petaling Jaya. Kevin emphasized the importance of Interact as seen from the overall perspective of Rotary. The bottom line is that the Interact Clubs are developing well and they are the pride of our Club. 

Our Club works closely with the Interact Clubs through constant monitoring. Each Interact Club has two Rotarian Advisers and at least two Teacher Advisers. Whatever projects or activities planned have the blessing of the School Principals. At the beginning of every Rotary year, dialogue sessions are organized by our Club to seek the consensus and views of the Principals and Teacher Advisers about Interactors. 

Kevin remarked that the Interactors are really serious of their roles as Interactors. This year, Assunta and CHS were awarded the Best Interact Clubs in a keenly-contested competition. Sri Aman won the Best Quarterly Report and La Salle, the Most Improved Club.

Apart from their charity projects, the clubs come together in two major activities: the Charity Concert and the SuperCamp. These are organized by the Interact Co-ordinating Committee (ICC) annually and it has the representation from the 6 clubs. Last year, the ICC donated RM3,500 to the Golden Child Project from the proceeds of the Charity Concert.

Because of the immense popularity and interest in Interact, some Interactors become Rotaractors after they have left school. The RCPJ has sponsored one Rotaract Club.

Rotary quote of the day presented by Rtn Raymond Tan:

“When I witness the joy of a child and the appreciation of the mother as a result of our club providing a small playground at the local children’s hospital; when I talk with young people about career and educational opportunities, I know my Rotary efforts are worthwhile”
Centennial Rotary International President Glenn Estess, 2004-05

ATTENDANCE: 22/34 = 64.70%

Although we are due to host Exchange Students from Ichihara, Japan, this year, the Rotary Club of Ichihara has offered to host our exchange students and has invited us to send a team of 5 students to visit Ichihara for 10 days.

For the information of new members of RCPJ, this program, implemented some 25 years ago, has been instrumental to the strong relationship between the Rotary Clubs of Ichihara and Petaling Jaya. Each club hosts a team of exchange students every alternate year. Although it is RC Ichihara’s turn to send a team to visit PJ, they have instead offered to host a team of 5 students from us for 10 days.

The program is open to Rotarians’ children and/or relatives who would have completed their Forms 2, 3 or 4 by the end of this school year. Candidates should be sufficiently independent to travel to Japan without adult supervision. In Japan they will be met at the Narita Airport by Rotarians. The students will be home-hosted by Rotarians or members of Rotarians’ families.

This is a cultural visit and the students will have the opportunity to sightsee (e.g. Tokyo Disneyland, etc), visit a high school and various other places planned for them. They will also be expected to address the Rotary Club and Interact Club they visit. As a team, they maybe asked to put up a cultural activity (dance, song or Malaysian cooking). As it will be winter time, they will have the chance to experience winter weather.

All expenses in Japan, apart from some pocket money, will be borne by RC Ichihara. Parents of candidates selected for this visit will be responsible for their return airfares, travel insurance and the cost of a blazer.

We have proposed the dates of Friday, 11 December to Sunday, 20 December 2009. This, however, is subject to confirmation by RC Ichihara. If they find the dates not suitable, they will propose alternative dates.

Parents/guardians of successful candidates will be expected to host Ichihara Exchange Students when they visit us next year, probably during the month of August.

If you have children or relatives who are interested to go on this visit, please register your interest with PDG David Ho. If we are unable to make a team of 5, we will extend this invitation to members of the PJ Interact Coordination Committee (ICC).

David Ho