David Cooke is a member of the Rotary Club of Albury West, so he is certainly very familiar with our venue! He has been a Rotarian for 27 years, has been a member of 3 clubs in 2 districts as well as being a Past District Governor. David spoke about Rotary Foundation. He is the current Chair of Rotary Foundation for District 9790. He is passionate about Rotary Foundation and what it does for health, hunger and humanitarianism around the world. In terms of the receipt of Foundation funding, all districts are independent. When Rotary International sets fees, our District passes these on and then clubs set their own fees as they see fit. In turn, there are District fees that cover expenses for the District Governor, Assistant Governors and District Conference. Rotary Foundation has nothing directly to do with our District; rather, its central role is to raise funds for charities. All money raised is invested for 3 years with the interest then going to projects. In total, Rotary Foundation has spent over $3B on various projects. The original money was sourced from left over money after a conference. The first large donation was $1.3M, which was left to Rotary Foundation in the memory of Paul Harris. Paul Harris Fellowships are awarded to those who give $1,000 USD to Foundation. Anyone can donate to Rotary Foundation and David asked that we all consider giving to it. An advantage of giving to Foundation is that 100% of the donation goes to the cause – nothing goes to administration or any other expenses. Sadly, this isn’t true for most other charities. There will be a major fundraiser for Rotary Foundation at the Wangaratta PAC on 16 March and David asked if our Club can get a table of 10 together for the event. Let’s remember that Rotary Foundation helped us to fund the Brown’s Lagoon Reflection Area and for many years, our excellent River of Stories project. When you are paying your subs, please add $50 as requested and this will be donated to Rotary Foundation in your name.