As Dave Laws said “You always learn something at Rotary on Thursday nights” and last week was no exception. The membership night was a refreshing change of format and a great insight into the programs, character and spirit of our club. Well done to Margaret and team. It reminded us all of the life-changing impact of the things we do and recharged our pride in THE Rotary Club of Eltham.
Gloria Bearne’s heartfelt gratitude for Greig’s ‘Comfee’ chair; its impact on his health, happiness and well-being and the flow-on effects on the family was very humbling. Macca has been able to negotiate refund of the tax paid on the purchase in Ireland and this will also be passed on to the Bearne family in support of future maintenance of the chair.
Really looking forward to hearing Susan Alberti at this week’s Footy Colours Night at the Heidelberg Golf Club. No fines, but Mike and Alison are brewing up a great raffle. Last heard we have over 90 paid bookings. I’m sure there will be a few prospective Rotarians in the crowd, so please make everyone welcome with our signature Eltham Rotary hospitality. Oh, and be sure to wear your team colours – win, lose or draw!
Thurs 22nd Sept at Heidelberg Golf Club, 8 Main Road Lower Plenty
Susan Alberti AC
Bookings have closed
Wear the colours of your favoured team. AFL/soccer/rugby/tiddly winks/marbles etc all appropriate and will all add colour to the evening
(Mike Englefield)
Cup Day Celebrations
For the past few years, we have attended the Rotary Club of Mitcham's Cup Day Celebration at Redbox Winery in Kangaroo Ground. The function was in support of Aquabox.
Rotarian Colin Spencer has sold the Redbox Winery so the Rotary Club of Kinglake Ranges has offered to step in. This is a a great opportunity to socialise with Rotarians from Mitcham, Nunawading and Kinglake Ranges. Family and friends are also welcome.
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What a week!! After Margaret Lane's very successful Membership Night last week with around 6 prospective new members coming along to hear what the Rotary Club of Eltham does and the projects we are involved in - we back it up with another block busting event for the Annual Footy Night this Thursday.
This week is shaping up to be a best meeting so far this year. We have changed the venue only for this week and it will be held at the Heidelberg Golf Club - Main Road Lower Plenty. This is due to an increase in numbers attending, as we have over 100 people booked so far. The meeting to start at the normal time 6.15pm for 6.30pm. Please try and get there earlier as the duty team will still have to mark off names of those attending, and as indicated we have a larger group this week. There is no payment at the door - the event is a pre paid night only.
Bookings have closed.
We are exceptionally fortunate to have Susan Alberti as our guest speaker for the annual footy night. Susan is the Vice President of the Western Bulldogs and is a major player in the development of the new Women's National AFL League. Susan is also a strong supporter of diabetes research. Chair for the evening is Jill Ramsay.
As there are so many visitors and guests we will not be having a fine session for this week but will instead have a fantastic raffle with a range of great prizes.
Next week - 29 September 2016 is a Committee night but we do have a short presentation being made by Terry Oakley on an update on Prostate Awareness in the Diamond Valley. Committee Chairs may want to organise a meeting of your committee members to follow the meeting. Chair for the night TBC with Ian Toohill as Fine Master.
First, two clarifications/corrections to last week’s reports from the floor, and one correction to last week's Bulletin:
Nick Ikonomou is a business coach for small to medium sized business owners, helping them to grow their businesses
Volunteers for Mock interviews of Year 10 students are required at St Helena S/C and not at Montomorency S/C. as reported.
Brett Linsell is a teacher at St Helena Secondary College, not Montmorency College, as reported in last week's Bulletin.
Margaret Lane: Introduced RC Eltham to a number of prospective members in attendance and presented a summary of major areas of service i.e. Club Service, Community Service, International Service, Vocational Service and Youth Services. Particular areas discussed included the Festival, DVLC, Aquabox, WEHI, and the Japan Exchange Program with Montmorency S/C.
David McFarlane: Discussed the highlights of his year as President 2015-16 and stressed the fun to be had in becoming a member of RC Eltham. He also spoke of the Festival and DVLC as well as CAVE and Sensitive Santa.
