Page 1 - Rotary Matters - March 2023

March 2023 DG Newsletter

Dear fellow Rotarians, partners and friends of Rotary,

Meetings – degrees of separation
I begin this message as I finished off the last, with those words of Paul Harris
If Rotary is to realise its proper destiny it must be Evolutionary at all times
and Revolutionary on occasions.
I illustrated that Support is what Rotary do, home and abroad. I wrote of the newly established
District RAWCS registered project, “New Dawn – Rotary – Ukraine Crisis”.

We had the project launch presentation by Maurice
O’Connell at the Taylor & Forgie Funeral Home,
Gawler South. This was an unusual Rotary venue,
usually a place of serenity and reverence. It was a
spectacular complex. A place where on many
occasions we may sit, listen and learn about the
lives of people we knew and celebrate that life.

As I sat looking at the Ukraine flag draped over the
catafalque in the crypt area of the Taylor and Forgie
Funeral Home, I thought of one of my favourite
Hymns, # 467 of Together in Song:

I am the church! You are the church!
We are the church together!
All who follow Jesus all around the world,
Yes, we’re the church together!
1 2 3
The church is not a building, We’re many kinds of people And when people gather
The church is not a steeple, with many kinds of faces, there’s sing & there’s praying,
The church is not a resting place, all colours and all ages too, there’s laughing & there’s crying sometimes
The church is the people! From all times and places. All of it is saying:

We came together as one, including those that used the ability to live stream, that the Taylor
and Forgie funeral home was able to offer. We have forged a personal relationship despite
the distance, for a common and needed relief effort between Rotary D9510 and D2232 in
Ukraine.

The financial response has been encouraging, and we are receiving daily updates from
Maurice who has now returned to the Ukraine.

I was recently reading the Governor’s Newsletter D9500 – February 1995, written by then
Governor Trevor Graske and I share in part: Rotary Award for World Understanding - Rotary’s
highest honour. This prestigious award has been presented to those who have dedicated their
lives to help improve the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves.

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