Evening of online chat

President Katrina welcomed everyone to tonight’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Motherwell and Wishaw and gave a particular welcome to David Grieve who was paying the Club a second visit.

President Katrina highlighted an item of Interesting Rotaract Information, reported on the RIBI website, about The Burns Price Foundation, a small charity making a big difference in the lives of young people and their communities. Inspired by Peter and Dee Price, after a lifetime of peace building, it was launched in 2015.

The Foundation promotes good citizenship amongst young people and enables them to contribute positively to their community through local projects. What makes this foundation unique is that the initiative comes from young people aged 11-18, who are able to apply for grants of up to £5,000.

Hundreds of young people have already benefitted from the Foundation. Examples of projects are:

Restorative justice and peace making; supporting issues around mental health and loneliness; tackling homelessness and poverty; combatting gang and knife crime; building community across generations and ethnicities.

A member of the Rotaract e-Club of GB&I, Heidi, was The Burns Price Foundation’s first award recipient. After volunteering in this country and abroad, Heidi has gone on to study for a degree in International Development at the University of Sussex. She was the Foundation’s first young ambassador and today she serves as a trustee.

Tablets with dementia friendly software: President Katrina reported that she hoped to have the delivery to the nursing homes and community groups organised by the end of January.

Avondale Nursing Home and Huttonlee Nursing Home will receive two tablets each. The Community Centres (Stonehouse Jubilee Club and Dementia Resource Centre, Motherwell) will receive one tablet each, and this would leave three tablets still to be allocated.  Members were asked to contact President Katrina with the names of any other dementia groups that would benefit from receiving these tablets.

Secretary Ian reminded Council members, who had not already done so, to contact him regarding their availability for the next Council meeting – 4^th and/or 11^th February.

Treasurer Tom reported that, so far, the amount deposited into the Charities account, in lieu of sending Christmas cards, stood at £280 with another £40 pledged. As previously agreed, the total amount deposited would be donated to the Les Hoey Dream Maker Foundation. There would be no rush to make the donation since, in the current climate, the Foundation was unable to take young folk anywhere.

As this point our Social Evening started, the members being split into three separate groups for chat and catch-up, the groups rotating at intervals. Callan Dick was thanked for his technical expertise in facilitating this.