Rotary is a fantastic, global organisation with people all around the world doing great things to help their local community and others. Social media is a really useful way of learning about these vastly different activities and initiatives.
As regular readers know, we recently launched our own Instagram account - and we're delighted to say we currently have 275 followers around the world. However, not many members of our Club are yet on Instagram so they don't see all the great posts to do with Rotary and the extended Rotary family (Rotaract, Interact, Inner Wheel etc).
Our Member Shabana Raman, who mainly looks after the Instagram account, was excited with the wide range of activities "on show" by clubs around the world (many taking place despite lockdown scenarios) and thought she might be able to excite or inspire our own Members too, particularly as lockdown has curtailed travel and people are missing the "colour" of visiting other places. So, with our President's agreement, she's started to give an "Around the World in 10 mins" presentation at our Zoom meetings.
"Since opening our Instagram account, we've seen so many inspiring actions and services from Rotary clubs all over the world through photos and stories," she said. "Having these few minutes is a great chance to keep our Members connected too through sharing some of the most inspirational stories on social media."
During her first 10 min global tour Shabana mentioned the following - if you're on Instagram you can click on links to see the original Instagram post:
- Whitby Winterfest: organised by the Rotary Club Of Whitby Sunrise (rotary_whitby_sunrise) - "fun, family winter fundraising events and activities where Rotarians, friends, families, and businesses come together to celebrate winter and give back to our community." https://whitbywinterfest.com/
- Chef Apprentice initiative: organised by Rotary International, Brazil (rotary_brasil) - translated from their tweet the initiative tells us that "in six months [they] trained 16 young people to enter the culinary job market."
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Treety of Generations project: Shared via Rotary International (rotaryinternational) - "Rotaract clubs in Germany, Ecuador, and India partnered together.... To date, they have been able to motivate volunteers to plant over 1,500 trees."
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A Cup of Happiness: Shared via Rotary International (rotaryinternational) - "In Moldova and Romania...club members sell tea, mulled wine, and other seasonal beverages in custom cups at holiday markets." Over the years they have raised thousands for a local hospital and clinic.
Shabana also reminded Members about Rotary Radio UK (which we've helped publicise when they launched back in 2018 and when they gave us a talk the following year). This is great radio station to listen to - especially during these worrying times as in between a wide selection of music it shares news about positive activities and initiatives that Rotarians are getting involved with. There's little room for doom and gloom there!
Shabana will be giving further world tours every month or so, and we will try to share them here for all to see.
Don't forget to also follow us on:
- instagram (@rotaryclubofcanterbury): www.instagram.com/rotaryclubofcanterbury
- facebook page: www.facebook.com/rotarycanterbury
- twitter (@RotaryCantUK): twitter.com/RotaryCantUK
Likes, shares and retweets are much appreciated!
Picture: Composite picture with image from Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay and logo from Rotary International.
