(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)
President's Message
Michael Reed
President's Report No 30
Although we may not have met as a club for a couple of weeks ---- Rotary has been alive and well and on the minds of many of us!
Time is certainly rocketing along …. As one says, ‘Time waits for no one’!
With the Book fair behind us, our focus is on the Motor Show.
This is Full Steam Ahead Folks.
Our Motor Show Committee are continuing to work on all that is needed for this event.
Media releases have been done – so keep an eye on the local papers – Surf Coast Times and Geelong Advertiser. The first was in Wednesday’s Geelong Advertiser. What a stunning photo! Well done Greg on coordinating the car, bike, vehicle owners, and media photographers …. not to mention the club president – Great effort Greg!
Please help spread the word and help promote this event.
I still have half a box of DL Flyers to hand out!
Don’t forget to contact me to arrange collection of your order of your new Club clothing Having us all dressed in similar attire ---- we’ll really ‘look the part’ at the Motor Show.
And ….. Don’t forget the BBQ events we have coming up over February, March, and April.
Mal has sent out the volunteer request for these BBQ’s.
Mal has also asked for a coordinator to take on the BBQ responsibility over the Easter weekend. Please see Mal to discuss this.
Sunday 6th March is Clean up Australia Day. Rhonda is looking at as much help as possible from our club. Please contact Rhonda with your availability and find out the areas we have, to ‘Clean Up’.
This is a great way for us to be out in the community promoting Rotary and great way to help our environment, not to mention beautifying our surrounds.
On Monday, our meeting will be online using our Teams link. Please watch for this, which will be emailed out to you as normal.
This is going to be an action-packed meeting, all about our Motor Show.
We will learn about the tasks you have been allocated and give you the opportunity to ask any questions.
It is strongly recommended you log on and join us on Monday.
The guest speaker for the night has now been announced will be Rotarian Ken Hutt from Berry, NSW. He plans to scale the world’s highest mountain in May before launching himself off its icy peak, Paragliding…!! As numbers are very limited it’s a case of first in, best dressed..! so be quick.
The details for the night are as follows…
Venue: Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre (not at the Rice Village due to Covid Restrictions).
Address: 410 Surf Coast Hwy, Grovedale, Vic. 3216
Date: Thursday 17th February
Time: 6pm for a 6.30pm start
Cost: $25 per head
NOTE CHANGE OF MEETING NIGHT TO THURSDAY 17th Feb
The details are as follows…
Venue: Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre (not at the Rice Village due to Covid Restrictions).
Address: 410 Surf Coast Hwy, Grovedale, Vic. 3216
Date: Thursday 17th February
Time: 6pm for a 6.30pm start
Cost: $25 per head
This venue does not have a bar so, **THIS WILL NOW BE A BYO NIGHT…!
Please make sure you register partners/guests and advise of any Special Meal Requirements when registering…
The cut off date will be midnight Monday 14th February.
Invitations will be emailed this week.
Please contact Jan Emmett for further details if needed.
The effects of the Volcano and Tsunami on January 15th will be far-reaching, impacting the Tonga Community for months, possibly years to come.
Communication remains problematic with international and inter-island call still no possible due to the damage to the undersea cable.
Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) will be working with Rotary New Zealand World Community Service (RNZWCS) and Rotary Club of Nuku’alofa (Tonga) in providing aid and assistance to the affected communities’ and restoring their livelihoods.
RAWCS has registered a Rotary Australia Relief Fund project to seek financial assistance from Rotary Clubs, the public and private sector. Donations to the RAWCS Relief Fund are tax deductible. Donate through https://rawcs.org.au/ Project Tonga Volcano Eruption and Tsunami Disaster https://directory.rawcs.com.au/42-2021-22
Further to my recent email regarding the Toga Disaster, I contacted Brian Ashworth from Disaster Aid Australia to find out if they were doing anything to assist the Tongan relief operation. I have attached Brian's response to this email below.
The second event was the release of the WHO World Malaria Report 2021. The take home messages from the report are;
241million malaria cases were recorded in 2020, an increase of 14 million from 2019.
