Home Page | District 9800

Rotary Club of Eynesbury Set to Charter

I'm delighted to confirm that Loryn Clark and Past District Governors Colin Muir and Ross Butterworth have advised me that the provisional Rotary Club of Eynesbury will charter with 20+ members on Sunday, 14th of March. I encourage Club Presidents to email Loryn Clark to congratulate her and the new Eynesbury members. Loryn can be reached at loryn@ssbee.com.au

If you haven’t already either looked into, or applied for a District Recognition Award, now is the time to do so, as applications close very soon. Project categories include the key service areas of Community, International, Vocational, Youth, Public Image & Communications, and Membership, to which has been added the new Rotary Area of Focus, Supporting the Environment; and, Innovation During COVID, a special category in this unusual pandemic-affected year. For further information, please visit the District website: https://rotarydistrict9800.org.au/sitepage/club-service/recognitions

This week I attended the CEO Satellite Rotary Club of Southbank meeting at which Club member Robert Pradolin, CEO of Housing All Australians gave an incredibly interesting insight to homelessness, the key area of focus for the Club. Robert was able to highlight that the CEO network (and indeed the entire Rotary network) is an important avenue for creating awareness/education about the underlying causes of homelessness – enough to build respectful unrest at many levels to influence Government to act on this issue. It was an extremely informative meeting.

This Saturday is the first Morning Tea with the DG for 2021. The line up of speakers and topics include an update from Rotary Melbourne on their Centenary Celebrations;

Warwick Cavell and DGE Dale Hoy will talk about International Student Mentoring;

Maurie Stack, the Chairman of the Rotary Foundation Australia Ltd will provide information on the new public benevolent institution; Sue Vincent will speak on Acknowledgement to Country; and, Club Service Chair Sue Foley will talk to us about the G'day Network & St Patricks Day.

Lastly, our Victorian Conference with all five Districts is well underway. I'm very happy with the planning and the content, particularly the speakers that have been booked for this virtual Conference on 1st and 2nd May from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm. You can expect inspiring presentations and fabulous musical entertainment.

Have a great week everyone … look forward to seeing your smiling faces at the Morning Tea!

Rotary District 9800 Governor Philip Archer

The quest for World Understanding and Peace

The quest for world understanding and peace has been a cornerstone of Rotary since its early days.

For an early history on Rotary’s involvement in the framework for the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights; finalising, the charter of the United Nations; and the ongoing commitment to peace, click on this link.

Camp Getaway – a unique District-wide asset

By Ken Maxfield

Opened in 1948, Camp Getaway was an initiative of Rotary Bendigo in response to the need for a youth camp in the region. Today, the camp is a wonderful respite that caters for people of all abilities and mobility. It is a meeting place for support groups, and offers those who need it most a sanctuary away from their daily struggles. Whilst disability and related support groups have priority for booking dates, Camp Getaway welcomes bookings for family groups, church groups, clubs, special functions, business meetings and recreational groups.

Situated at Axedale, twenty kilometres east of Bendigo, the camp has myriad activities available, as well as fantastic tourist attractions within close proximity. It can accommodate up to 72 campers in three cabins each containing two twin bedrooms with ensuite; and two dormitories, each with 28-30 beds. Other main buildings include recreation and dining halls/lounge catering for up to 80-90 diners.

Effective Project Meetings

By Rowan McClean, District 9800 Club Service Chair

A simple tool to guide clear thinking, planning and effective delivery for project meetings is to use and implement what is known as PDO – Purpose and Desired Outcomes.

When you are setting up a meeting or a project, define the Purpose of the activity, i.e. why are we doing it? Clearly spelling out the purpose allows you to focus and save time as well as resources.

Why are we having this meeting? "Well, we always meet on Mondays!” Is there a Purpose for it, or are we just falling into a pattern that wastes time and resources?

District Governor 2001/02 Ann White – A Trail Blazer for Women in Rotary

By Rowan McClean, District 9800 Club Service Chair

Ann’s father was in Rotary for fifty years; her grandfather was President of Rotary Essendon when Royce Abbey was inducted; and, two of her uncles were Rotarians. You might say Rotary was in Ann’s blood, so it was not surprising that she joined Albert Park Rotary in 1993 just four years after women were admitted to Rotary.

