President Steve's Snippets

• Environmental Impact – Preventing playgrounds from ending up in landfills.
• Global Contribution – Providing much-needed playground facilities to developing countries through other Rotary clubs.
• Local Visibility – Raising the profile of Rotary clubs involved in playground removals.
• Sustainability – A self-funded initiative requiring minimal input from individual clubs.

All members are encouraged to read the attachments that were sent out with the above.

 

  DISCUSSION PAPER. RORP A PROJECT OF REGIONAL COMMUNITY GROUP

7 CLUBS Background The Rotary Overseas Relocated Playgrounds project (RORP) was started by the Rotary Club of Kensington Flemington (Melbourne) in 2019. The premise of RORP is simple. It takes playgrounds that are scheduled for replacement and sends them to developing communities overseas. RORP is a “Rotary to Rotary” project. Playgrounds are removed and despatched by Rotary Clubs and their relocation is managed by Rotary Clubs at the destination. RORP in Victoria is a multi-District project of the three Districts that cover the greater Melbourne and Geelong metropolitan areas. The project is run by a representative committee of the three Districts and in five years has relocated close to 500 playgrounds. The project was adopted by the Rotary Club of Mount Barker (RCMB) in October 2020 when RORP in Victoria referred an enquiry to them from the Mount Barker District Council. RCMB saw merit in the project and set-up a sub-committee under International Service to run it. The first playground was removed in March 2021 and since then 50 playgrounds have been referred for removal, of which 40 were removed. 26 of those playgrounds were relocated to Mongolia, the Philippines and Timor Leste. The remainder are in storage. Councils are the primary “owner” of playgrounds. A census in 2022 found that the 68 Councils in South Australia own 1635 playgrounds, of which 10% are replaced every year. 75% of these playgrounds are owned by Councils within 50km of Adelaide. Schools are also a significant owner of playgrounds, however RCMB has not had the resources to focus on that sector. In May 2023, the Board of RCMB recognised that the extent of the project had exceeded its capacity to manage it. Ironically, it was too successful. This was due to several factors: Exposure in mainstream media promoting a high demand for removals; Insufficient volunteers from within the Club to meet demand; Travel and time demands on members; Difficulty engaging other Rotary Clubs to assist; No structure within District 9510 for it to become a “District Project”. The Board does not wish to see the project end and is proposing that it be adopted as a project of the Regional Community Group 7 (RCG7)

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William B Boyd was President of Rotary International during the

years 2006-2007. He was better known to all as Bill.

Sadly, he passed away on January 22nd, 2025.

Bill and his wife, Lorna, lived in Howick, Auckland, New Zealand. During 

his Presidential years he and his wife were loved by so many. Bill had his own knacks when addressing a gathering and he would walk on stage carrying a stool and would look at his audience and say, 'I need to sit and say a few words.' and he did. His theme of 'Lead the Way' was directed to all Rotarians in 2006-2007 and he asked all to lead in the Rotary way, by living as a role model of tolerance, unselfishness and integrity.

Bill's International Conference/Convention was held in Salt Lake City, Utah and 16,000 attended from Rotary Clubs throughout the world. A number of South Australians were there and included PDG Robert and Peggy to witness an outstanding event as well as meet and shake hands with many Rotarians and partners from every corner of this world.          

 

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Steve Ahrens      11/2/2021  4    "