There were 627,000 deaths recorded in 2020, an increase of 69,000 on the previous year.
96% of the cases were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Regards to Everyone,
Noel Howard
District 9780 RAWCS/RAN Chair
Disaster Aid Australia as a smaller Rotary Charity is committed to delivering cost effective aid to respect the value of the donations we receive.
We also like to make a difference smaller communities the bigger aid agencies miss.
Also our model is based on finding out what the communities need, not what we might think they need.
Other than our SkyHydrants for safe water, we look for things we can deliver locally than try and manage major import of materials with its consequential delays.
To do this we need at least one of the following:
An effective local partner which may be a Rotary Club or an NGO.
DAA volunteers on site.
Knowing the needs of the community that can be provided by local purchase.
As we have not worked in Tonga for many years, lack of communications, and no ability to travel we have no plan of action to date. (we have been in communication with Australian Rotary Clubs with Tonga experience but to date due to communication issues they are in a similar position)
Also COVID has severely limited our income over the past two years and we are currently highly committed to the recovery from Super Typhoon Odette which hit the Philippines in late December. We are working with our long established and trusted partner Balay Mindanaw on the island of Dinagat where approximately 20,000 homes have been destroyed.
Since 20th December
DAA Tents and SkyHydrants, stored in the Philippines, have been deployed;
Financial support provided for food packages and tarpaulins;
10 additional SkyHydrants shipped.
An additional grant for rebuilding made.
We have been in touch with SkyJuice, suppliers of the SkyHydrant and in discussions believe the early presence of Australian Navy ships with considerable ability to desalinate seawater is likely to provide the quickest way of providing drinking water.
(Although SkyHydrants can filter water contaminated with volcanic dust the nature of the dust quickly damages the membranes)
The Torquay Motor Show is BACK for 2022 following a hiatus last year due to COVID-19 This year entries will require to be prepaid to enable us to meet the restrictions for a COVID Safe event. We expect up to 400 Vintage, Veteran, Classic and Contemporary Cars and Motor Cycles to compete for trophies in 22 Classes.
Spectators will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with these stunning automotive gems.
You are invited to join in the carnival atmosphere of this popular event held at the spectacular beach side setting of the Torquay foreshore. This is a “Show for the whole family” with, the beach for the kids, the shops for the ladies and the cars for the boys!
Entry Fees remain the same for 2022 at $20 for car & driver, with Adults $5 & Children free. Many attractions will be available to entertain, plus food, good coffee, refreshments & memorabilia on sale. Gates Open at 8.00am with winners announced at 2.30pm.
This event is provided by the Rotary Club of Torquay, proudly supported by the RACV & other local traders, with proceeds from the event to be used for Local, National and International Rotary projects.
Also don't miss our 3rd Annual Great Ocean Road Street Cruise, which is open to all collectable cars and motor cycles, that will take you up the stunning Great Ocean Road to Torquay the day before the show. The Cruise will finish at the Motor Show ground in Torquay with Food and Entertainment on site.
For more details as they come to hand go to www.torquaymotorshow.com.au/cruise
P 0423 620 009 • E admin@torquaymotorshow.com.au or check the website for entry forms and further details
.
Two of the 2020 show winners - Brian Jones 1971 Datsun 240Z & Brendan O'Neil 1952 Vincent Motorcycle
As an aside, Lucy received the following message re our project from the Governor of the Gulf Province Chris Haiveta
Thank you, Sis, for your tireless efforts to Assist our village over the years through the foundation.
I am committed to supporting you and the foundation as you prepare to widen your coverage on critical issues.
We are working with a couple NGOs in the Province already and can provide you the letter of support.
I suggest that we formalize the support and collaboration through an MOU.
In the meantime it would be much better to send a profile and EOI from the foundation to me aa head of the Provincial Government so that we can commence to formalize the relationship.
As a club president, you play a critical role in keeping members informed about the Rotary Peace Centers programs. Encourage club members to use their professional and social contacts to find potential candidates. They can also support the program by coaching candidates through the application process and connecting them to districts that can endorse their applications, a required step in the application process.
