Projects
Mt Eden Rotary has been involved in a number of projects. While the club is small, it is amazing what members can accomplish when hearts and minds work together. Here are a few examples.
Wellbeing Day Out
Wellbeing Day Out is a free community event organised by Mt Eden Rotary. Our major sponsor is the Albert-Eden Local Board.
After holding a successful inaugural event in May 2019, we are now taking a broad multi-cultural approach to the definition of wellbeing – encompassing health, wellness, the environment and sustainability. This broader scope was reflected in our second Wellbeing Day Out held in May 2021.
Wellbeing Day Out features stalls (offering advice and services and connections), activities and workshops.
Resources for MECF
Mt Eden Rotary donated 100 copies of the Usborne Illustrated English Dictionary to the Mt Eden Corrections Facility in 2019, in 2015 and also in 2007. These donations were achieved via a number of fundraising events (author talks and signings) and supported by the June Gray Charitable Trust.
In 2020, Mt Eden Rotary donated 80 copies of the NZ Road Code and 65 Māori language books. This donation was made possible with the support of matching grants from the Rotary Foundation (Rotary District 9920) and from the K.C. Loo Fruit Centre fundraising stall.
Book Drive for MECF
Building on the relationship that we have established with the Mt Eden Corrections Facility's Librarian and its Volunteer Coordinator, Mt Eden Rotary began a Book, Jigsaw Puzzle and Magazine Drive for the MECF in 2021.
Donations are dropped off to either Chapter Book and Tea Shop or to K.C. Loo Fruit Centre. Pickups are possible.
In the first quarter of 2021, 63 boxes and bags of books, jigsaw puzzles and magazines were collected. These are being used for educational purposes and to help keep restless minds busy.
Hearts4Kids
Mt Eden Rotary and Epsom Rotary donated $3,250 to the team from Hearts4Kids for their surgical trip for children in Fiji in November 2019.
This follows donations by the two Rotary clubs of $4,872 in May 2017, $2,436 in August 2016 and $1,725 in 2015.
These donations have been supported by matching grants from the Rotary Foundation - Rotary District 9920.
Hearts4Kids is a volunteer medical team from New Zealand that travels to the Pacific Islands to perform life-saving congenital heart surgery on babies and children. With help, these children have the opportunity to lead an active and fulfilling life.
Māpura Studios
The Charity Art Auction at Giltrap Audi organised by Epsom Rotary and Gow Langsford Gallery in November 2019 raised over $100,000 which was a fantastic result. Mt Eden Rotary provided assistance at this event.
Our support for Mapura Studios at this event builds on support provided at smaller charity art auctions in May 2018, May 2017 (raising $14,393), May 2016 and May 2014 (raising $7,070).
Māpura Studios offers inclusive, multi-modal art classes as well as art therapy programmes for people of all ages diversity and need (including stroke victims), as well as the wider community.
Automated External Defibrillators
In August 2017, Mt Eden Rotary presented an AED to Wendy Hoskin, acting CEO of Presbyterian Support Northern. In November 2017, Mt Eden Rotary presented an AED to Sam Bremer, General Manager of De Post Belgian Beer Cafe whose location and late hours make it an ideal recipient. Many thanks to Leon Hattori (for his fundraising jazz concerts) and the Chenery Memorial Trust (for its matching grants) which, together, made these two AED presentations possible.
In August 2018, Mt Eden Rotary and Epsom Rotary presented an AED to Scott Johnston, CEO of The Hearing House. Many thanks to the June Gray Charitable Trust (for its matching grant) which helped make this presentation possible.
Rotary Foundation
The Rotary Foundation is our charity of choice – we donate to it and it, in turn, supports our charitable endeavours in seven key areas of focus which are:
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Peace and conflict prevention,
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Disease prevention and treatment,
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Water and sanitation,
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Maternal and child health,
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Basic education and literacy,
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Economic and community development, and
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Supporting the Environment.
In June 2020, while our main fundraiser for the Rotary Foundation was postponed due to COVID19, club members together contributed $1,500 towards the Foundation, which was a great effort.
Similar donations have been made in earlier years, including $2,000 in June 2019, $1,600 in June 2018 and $1,700 in June 2017.
End Polio Now
Mt Eden Rotary was thrilled to help End Polio Now (Polio Plus) in October 2020 with a donation of $1,200 which, together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's generous 2:1 matching grant, resulted in an effective donation of $3,600. Similar donations have been made in earlier years, including $1,310 in June 2019 and $1,260 in April 2018.
Rotary, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. In 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined Rotary in its commitment to ending polio. Since 2013, the Gates Foundation has matched every US$1 Rotary commits to polio eradication 2-to-1, currently up to US$50 million per year. Rotary, with matching funds from the Gates Foundation, has contributed more than US$2 billion to end polio.
Since we started the fight against polio, we’ve reduced the number of polio cases by 99.9 percent and reached more than 2.5 billion children with the vaccine. There are fewer polio cases today than ever before, but we will not stop until we reach zero. If polio is not eradicated, hundreds of thousands of children could be paralyzed. Global health care costs would rise dramatically, and many children’s quality of life would be drastically diminished. Join us in the fight to end polio.
Miscellaneous
In June 2019, Mt Eden Rotary donated $2,000 to Allergy New Zealand, with the funds being raised by a Quiz Night Fundraiser.
In December 2018, Mt Eden Rotary donated $1,800 to the For the Love of Bees Organic Market Garden for a storage shed, with the funds being raised by a bake sale and a matching grant from the Rotary Foundation - Rotary District 9920.
In November 2017, Mt Eden Rotary raised $2,000 for Diabetes Education Resources, with the funds being raised by a Quiz Night Fundraiser and a matching grant from the Rotary Foundation - Rotary District 9920.
In 2015, Mt Eden Rotary donated $2,000 (with the support of a Rotary Foundation - District 9920 matching grant) to Dave Smith, Smith & Henry Consulting Engineers towards the cost of relocating a junior playground to Lalomanu Primary School in Samoa.
In 2013, Mt Eden Rotary held a Charity Golf Tournament. The proceeds of approximately $5,000 were donated to the Middlemore Foundation's National Burns Unit, and to the Hearing House.
In 2013, Mt Eden Rotary club member Ursula Bach was the District Co-ordinator for a "Dance for Peace".
In 2012, Mt Eden Rotary contributed $10,000 toward the rebuild of the Woodham Park playground in Christchurch (a post Christchurch-earthquake project).