District Governor Sakon Uengsroithong meets with the Board prior to the meeting
The meeting was the official visit of Rotary District Governor Sakon to our club. He met with the President and Secretary in the afternoon and then again with the entire board of the club before the general meeting. The committee presented updates on each of their areas.
P Jonathan opened the meeting, and the SAA for the night was PP Sam who also served as the translator for the evening.
After another nice meal from the hotel, the official meeting was opened, and our guests were introduced: DG Sakon Uengsroithong, ADG Monsiri Na Nakorn, PP Suchana Chaloemtoem, Dieter, Claudia
There were updates provided by the various committees.
PP Sam – Membership – He advised that the membership goal of three new members was on track with one new member already achieved.
PP Richard – The next step in the Helmets for Kids program will be a fundraiser at Home restaurant on 14 September with local artists decorating helmets which will then be auctioned to benefit the program.
PE Johan – The Rotary Larry Amsden memorial Save a Child swim program has just completed, and 93 children are now water safe and have the skills to protect themselves from drowning.
The beach cleanup with the children will happen on Saturday, and the celebration and presentation of certificates to the children will occur on Monday.
PP David – The state of the treasury is sound, and we just paid a donation to the joint Phuket Rotary clubs' annual contribution of plates to one of the temples for the vegetarian festival.
PP Sam – Foundation – Advised that PP Arnaud is the first person in Thailand to achieve the Arch Klumpf Society level two for donations to the Rotary Foundation. All members and encouraged to donate to Every Rotarian Every Year.
DG Sakon addressed the club and reviewed that Rotary encourages service in 6 areas of focus.
• Peace and conflict prevention/resolution
• Disease prevention and treatment
• Water and sanitation
• Maternal and child health
• Basic education and literacy
• Economic and community development
He went on to explain that We as Rotarians take care of people from birth to death.
The DG mentioned that the signature projects of RCoPB are the Scholarship Program, the Larry Amsden memorial Save a Child Swim Safety program and the Gary Eidsvik-Moody memorial Helmets for Kids Program.
He compared this to the Rotary International Signature program, which is polio eradication.
Rotary has focused on polio eradication. Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 30 years, and we’ve made incredible progress in the fight to rid the world of it forever.
It’s crucial to eliminate polio from the last three countries where it remains endemic and to keep other countries polio-free. This year Nigeria is polio-free, and if it remains so through next year we will be down to only two countries where polio is endemic, Pakistan and Afganistan.
If all eradication efforts stopped today, within ten years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year. We are very close to complete this vital goal, and donations toward polio eradication are still needed to reach the goal.
PP Arnaud highlights the importance of donations as he was the first to become an Arch Klumpf Society member in Thailand and now is the first to achieve the Second level of AKS in Thailand.
The DG extended his thanks to PP Arnaud and presented two items of recognition: Rotary Theme pins for the past 30 years in a beautiful frame and an AKS coin from the district where Arch Klumpf was a member.
He extended his thanks to all members of RCoPB for the service we conduct and his warm welcome to our club.
There was Q&A, and some of the questions were:
Please tell us about some exemplary projects from other clubs in the district.
Projects discussed were:
- Pra Pathom Jai Dee club’s project providing artificial legs
- The Lake of love project for flood control by RIPP Bichai Rattakul
How many clubs and members are in District 3330?
The meeting closed with a toast and gong from P Jonathan.