By Henry Drury
The village of Wyndham was founded in 1850, some 30 kilometres south west of Melbourne. It was named in honour of Scottish General Sir Henry Wyndham who achieved fame for exploits in the field at the Battle of Waterloo. In 1909, Wyndham was renamed “Werribee” after an aboriginal word for “spine or backbone”, which resembled the “lovely curve of the river” fronting the township.
Chartered in 1968, the Rotary Club of Werribee in turn proudly chartered Wyndham Rotary on 14th January 1985, which today has about 50 diverse and active members.
Like all Clubs, the COVID pandemic severely curbed normal fundraising and service activities. Faced with that challenge, President Michael Lapiña sought to find “creative ways” to keep the Club cohesive and productive. Initially the technological and “talking head” aspects of Zoom discouraged some members, which led Michael and his Board to apply operatic and theatrical effects to the Club Zoom meetings–sound, colour and movement always lifts morale.
Also, in this Rotary centenary year, creative thinking has led to one member gathering sponsors to fund his one hundred sit-ups every day for 100 consecutive days; another member has ridden 100kms on his bicycle; and, Michael has set himself the target of recording a different song each day for 100 days, which will become accessible for a fee on Spotify or a similar platform. Proceeds of the R100 Activities will go towards Foundation, as well as supporting a local Breakfast Club.
Community service has continued through the collection of surplus and redundant goods and foodstuffs from local businesses for distribution to those in need with minimum face-to-face contact.
Similarly, international service continues with Rotary families and friends making “Fish and Chip” baby clothing targeted for villagers in East Timor and elsewhere.
At the time of writing, Victoria has had a long run of COVID free days and normal meetings are resuming, but with the experience of Zoom enabling a broader base of speakers and participants, hybrid formats for meetings are being enthusiastically explored as the way for the future.