COVID 19 has certainly made a big impact on our lives both personally and as Rotarians. Our freedom to socialise and physically interact have been removed and some live in fear of their lives should they contract this disease. While this paints a gloomy picture, it is what it is and there has to be a time to find ways around the gloom. As a Rotary Club, I think most members have adapted to being online. We have no choice with that option anyway, if you want to be an active member of the club, Zoom is our only available practical platform. Isobel has mastered all matters of Zoom and we are lucky to have people in our club willing to learn how to do new things in order to keep the Club functioning. There are some clubs that don't meet at all!
We have several members who are not willing or able to join our online meetings and I suppose there is not much we can do to fix that. Some Clubs, early on before the COVID restrictions got serious were able to get around to members unsure of how to get online with Zoom and sort their technical issues out for them. We have missed that window. The scale of our lockdown has caught us by surprise.
So where to now? What is the likely scenario for getting back to normal? I expect the road to the new normal will be rough and long. We are not likely to be able to have physical meetings (20+) for a long time. We might be able to have small meetings of 5 people in private houses as a first step and that might progress to 10 if we are all outside. My brothers Rotary Club in the USA is only able to meet outside which is a good sign that there is still hope to have some face to face contact one day! Zoom will still be the connector even when we can meet physically as there are some members who cannot go out in public while the pandemic is not fully under control. After lengthy research by Sam, Holm Park is still the only venue that meets our needs, especially when considering the social distancing aspect. Our Board is considering all options of how to move forward as restrictions are reduced, but as you can imagine, it is a complicated process.
What about Projects? PDG Adrian Froggatt is our Projects Director. As Rotarians, we should be looking to answer the needs of the community through our work. I would suspect that Carols and Australia Day, our signature projects are too risky to pursue as physical projects and must be considered as potential online projects if we are still to try and stage them. The golf day and presentation balls are both likely to succumb to COVID restrictions making them risky to run too. That does not mean we are dead in the water, it just means we need to think about the issues a bit harder. We can do a lot of work if we are willing to think differently! Please contact PDG Adrian is you have a project to put forward or can help with ideas/contacts to turn our physical projects into virtual ones. Contact: afroggatt@netspace.net.au