Cricketing Fellowship goes in to bat for local cricket club

A huge thank you to New Zealand International Fellowship of Cricketing Rotarians (N.Z.I.F.C.R.) member and secretary John Hannah from Nelson

on his presentation of a cheque for NZ$3000 to Heathcote Cricket Club Captain Ian Cartwright.

The funds will be used towards the cost of rebuilding the Club’s pavilion, damaged during the earthquake earlier this year.

The Rotary Club of Christchurch Sunrise in conjunction with the Rotary Club of of Balwyn – D9810 Victoria has committed additional funding to support the earthquake rebuild of this much needed and used community facility.

See this link www.heathcote.co.nz for further information:

Inner Wheel doing a huge amount

Inner Wheel New Zealand has received a large number of donations from Inner Wheel clubs world wide.  They have established a committee to advise on how these donation are best spent with a focus on women and children and their recommendations are then sent to the Inner Wheel NZ Executive for approval before distribution.

So far distributions have been made to:

St Pauls School (new library book having lost their library and books)
Cholmondeley Children's Home (therapeutic resources to enhance their programmes)
Cross Over Trust (organising school activities)
198 Health Services (for replacement equipment)
Cantterbury Charitable Hospital (Trauma Centre equipment)
Christchurch Women's Refuge (general items)
St John (two hand held radio sets for communications in the field plus two defibrillators)

and more plus more recommendations under consideration.

In addition Inner Wheel members across New Zealand have provided much by way of Donations in Kind, especially school clothing, nappies and knitting and quilts.

Note:  Internationally, Inner Wheel is one of the largest women’s voluntary service organisations operating in the world.  For New Zealand please visit http://www.innerwheel.org.nz/

Down it comes

Demolition of the SBS Building (formerly Manchester Unity Bldg) on corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5800297/SBS-House-comes-down

... was it meant to come down quite this was.

October Update Newsletter

Welcome to this October circulation outlining activities of the Earthquake Recovery Support Project (EQRSP).

(Note; The Christchurch Rotary Earthquake Appeal Charitable Trust has a separate newsletter to communicate its activities.)

We have encouraged all Rotary Clubs in the District to become actively involved in earthquake recovery support. This Newsletter is an important communication.

Can you please ensure it is forwarded on to your Rotarians and EQ project teams in your club.

Matching Grants

In mid September we received notification that our Matching Grant application to The Rotary Foundation was approved. The project is for Replacement of Emergency and Medical Equipment for St John Ambulance - total project value $69,000.

Clubs in our District who supported the MG with commitment of their DDF are RCs Ashburton, Nelson West, Ashburton Plains and Bishopdale Burnside. RC Chch West and RC East Malden (UK) provided cash contribution also.

D3870 – Philippines, is the Matching Grant International Sponsor with a contribution of US$20,000. District 3780, which includes all chartered Rotary Clubs within the territory of Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, was formally established by Rotary International in 1989. Since then, District 3780 has held the distinction of being probably the only "one-city, one R.I. district" in the entire Rotary world. There are over 90 clubs in the District with more than 2000 Rotarians. See http://www.district3780.org/ and read about our generous MG partners. Special thanks to PDG Danilo Espinosa for his excellent liaison

District Simplified Grant

Application has been made to The Rotary Foundation to approve a District Simplified Grant (20% of DDF – about $15,000) to be applied for earthquake humanitarian projects. This will enable the six “EQ Front Line Clubs” to spent their DDF allocation on projects in their catchment.

Portable Swimming Pools

Rotary has partnered with an initiative by Sport Canterbury to enable “learn to swim and survive” programmes in schools to continue (32 schools currently have no access to swimming pools with the loss of QEII, Centennial Pool and pools in Kaiapoi and Linwood). The first two pools have been ordered and will be installed at Kaiapoi and Queenspark Schools.

Funds have been committed by D9750 Sydney; RC Belfast-Kaiapoi; RC Whakatane; RC Coffs Harbour South; RC Nelson West; RC Richmond; RC Motueka; RC Bishopdale Burnside and CREQA Fund. Thank you for your generosity.

Respite Vacations

We have generous offers from North East Victoria (Aust); Northern NSW (Aust); and Rotorua for provision of travel, accommodation and friendly hosting to Rotarians who deserve a respite break from their business and home difficulties as a consequence to the earthquakes. Can Clubs give consideration to likely recipients within their midst and contact Lindsay Crossen to align the offers (all enquiries will be confidential)

Projects Completed

Roger Horton , Group Leader Mount Pleasant Sea Scouts with Sea Scouts Vaughan Bamford and Campbell Wright receiving a cheque for $4000.00.

