#RotaryDay at the Winter Night Market

We weren't sure if it would go ahead due to excessive rain and the cold, however the weather got better around 5:30pm and off we went. Fifteen (15) or more of us consisting of Rotarians (Southbank and North Melbourne), Rotaractors from Melbourne City,  family and friends who came to enjoy the festivities at Queen Victoria Market on the Wednesday night on 8th August 2018.

It was an enjoyable day not just for the company and being part of the night market, but to also promote Rotary to wider public in this setting. Several patrons to the night market came up to us to ask about Rotary, the projects at hand and many other topics, as we donned our Club T-Shirts. Therefore, we decided to piggy back this event as over 20,000 people were at the Winter Night Market but most importantly it echo's what Rotary International President Barry Rassin said "Rotary Days events to offer the chance to have an impact in your community, build long-term partnerships, increase interest in membership, and improve Rotary's image". Acknowledgement goes to Raj Vithi Veeran and his parents for making the t-shirts for our club and coordinating the delivery from Malaysia to Australia.

You would think that promotion online via website and social media channels would not get much taction or attention to draw committed people for club meetings/events/project. We were proven wrong as we met Levent Tökün who found our event on Facebook. He is a Rotaractor from Istanbul-Maslak Rotaract Club in Turkey and studies in Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany doing his World Heritage Studies Master's Program. He came to Melbourne, Australia on a six (6) months study exchange program with Deakin University in Cultural Heritage Master's Program. His Rotary journey begin when he was twelve (12) when he joined Interact and then Rotaract when he turned eighteen (18). Levent was a member of Rotary International Rotaract-Interact Committee two (2) years ago and to add, his mother and aunt have been Rotarians for two (2) years with the Rotary E-Club of D2440, Turkey.

Levent says that "Rotary is the best school for me" and thanks Southbank Rotary for our welcoming event with so much energy and thank President Mary Zindilis and President Elect George Zindilis from North Melbourne Rotary for their warm conversation.

No matter how big or small our club meetings/events/projects are, it means to be meaningful, purposeful, and impactful within and outside Rotary. It is now a month and a half since commencing the 2018-19 and it's been amazing to see how the necessary changes in the club is sparking more action of ideas coming to reality and having interest from our communities wanting to know and be part of Rotary (either in volunteering and/or being a subscribed member). Many more of this to follow-on throughout the year!