Ann recalled that Albert Park had recruited, in her words “some madcap members” who embraced fun and tackled activities that people said couldn’t be done. The Club also balanced local and overseas projects, understanding that the needs of developing countries are far greater than the needs here with the exception of our indigenous populations.

“I understand the need to look after yourself and do things in your own backyard and, while I am happy to work locally, I would not feel like a true Rotarian in Rotary International if we were not involved outside this very lucky country,” Ann said.

New Rotarian, Matt Turner, uses communications strategies to make a social impact

By Tricia Reardon

With his father and older brother working in the creative advertising world, it was odds on that Matt too would choose to enter the same field. Thirty years on and he’s now the Managing Director of The Creative Works, a communications agency that is heavily focused on the not-for profit sector. Having worked for the big three in his early career (George Patterson, Clemenger and JWT), Matt prefers the impact his agency has on making people’s lives better through the creation of standout communications strategies that build socially-minded brands.

With a strong alignment of values, it’s not too difficult to understand why Matt has chosen to join Rotary. In fact, Matt began working alongside Rotary some fifteen years ago when his agency helped create the communications strategy around the Rotary Mitre 10 ‘Clean Up Australia’ campaign. There have been other Rotary projects along the way as well, but more recent ones include the Rotary Safe Families and The G’Day Network campaigns.

Providing Essential Services to the Disadvantaged through Night Nurses Outreach

By Lisa Lowcock, PP Rotary Club of Essendon

Youth Projects is an independent registered charity committed to breaking the cycle of disadvantage by providing front line support to individuals, particularly youth, experiencing unemployment, homelessness, alcohol, and other drug issues. They also help those looking to re-engage with learning and employment. A key service provided by Youth Projects is through Night Nurses Outreach.

This service involves an after-hours primary care team (night nurses) to deliver health care on the streets of Melbourne for people sleeping rough or experiencing homelessness. They address the immediate and primary care needs of these disadvantaged people by providing health and social assessments, professional nursing care, counselling and active support, first aid, medication management and follow-ups.

The Essendon North Story

By Henry Drury

In 1919 the flat land of St. Johns farm, about 10 kilometres north of Melbourne CBD, became the fledging Aero Club’s grassy landing field. In 1921 the Commonwealth Government acquired that property, which then officially became the Essendon Airport and remains so to this day. The airport’s WW2 defence activities led the Essendon Football Club, mundanely named the “Don’s” to adopt the soubriquet of the mighty ‘Bombers” – well they will be again one day!

The long-established and successful Rotary Club of Essendon, looking to widen Rotary membership, chartered Essendon North with 22 eager members at a gala dinner on 24 February 1976. Three of them, John Boundy, Max Nichols and Sam Pennisi are still actively involved and regularly attend club meetings.

Those early days saw the out and proud members running a profitable fund-raiser spinning wheel raffle at the now defunct Moonee Ponds market together with pre-Bunnings BBQ’s generating funds for community needs and the donation of a much needed mini-bus to the Essendon City Council for transport of the elderly. Adding to the charitable purse they were also seen conducting blood pressure tests in local shopping centres.

Rotary Doll Lovers Fellowship

Bringing the World Closer

By Helena Wimpole

The Rotary Doll Lovers Fellowship is a worldwide group of Rotarians who share a common interest in dolls as a symbol of international culture and friendship.

The Fellowship came about as a result of the establishment of a Doll Museum in the city of Rajkot, Gujarat State, India in 2004. The idea for this Museum started some three years earlier when a request was made from the Rotary Club of Rajkot Midtown to Rotarians worldwide. The Museum required dolls from Rotarians that were handmade and symbolised the culture and traditions of the country in which they were made. The main purpose of the Doll Museum was to enable disadvantaged children and others to attend the Museum, enjoy the dolls and through them learn about other parts of the world, their people’s culture and customs.