Page 5 - Rotary Matters - August 2020 - v2

Rotary Club of Holdfast Bay 1000 Paper Cranes Project

At the beginning of May, when many of us were still socially isolated, the Rotary Club of Holdfast Bay
embarked on a project that would not only connect members of the Club but would eventually connect
people within our local community and across the globe.

The 1000 Paper Cranes project was initiated by Natsumi Oda, a Rotary Foundation Scholar from Japan who
is studying a Masters of Social Work at Flinders University.
Natsumi is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ogaki naka and hosted by the Rotary Club of Holdfast Bay.

In Japan there is a tradition to make 1000 paper cranes to send a message of peace and healing - Senbazuru.

The goal was to make the 1000 paper cranes and bring them together in a piece of art by the end of June.
With the support of Brighton Central shopping mall Natsumi and Rotarians set up a display over two week-
ends in May to promote the project by making cranes and inviting members of the community to make a
crane at home and bring it back to the mall to contribute to the 1000 cranes artwork.

Other organisations including the Australia Japan Association of SA and Flinders University International
Students Services came on board to help us reach our target and at the beginning of June we had our
1000 paper cranes. Rotarians and partners from the Rotary Club of Holdfast Bay, and friends from the
organisations listed above, participated in several working bees to thread the 1000 cranes and on June 26
the Positivity Tree was assembled at Brighton Central where it stayed on display until mid July.

The 1000 Paper Cranes Facebook Group (#1000craneletters) was also created and over 230 members from
across the globe are posting photos of their paper cranes as well as positive messages of peace and healing.

Natsumi Oda (kneeling), Marilyn
Tiver (partner of Rotarian), Kyoko Katayama
Positivity Tree at Brighton Central VP Australia Japan Association of SA

IS COVID-19 INFECTING ROTARY?
Both former districts has some of their biggest losses in membership last year with 9500 losing 46 members
and 9520, 88 members. Unfortunately we were not alone, because the Zone (Australia, New Zealand and
South Pacific) lost a total of 1568 members which is 35% greater than the loss between the previous two
years. Our age profile is against us with most Rotarians now in the over 70 years’ category, so unless we
can attract younger members our numbers will continue to decline. While Zoom meetings attracted larger
attendances at most clubs, it appears the pandemic may have crystalized in some members minds that now
was a good time to go.
Our giving to the Rotary Foundation also declined and this mirrored a decline across the Zone. Again the
impact of Covid-19 could be the cause although it is intriguing to see that both our neighbouring countries –
the Philippines and Indonesia recorded increases in per capita giving.
The results were
2018-19 2019-20
D9500 $65.06 $51.99
D9520 $53.58 $48.23
Zone $80.70 $65.85
Our new district 9510 starts the year with 86 clubs and 2048 members. This district now has the largest
number of clubs and one of the largest memberships in the Zone and embraces more States and territories
than any other district. A challenge for DG David as he starts his round of official visits. Page 5