Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE)




Scotland - District 1010 - 2012

Our outbound team has returned from District 1010 - they were hosted from June 30 to July 14, 2012. The inbound Scottish team visited our district in September 2012.

JUST IN!!! The Scottish team's journal of their visit to District 5110!


District 5110 Outbound Team:


District 5110 RFE Team Contribution to Scotland Charity

Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) is an excellent program to travel to other Rotary districts around the world and experience a new place while being hosted by local Rotarians. The hosting district reciprocates with a visit to District 5110 and is hosted by our Rotarians.

The team in Dundee, Scotland

In 2012, District 5110 conducted an RFE with District 1010, located in the northeast region of Scotland. As part of the new direction of the RFE program to combine service with the exchange, the District 5110 team collected funds prior to the trip to contribute to a suitable Rotary project or other charitable organization as a way of expressing gratitude to the local district Rotarians for their hospitality.

One of the team's host was the Rotary Club of Aberdeen, located in that port city on the northeast coast of Scotland - a large city with a booming economy thanks to the oil industry supporting the numerous oil drilling and pumping rigs in the North Sea.

Lew and Alice Marks were hosted by Aberdeen Rotarian Debbie Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of the CLAN Cancer Support organization. CLAN Cancer Support is an independent charity for anyone affected by any type of cancer at any time from diagnosis onwards. The organization is based in Aberdeen and provides services in Grampian, Orkney and Shetland through a network of local services in the cities of Ballater, Inverurie, Peterhead, Stonehaven, Kirkwall and Lerwick. There is also a lodging facility in Aberdeen for those traveling long distances for treatment.

The team was fortunate to have Lew on the team - Lew has almost 40 years of experience in therapy and counseling. In his words:

"CLAN is one of the most professional service agencies I have seen in all aspects from design of buildings to therapies used; especially children therapy. I was amazed at the children's books their staff created to help kids, and brought some of them home to see if they our helpful to our local cancer center.

"When you visit their facility you do not see things and staff indicating they do a good job, you can feel it. One way to get a great sense of what they do is to go into their website and spend a few minutes looking at the video."

Based on Lew's positive remarks, the team donated $600 to the organization.

We received this in response:

Dear Friends - I just heard that your donation was successfully received and wanted to thank you again for your generosity. As mentioned in previous email we will put this donation of £353.25 (US$600) towards furnishing our new drop-in centre in Inverurie as we want the premises to be as warm, welcoming and child/family friendly as all our other bases. Negotiating the lease is taking longer than anticipated but we hope to have open early in 2013 to provide drop-in where those affected by cancer can come in for a chat and cup of tea/coffee and some emotional support. As well as providing information (literature and information for all ages), the facilities are large enough for group meetings and activities, we will have a room for counselling and therapies. We will be basing one of our Children & Families Workers there too as the need for this type of support is growing across the remote and rural areas of North Aberdeenshire. We will get our before pictures and send along with the after pictures so you can see what a difference you are helping us to make.

Our very best wishes to you all, Debbie and team

View the team's PowerPoint presentation


Our hosts in Scotland

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Committee Details: FriendshipExchange-1010?