Speakers Evening

On Thursday 11th June, the Rotary Clubs of South Queensferry and Kelso linked up through Zoom to host a joint meeting. The guest speaker was Immediate Past President of Rotary International Barry Rassin who talked from his home in the Bahamas. The event attracted visitors from Rotary clubs as far afield as Argentina, Canada, USA, South Africa and Wales as well as all over Scotland.

Barry's presentation covered how the system of Matching Grants is enabling Rotary Clubs from all over the world to raise funds to help the international effort to combat Covid-19. Some examples from Europe showed how clubs tailored their responses to the specific requirements of their areas. Typical Disaster Response Grants provided support for food banks and kitchens coping with the greatly increased demand from people in need in Scotland. Also in Scotland, grants provided PPE to hospices, cancer support centres etc. In Lithuania, Rotary purchased diagnostic and treatment equipment for protection against Covid-19. Protective equipment for the elderly and for first responders was provided in Belgium and Rotary clubs in France purchased respirators and other medical equipment. In Switzerland, Rotary provides emergency aid for institutions caring for socially marginalised groups during the lock-down and in Italy, among many initiatives Rotary bought 5,000 protective screens to limit the spread of the virus.

Although these are only a tiny fraction of Rotary initiatives, Rotary Global Grants and Disaster Grants are supporting efforts to control the virus by numerous national and international organisations around the world.

Barry Rassin's splendid presentation emphasised how individual clubs, with the backing of Rotary International, were able to make a vital difference in providing aid of many kinds during this crisis.

The virtual meeting was jointly hosted by Jim McCulloch of Queensferry and Gordon McInally of Kelso. They both thanked Barry for giving such a good view of  Rotary's response to Covid-19 and how Rotary will continue to offer support throughout and after the pandemic.