We Did So Well

It’s February 23, 2025, Rotary's 120th Birthday and time for the annual Rotary District 1240 Foundation Lunch, held at Little Channels in Chelmsford,  We were very well represented - by President Patrick Rothon and Carol, IPP Roger Kettle and Sarah, Michael Ginn and Sue, and Peter Greene and Wendy, who were among about 80 Rotarians present on the day. Supporting Foundation

Proceedings opened with a welcome from current District Rotary Foundation Chair Steve Wallbank.  Fortunately, Seamus Grant – who is responsible for Major Gifts within the Rotary Foundation, was attending the Lunch and agreed to step in at very short notice.  Lunch was very much better than the very tough lamb we had last year, 

Didn’t we do well!

As usual, the Foundation lunch is the opportunity to celebrate those clubs which have done the most to support The Rotary Foundation, and its End Polio Now campaign, and a series of presentations were made by Seamus Grant on behalf of the Rotary Foundation and our District 1240.

Our club walked away with four Foundation and End Polio awards for Rotary Year 2023-24, which Immediate Past President Roger Kettle accepted on our behalf because they were won in his Presidential year:

End Polio Now - Countdown to History certificate given to the Rotary Club in our District which has made the highest contribution to End Polio Now.

Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY).  A banner given to our Rotary Club of Billericay because Every Member of the club continues to donate over $25 to The Rotary Foundation Every Year

One Hundred Percent Club -  A banner given to our Rotary Club of Billericay because every member of the club is a “Sustaining Member” of The Rotary Foundation by donating $100 or more this last year.

Buck’s Bucket - a wine bucket and a bottle of Prosecco, donated by the late PDG Ken Buck to be awarded to the District 1240 Rotary Club which had the highest percentage of sustaining members in the District.

Global Scholars

First to address us was Global Scholar Nicholas Mykytyn, an American student studying at the University of Essex, who talked about how he became interested in human rights and helping people, abd how he came to be studying at Essex thanks to the generosity of Rotary.

Our Keynote Speaker (see above) was Seamus Grant, who is responsible for Major Gifts within the Rotary Foundation.  He tried to give an overview of how much good The Rotary  Foundation, Rotary’s only charity, was doing, and described his job as helping clubs appreciate and build on the importance of the Rotary Foundation’s 100 years of fantastic success, and helping potential donors commit to supporting the Rotary Foundation.

The world should be amazed at the millions of hours per week given by Rotary Clubs to their communities, the impact of The Rotary Foundation on the world, and on encouraging new members and enhancing the rotary brand. 

Regretfully the sound from the microphone faded in and out and it sometimes difficult to follow all that Seamus said, but two other highlights stood out:

Foundation receives donations of $1.2 million every day.

District 1240 is very foundation friendly, the event raised approximately £900 for the Rotary Foundation.