Lunch time ZOOM meeting - 1pm - Shwetal Shah - Seeds of Social Action

On Thursday 3^rd November 2022 President Brian Johnson, welcomed 15 club Rotarians to this a ZOOM meeting held in our homes commencing at 1pm.

President Brian mentioned that the books abroad and old tools projects were still ongoing.

Anne Sampson mentioned the Shoebox appeal for Christmas in Eastern Europe where Pitcoudie primary school had returned 49 boxes. Much thanks to the school, pupils, and parents for supporting us this year. The return date has been confirmed as the 15th November and Rotarian Will Wishart has agreed to transport these up to Perth.

Geoff Sampson advised that the sponsored Walk a Mile for a £1 to go towards the end Polio Now campaign has raised £284 thus far, much thanks to all those who supported and sponsored the event.

David Cooper advised that he had received children’s toys, games and books to support any local organisation in need of them. These were taken to Carea in Woodside, run by Christine and Graham Buist.

Wilna Roger once again mentioned the Peace Walk which will take place on Wednesday 9th November at 5.45pm with an assembly in the 3 High Schools before walking to the War Memorial opposite the Kino Cinema for a 7pm start.

The Scottish Evening being held on the evening of Thursday 24th November at Gilvenbank Hotel with entertainment from The Shands, also pupils from Auchmuty High School. Conner Pratt and the cadet band is a fundraiser supporting the refurbishment of the sensory garden at John Fergus School.

Our speaker this week was SHWETAL SHAH appearing on ZOOM link from her parents’ home in Mumbai, India, speaking about Seeds of Social Action! Shwetal who is a winner of the European Youth Award, a unique European-wide movement of young innovators who never stop learning, questioning, and improving the world we live in. The awards are organised by the International Centre for New Media (ICNM), a non-profit organisation located in Salzburg, Austria. Having moved to the U.K. from India in 2013 to pursue an MSc in International Marketing from the University of Strathclyde, the opportunities she has taken over the past five years have shaped her as an individual. After graduating in 2014, she joined Onepoint Consulting in London as a junior consultant, working with heads of departments of organisations like Network Rail to solve their digital transformation needs. These opportunities have allowed Shwetal to find her calling – empowering women, youth, and minority communities in the UK, using the power of tech as a force for good. Growing up in Mumbai, surrounded by but never being in poverty herself, has made her question her privileges a lot, initially struggling to accept the fact that life had treated her much better than she deserved, then wondering what she could do as an individual to make higher education more accessible. Due to the lack of social mobility in India, she enrolled for a master’s degree in the UK, to understand more about education accessibility tools, which one day would help her set up a scholarship fund in India, and got a role at a tech consulting firm in the UK to continue finding solutions. Seeing the gender imbalance in the tech sector and wider lack of social mobility and the lack of role model representation in mainstream media, led her to undertake various outreach initiatives, she reached out to women scientists via Twitter and invited them to talk about their research via a series of free public science lectures called- Explore Science, aimed at making science more accessible. She made a documentary showcasing women in tech as role models which led to the Feminist Library in London launching a yearlong free tech skills program for women.

In 2016 she was given a grant of £200 from O2 Think Big, that changed her life, with that grant funding she was able to bring leading women scientists across the UK to share their research with the wider public and open up dialogue on the latest cutting-edge work, create more women role models for wider society and girls to look up to. After seeing the recent rise of protests in light of social justices around the world, The Grants for Social Action aim to create a new generation of young leaders, committed to positive change in themselves, their communities and the world. She was only able to get these off the ground because she got mini grants from O2 Think Big (which has now been shut down), for someone who has just arrived from India and had no friends in London but had a lot of passion to make a difference using creative arts tackling hard hitting issues. She was so motivated to push herself beyond her comfort zone when she came across those grants, it made her want to give back even more to society. Now 6 years since she undertook those and a few other initiatives, she was wondering what else can be done to help many other young people in the UK with these mini-grants and thus helping them with social mobility? She has launched the Grants for Social Action as an initiative that the newly formed Rotaract E-club of Great Britain and Ireland will undertake to empower young people by not only giving them grants but also mentors and partners to make a difference.

The Rotary Vote of thanks was given by Brian Johnson.

Next week 10th November 2022 will be a lunch time meeting at Gilvenbank Hotel meeting at 12.45pm and commencing at 12.55pm no speaker, club business and fellowship.

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.