Rotary gets help on the ground as quickly as possible when our Pacific Island neighbours face emergencies. Rotary Clubs in New Zealand have joined together to form a company, Rotary New Zealand World Community Service (RNZWCS), to enable them to work together to support communities in the South Pacific.
One initiative, Rotary Emergency Response Kits (ERKs), delivers urgently-needed supplies as quickly as possible in an emergency affecting our South Pacific island neighbours. ERKs provide support where it is needed most. Rotary volunteers in NZ pack the kits which are then distributed to depots in the Islands to ensure a supply of kits is on hand for rapid deployment in an emergency.
The Rotary Club of Timaru has just donated $6,000 to RNZWCS which will fund 10 emergency response kits. Rotary Clubs in New Zealand, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, have distributed 5,588 ERKS to the Pacific since 2007.
Stuart Batty, Executive Director of RNZWCS (Rotary New Zealand World Community Service) Ltd, spoke at our Club meeting on 1 May 2018, outlining the work of RNZWCS. He has spent six years as a director of the NZ Council for International Development whose mandate is to achieve effective high quality programmes that focus on the alleviation and eradication of poverty.
Stuart joined Rotary in 1978 and has held most positions at club and district level. He was District Governor of District 9910 in 1991/1992 and he has spent the past 40 years volunteering in the N.G.O. sector of New Zealand, South Pacific, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Swaziland and South Africa
Stuart's talk focussed on Emergency Response Kits or ERKS which deliver fast and efficient relief to the Pacific Islands following natural disasters such as a cyclones, flooding and tsunamis, and the many other types of emergency support and development aid provided by RNZWCS.
RNZWCS accepts donations in cash, and donations in kind; helps with the rebuilding of communities after natural disasters; empowering communities to be self-sufficient; taking care of the environment; improving the infrastructure; helping to house the homeless; improving water and sanitation; improving educational opportunities and aiding cataract surgery (in Taveuni in Fiji). Funding comes from clusters of clubs and government grants.
Click HERE to read more about the work of RNZWCS in the Pacific.