The donation was made for rescue boat repairs so they can carry out their activities on Lyttelton Harbour as the Estuary is not available due to pollution and depth changes following the earthquakes. The funding was made up from RC Winton Club (Southland), RC Murgon Club (Brisbane) and RC Christchurch South who coordinated the project.

Support from Mosgiel

Colin Mackintosh represented the Rotary Club of Mosgiel was in Christchurch recently where he attended gatherings at Te Mapua Trust, RC Christchurch South and RC Linwood-Woolston. At these meetings cheques were handed over for more than $25,000 which had been raised by Mosgiel Club to assist with earthquake recovery projects. The Rotary Clubs coordinated the projects in their local areas.

The money contributed the Te Mapua Child & Youth Trust is for the purchase of equipment which will help it run the camps more effectively in the future. These include: 50 camp stretchers, 50 bed rolls, a covered trailer for transporting camping gear, a data projector and screen, and a portable public address system.

The Principal of Waltham Primary School, Gordon Caddie, was given a cheque to help rebuild the library shelving and Colin Hammond, Principal of Bamford Primary School (both are low decile schools) received a cheque for $3,000 to assist in funding an educational trip to Wellington. These projects will help bring some normality to those schools in EQ affected communities.

Support from the Far North

Soon after the February earthquake PDG Merv Huxford of District 9910 organised an humanitarian matching grant and aligned to the Aranui Community Trust. This association has progressed to nearly $25,000 of $500 Family Needs Grants being distributed to needy cases. This project has had great support from the Rotary Clubs of Bay of Islands, Kerikeri, Maungaturoto, Whangarei South and Kaitaia.

Separately, when Burwood School (which has 70% of its catchment Red Zoned) asked for assistance with 3 small projects, District 9920 and the Chenery Memorial Trust made funds available for RC Chch North to assist the school.

Emerging Projects

The following are potential earthquake recovery projects that the Project team is currently evaluating;

Mobile Library Vans to extend the CCC mobile library service where community libraries have been damaged and closed and the people demographics has changed around the City. A project is being developed in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries to assist them to rejuvenate and extend their current services.

Repair of “soft surfacing” under a number of playgrounds around the city – this has potential for a Club working project.

A number of Sports Clubs are now working on recovery of their facilities and projects requiring assistance are starting to emerge.

• Shirley Tennis Club needs to get its courts back operational for its 400 junior players.
• Shirley Boys High School is now back in their school (after six months double shifting with Papanui HS) but their half constructed astro turf sport area is unfinished and their cricket practice facilities and main wicket area need repair.
• The pavilion at the Heathcote Sports Ground, a popular community, cricket and picnic venue, is damaged and requires substantial rebuild.

There are many “donor offers” waiting to support projects allocated or taken up in partnership with Christchurch based clubs. Christchurch clubs who have a project, or have lost their fundraising base and want to continue supporting their Charities and Programs, should contact Lindsay Crossen (contacts above) with their requirements

Special Clubs Assembly

DG David Drake has called a Special Clubs Assembly on 13^th October to update clubs on earthquake assistance in the District and look forward to community needs where Rotary can assist “Recovery”.

Where it is now - a diminishing look (for now)

An aerial view of Christchurch taken a couple of weeks ago. Many, many gaps are already apparent. For example, you can see a very bare Cashel Street along from the Bridge of Remembrance (centre-right). The Hotel Grand Chancellor, the tallest building in this picture, is just one of the many still to be demolished. A very sad sight for all those who love Christchurch.

Photographs courtesy of Alastair Wiffen RC of Nelson

And from the Bulletin:

Wiff spoke of his respect for the residents of Christchurch in their resolve, determination and demonstration of true grit. The people were tired and scratchy for a reason, as their whole world was turned upside down. Wiff said it was 10x worse than anything portrayed on TV.

Even today, the 250 ton crane used in demolition of the largest buildings,when it moves the ground behind it will liquefy from the sheer size of the crane. It only indicates the condition of the soil beneath, and the problems to be faced in the future. Some of the buildings are intact, simply leaning due to the unstable soil beneath them.

One of the solutions being considered, pump grout into holes bored beneath the buildings. With enough pressure, the cavities can be filled and the buildings righted. These new technologies are expensive, come from Japan and the USA, but have never been used on such a large scale. It could prove economically feasible if $2-5,000,000 would be spent to save a 50,000,000 building. Wiff ended by saying he felt it a privilege to work with the people of Christchurch and will never say “harden up”after seeing how they have coped with the quakes.

He is proud of the work Rotary has done in the region, and challenged us to continue to support them, as it will be a long recovery.