October 29, 2022 | 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM @ Mequon Public Market

Todays world is very unpredictable both in your community and away from home.

Bad things can happen to good people.

To that end we are extremely lucky to have Michael Coleman of the FUTEN DOJO instruct both members and guests of  M-T Sunrise Rotary in self defense.

This is a class for ALL ages. Michael has been teaching martial arts in Milwaukee for over 32 years. As a former student I cannot express the extent of Michaels skills. There will be a small fee of $10 for the class however Michael will be giving a portion of the fee to Family Promise.

Hope to see you there.

A Rotary club is flourishing in an office building on Australia’s Gold Coast

By Brad Webber

Paul Harris' summoning of three fellow businessmen for a meeting on 23 February 1905 is enshrined in Rotary lore. The Chicago skyscraper where they assembled was named, providentially, the Unity Building — an appropriately titled backdrop for the celebration of commerce and conviviality.

More than a century later and half a world away on Australia's Gold Coast, Andy Rajapakse set his sights on his own "unity building," Corporate Centre One in Bundall, Queensland. The building, with a rounded glass facade and white-pillared balconies reminiscent of the laces on an American football, is a hub for about 60 of the Gold Coast's top companies. A prime opportunity, Rajapakse reasoned, for the implementation of "this crazy idea" of his to start a Rotary club to attract young professionals from companies in one building and its surroundings.

Hoping to turn them from competitors into a community and a force for good in the region, he paid a visit in early 2020 as the governor-elect of District 9640. He noted the firms listed on the directory and sought a meeting with a managing partner of one of the law offices there.

The elevator pitch? "To explain that most of them work and live in this building more hours a day and a week than in their home. And to imagine that if we can all get to know each other in this building, what a friendly and safer place it would be," Rajapakse recalls of the buildup to what would become the Rotary Club of Gold Coast Corporate. "Every time I see a high-rise corporate office building in Australia or New Zealand, I see an opportunity for a Rotary club."

By Randy Bretz, Rotary Club of Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

I was seated in a breakout session at the 2022 Rotary International Convention in Houston, Texas, USA, with about 200 other attendees ready to learn about story telling. I had come to the convention along with about 11,000 other members from around the world to learn and be inspired. And merely looking around the room gave we inspiration to see the diversity of nations represented.

A few minutes in, we were informed that the speaker would be unable to present. But that did not hinder this room full of creative and innovative People of Action. After taking a few seconds to confer with their neighbors, three people near the front of the room volunteered to lead the session. A round of applause broke out as they stepped up to the presentation table.

Shirley Weddle, a Rotary member from North Texas and Charter President of an e-club, Bob Wiltfong, club President of the Ponte Vedra, Florida club and Amanda Beadles of Chillicothe, Illinois proceeded to lead a seminar that resulted in a number of valuable guidelines for us to follow. As the hour-long seminar unfolded, we heard from dozens of folks with stories of their own from around the world.

Wiltfong, a former broadcast newsman, suggested following the journalism standard of being sure to include who, what, where, when and why in your stories. He also urged storytellers to be specific when telling their stories, details make all the difference. Then he went on to talk about guidelines to use when recording audio and/or video to share. One of the most important points, in my mind, was to keep stories short and to the point with a call to action. He concluded by suggesting that we let the story do the selling.

In October 2021, staff and students of Felpham Community College in West Sussex planted more than 4,000 crocuses provided by the Rotary Club of Bognor Regis as part of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland’s annual Purple4Polio campaign.

In February, as the flowers began to bloom, the college convened students from the ecology club and other school groups for a tea party. “This was a chance to have a hot drink and some homemade sweet treats, celebrate the crocuses coming into bloom, and thank our students for the hard work they put in above and beyond their day-to-day learning,” says Michelle Kelly, a deputy head teacher.

The Bognor Regis club and the school have partnered on the project for more than 10 years.