Dale Atkins, Ian Thomas, Peter Roden: Presented Aquabox in more detail and in particular its nature as a first response program to lessen the high level of mortality- particularly of young children - associated with contaminated water. The response of Team Aquabox to a natural disaster in Cambodia was described as an example of the processes involved.
David Laws: Entertained us all with an account of why he joined RC Eltham and the very positive impact it has had on him and on his family as well.
Kevin Hadingham: Concluded the presentations and thanked Margaret Lane in particular for her excellent organisation of the membership evening.
Speaker: Gloria Bearne – mother of Greig Bearne – spoke in a very heartfelt way about her gratitude, and that of her family, for the assistance given by RC Eltham in general, and by Margaret Lane and David McFarlane in particular, in finally being able to provide her son with a chair suitable to meet his very complex needs. This has made a profound difference to Greig’s physical and emotional well-being and something for which he has waited for many years.
Matopeni is a slum area on the outskirts of Niarobi, Kenya. Living conditions are poor with 63% of residents living on or below the poverty line. Educating the children will help to raise the standard of living and break the poverty cycle.
Laurence Webb (a former member of our Club) had been working with a charity Kenya Kinship at the school for a couple of years and made a presentation to our Club. The Rotary Club of Eltham partnered with Kenya Kinship (also based in Eltham) in 2011. Our Boston School project has focussed on supporting a school that will be financially sustainable and strongly supports girls to be able to attend school. This has been done by raising funds to sink a bore to a depth that provides safe drinking water and selling this to support the school.
The Matopeni School has 430 students and 13 teachers but not much yard space!
With the success of the primary school a secondary school was opened. A major focus was to enable girls to attend secondary school as this had not been encouraged by schools previously as teenage girls were expected to start a family. The girls from one part of the slums encountered a major problem with local gangs harassing them on the way home from school. This escalated to a stage where a girl was raped and others became too scared to attend school.
In 2013 Laurence and Mike Wetzler travelled to Matopeni and, after discovering the problem being faced, the project was then extended to build a girls’ hostel attached to the school so that they could attend school and go home on the weekends. We expect this to be finished in 2017 at which time our involvement will cease.
In 2015 twenty-two students sat for their Grade 8 Kenya Certificate exams and all passed. Their average marks put them at the top of all schools in the Nairobi East Province.
I close with this extract from a letter from the school principal received earlier this year.
“ It’s also important to mention to you that we have academically sharpened all the pupils. They are sharp academically, disciplined and focused to be the best they can to turn round the vicious circle of poverty they are living in today to a better future. Please continue supporting us to support the kids so that our vision and mission of becoming the best school in Kenya can be accomplished. It’s evident from our past performance that we are heading there.”
The Matopeni School is registered as a Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) project managed by the Rotary Club of Eltham.
Ellimatta Youth Inc was established in a response to an identified need to support the youth of Kinglake affected so devastatingly by the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.
Rotary International provided funding to build the Youth Centre in 2011. Some seven years later, the service is truly established within the Kinglake community offering effective drop-in and holiday programs, case management, study and vocational support and personal development and leadership opportunities to young people aged 10-25 years.
The idea of a fun run was born out of a desire to promote healthy lifestyles, create community engagement and share the regrowth of Kinglake with others.
Ellimatta Youth is now making instrumental steps to becoming a more independent operation through fundraising activities, something that the Rotary Club of Kinglake Ranges supports!
Remember Andrew’s inspiring presentation to us in July? Soul Mates is a fundraising exhibition by Andrew for Guide Dogs Victoria as a thank you for giving him Eamon, his soul mate for the past 10 years. It features photographs of Eamon with a range of famous people. It’s on this week at the NO VACANCY ART GALLERY 34-40 Jane Bell Lane, QV, Melbourne 11am -5pm, 20th – 25th September. Give Andrew your support if you can - beautiful pics well worth seeing!
There is going to be a working bee at Mind Australia (Typo Station) on Saturday 8th October and Sunday 9th October.
Mind (Typo Station) is situated 69km south of Wangaratta. List of jobs will be available, Sat night Dinner and Sun morning breakfast and lunch will be provided BYO drinks. Beds and hot showers will be provided, bring own sleeping gear.
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Please note there is no bonus for a perfect score in the Finals.
