Guy Slocum
Auckland, August 3, 2024
As we move into the last quarter before our Annual Multicultural Festival occurs, the team at Airport Rotary is working hard to bring you a stellar event.
Rotary is an international charitable organisation, founded in Chicago on 23 February 1905, which has grown to over one million individuals populating 336 clubs across the globe. We are all unpaid volunteers using our spare time to engage in projects that make our communities a better place for all concerned.
Fighting Polio
In 1987, Rotary International partnered with the World Health Organisation to fight the scourge of polio. At the time, 127 countries were badly affected by this crippling condition. Individual Rotary members around the world mounted projects to raise funds and offered their time to help with the administration of the vaccine drop onto the tongues of our children. The result is that today only two countries are regarded as exhibiting a polio risk.
We have supported numerous other projects, both at the regional and Club levels.
As we now turn our attention to focus on the festival, we are visiting local businesses to see what support they can give us. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we thank all those who have pledged their support.
We are also delighted to have received the offer of complimentary performances from a number of artists, and amateur groups, who are keen to support the notion of friendly multicultural integration and cooperation.
Uniting New Zealanders after lockdown
The Multicultural Festival, run by the Rotary Club of Auckland Airport Inc was conceived after the socially damaging lockdown regimes imposed on New Zealand.
It was clear to us that considerable division had occurred throughout the country. Saddest of all was that these differing opinions were dividing society; dividing friends; dividing workplaces and even dividing families.
As a club, we live to improve the environment in the community in any way we can. Sometimes that will mean raising funds for a particular project or supporting a particularly needy child or adult. At other times, our multicultural Festival is a case in point, inciting a friendly and interactive community spirit has been one of our key aims.
As we came out of the Covid lockdown era, the problem was obvious, but the solution was elusive. As discussions progressed, we realised that there was a huge cultural diversity within our communities and the idea began to grow that we could not only seek to heal the divisions of Covid-19, but we could also bring our different cultures together in a spirit of interest and understanding.
Thus, a fairly modest Multicultural Festival was born but the enormous response, enthusiasm and publicity generated by the initial event persuaded us to mount an annual festival for the benefit of all cultures within our communities.
From our Archives
Auckland Airport Rotary Club prepares for Multicultural Festival
Seeking community support
So, whatever your original ethnicity, we want to hear from you: we want you to think about bringing a group of friends to sit in the audience, enjoy the acts and interact with those new friends around you. Of course, if you have, or know of, an act that reflects your culture (by song, dance or some other medium) we would love to hear from you.
So, whether you simply want to join us in the audience or to participate please give our Project Leader a call. His name is Amitesh Singh, and his number is 027-4641186.
We are also looking for local businesses to donate a small gift for the raffle draw.
All the proceeds from the night will go to support our future community projects.
One of the great satisfaction points of Rotary membership is that the needs of so many keep appearing on our doorstep and to deal with those we need even more members than we currently have.
We often say that we are stronger together than we are alone, and it is our experience that so many good people in the community would like to contribute to the well-being of fellow members.
However, they find it so difficult to decide what to do.
The answer is to join Airport Rotary where, as part of a committed and organised team, your comparatively small contribution can have a disproportionately large impact on those who benefit from our projects. If you would like to find out more about what membership in our club involves, and the fun you can have with like-minded folks, please give me (Guy Slocum) a call at 027-8952979. I will buy you a coffee (or a similar drink of your choice), tell you a bit about us, answer your questions and allow you to decide if you would like to be part of our team.
In the meantime, please have a look above at how you can help us make this year’s festival an event to remember and we will either look forward to hearing from you or get excited to welcome you into the audience on the night.
The Festival begins at 6 pm on 12 October 2024 at the Bucklands Beach Memorial Hall, 48 The Parade, Bucklands Beach, Auckland 2012
Guy Slocum is a Past President and current Membership Chair of the Rotary Club Auckland Airport Inc. The above article and the accompanying photograph and advertisement were sent by the Club.
