Lunch time meeting - ZOOM Meeting our speakers this week are Ann Tait President of The Fife Association of Rotary Clubs talking about a Books Abroad Project and Rose Duncan giving us an update on Collydean Hub

On Thursday 15th October 2020 President Geoff Sampson welcomed 14 Club Rotarians, guest speakers Rose Duncan and Rotarian Anne Tait to this lunch time meeting held by ZOOM.

Four Rotarians apologised for non-attendance.

Our speakers this week were Rose Duncan Centre manager at the Collydean Community Centre Hub gave the members an update on the further need for phone befriending and its relaunch for vulnerable adults and also the situation with child abuse and the increase in child poverty which had risen to 78%. Rose was also looking to empower the community to support her initiatives.

Anne Tait President of the association of Fife Rotary Clubs spoke about the Books Abroad project, which she is looking to get the Association of Fife Rotary Clubs involved with. This project promotes literacy, education and understanding to provide a means of sustainable escape from the plight of poverty in developing countries. This is achieved through the collection and redistribution of good quality, second-hand books to educational establishments worldwide, whilst also building sustainable relationships for further liaison and learning for all concerned. A registered charity operated by a Board of Trustees and a team of volunteers, Books Abroad, formerly known as ‘LINK’,  was founded in 1982 by Keith Brunskill, a teacher at Banff Academy, following a visit to the school by Nigerian Missionary Derek Joy who mentioned the great lack of books in his school in Africa. This prompted Keith to start organising pupils to raise funds and to parcel books for posting to Nigeria. Good quality second hand books are donated by schools, colleges, universities and private individuals from across Scotland and some parts of England, and are brought to the Books Abroad base in Rhynie where they are checked and sorted by a team of volunteers.  The books are carefully selected into parcels in response to direct request for support from educational establishments abroad. Over 300 requests for books are received from abroad per year, of which around 20-30 projects are supplied with books.  We aim to help anyone in need who asks, from any country in the world, regardless of race or religion. We currently have an output of over 125,000 books per annum. To date, over 3 million books have been despatched worldwide. The charity’s target is to send parcels to each institution once every 3 years.  Where no appropriate books are available from the second-hand collection to satisfy requests, funds may be used to purchase new books, for example atlases, dictionaries, and health books. There is no cost to the recipients for the provision or delivery of books being sent abroad. Where possible, Books Abroad tries to send the parcels to established partners for onward distribution, which ensures accurate delivery to the requesting organisations and dramatically reduces delivery costs. Partners include Rotary Clubs abroad, Diamond Bank Trust and other similar established organisations. Books Abroad receives no government funding, depending entirely on successful funding bids from trusts and companies, as well as monies raised during fundraising events in local communities and from donations and membership subscriptions by our supporters. Books deemed unsuitable for redistribution are resold locally to raise funds for Books Abroad, or are industrially shredded and used locally for animal bedding or composting.

The Rotary vote of thanks was given by President Geoff Sampson and Wilna Roger respectively.

On Wednesday 21st October 2020 at Thornton Golf Club some members and friends will take part in the clubs Presidents golf Trophy with this years President looking to retain the trophy he won last year.

This coming week Thursday 22nd October 2020 at 1pm on ZOOM we will be given a talk by Yolanda Hilton President of the Rotary Club of Cowdenbeath talking about an old tools Project

The Rotary vote of thanks will be given by Wilna Roger.

The sad news came through to us on Thursday evening that our dear friend and Rotarian Chris Harris had died over night, Our thoughts are with Chris’s family and friends at this very sad time.

If you were interested in supporting the community and international projects get in touch by Private message on The Rotary Club of Glenrothes Facebook page. You will be made most welcome[GS1] .