President's Message - May 2023
May 2023
Dear Rotarians
We have now reached the 11th month of Rotary Year 118 and this month May, is Rotary International’s youth service month.
The Rotary Club of Royal Hua Hin has been proud to sponsor two Rotaract clubs, The Rotaract club of Stamford International University and the Rotaract club of Rajamankala University of Technology Rattanakosin Wang klai Kangwon Campus.
Stamford International University was founded in 2016 and are back and active after a long break due to Covid-19. They have held several events, an international charity night to raise funds for their projects the All for one and One for All 4 at Ban Nong Phai school.
The Rotaract club of Rajamankala University of Technology Rattanakosin Wang klai Kangwon Campus have gone from a very strong club with over 64 members, however due to the graduation of the students, the number of Rotaractors have dropped, this is work in progress to build the club up again.
Changes to the International rules state that new Rotaract clubs will not have to rely on a Rotary club to sponsor them; they can now sponsor themselves or choose another Rotaract club as their sponsor. And Rotaractors are now eligible — and encouraged — to serve alongside Rotarians on district and RI committees, youth is the future of Rotary, and we can see progression from Interact to Rotaract and onto Rotary.
Rotaract clubs will also gain more support from Rotary International, including access to administrative tools on My Rotary and the option to subscribe to the digital edition of The Rotarian magazine. As the transition from Rotary program to membership type gets underway, the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation also plan to discuss whether Rotaract clubs should be eligible to apply for Foundation grants, this has now been approved and last year the Rotaract club of Stamford International University completed a project using a grant from District 3330.
I am now looking forward to my new role as Youth Protection Officer Health and safety for Rotary District 3330 and working with both inbound and outbound Youth Exchange students.
I hope to find short-term host families in our club for periods of weekends or up to a week, this is something I will discuss with our members later.
Yours in Rotary,
Phil Lawrence.
President 2022-2023