These resources can help you and your members recruit candidates for 2023 Rotary Peace Fellowships:
Take the All About the Rotary Peace Fellowships course to learn about qualification requirements, eligibility restrictions, the application process, and more.
Use our referral form to tell us about potential candidates, and we’ll follow up with them.
As we grow our certificate program, we are particularly seeking qualified candidates for our peace centers at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) and Makerere University (Uganda). The one-year program is intended for working professionals and requires 11 weeks of on-site participation. We are looking for candidates with a minimum of five years of relevant work experience (the average age for this program is 42). Graduates receive a post-graduate diploma in peace studies upon completion of the program.
Candidates have until 15 May to submit applications to The Rotary Foundation. Trained Rotary endorsers have until 1 July to submit endorsed applications to The Rotary Foundation.
Send any questions about the fellowship program to rotarypeacecenters@rotary.org. Thank you for your dedication to the Rotary Peace Centers and your help educating Rotary members and your community about the fellowships.
Sincerely, Rotary Peace Centers
Rotary Peace Centers are made possible by the generosity of donors.
Happy 2022! I sincerely hope you were able to have some enjoyable and quality time with family and friends over the festive season and managed to stay fit and healthy despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID virus.
No doubt, like me, you were - in late November - feeling confident that through climbing vaccination rates and falling COVID cases, life would return to some sort of normality in the new year. Above all, we at ROMAC were certain that we would be able to start bringing in new patients early this year. But, of course, the arrival of the Omicron variant put paid to those plans and we still have no indication of when the Federal Government will permit us to bring in children needing life-saving surgery.
Despite the lockdown and forced stoppage to treating patients, the ROMAC team has been busy behind the scenes and has been working hard to ensure that the organisation stays relevant and viable long into the future. Succession planning is vital to any organisation, and ROMAC is no different, and with a number of key personnel due to step down at the next AGM, identifying and training suitable replacements has been a top priority.
The 'patient-free' period has also allowed Richard Woodburn, our IT specialist, time to update patient records into the medical section (eHR) of the ROMAC database: ROMAC Connect, Richard has provided some details about ROMAC Connect and it's importance to the organisation for your information (please see his article below). In the past, almost every patient's case was well documented, with photos, media reports etc, but there was no centralised collection system, which we now have in place. Many of the early records are still in various folders, shoeboxes, 'holding pens' and other databases on other computers. It is a time consuming process to add these to the eHR and Richard estimates he has about another 50 hours of work to complete the task. Recently retired Regional Chair (now District Chair), Glenys Parton has been doing a similar task for the New Zealand records. The end result will be worth it as we will then have a much more comprehensive database of all patients treated by ROMAC since our inception in 1988. Richard says there are still lots of gaps in the information in eHR, and he is asking for help from host families and Rotary clubs who have been involved in ROMAC over the year to provide him with any records or photographs they may have that he can add to the database.
With many clubs resuming meetings after the Christmas / New Year break, now is an ideal time to schedule a presentation on ROMAC, particularly if you haven't had one for a few years. Our new, professionally produced video, has been well received by those clubs who have seen it and I encourage you to organise for one of our volunteers to present to your club - either in person or via Zoom -in the near future. Contact me via my email chair@romac.org.au or on my mobile 0411 044 691 and I will arrange for the most appropriate person to make the presentation to your members.
We have been invited to join the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove to hear Rotary Peace Scholar, Stephanie Woolard speak. This can be either by attending the Face 2 Face meeting or by logging into the presentation on Zoom
The function is some time away but perhaps some of you may be interested in doing a "Make-Up" and making up a table. If you are interested please contact President Michael.
WHAT WE ARE COLLECTING AND WHERE TO DROP OFF ITEMS
Bottle Top Lids
Cause:- Lids4Kids is a nationwide 100% volunteer project to rescue plastic bottle lids
from landfill to benefit the environment and kids. ... Lids4Kids hopes to rescue eligible lids from landfill for projects that benefit all Australian kids in need.
So if you could collect milk bottle tops for recycling to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill., you will contribute to Torquay Rotary’s Environment Project
Just remove the yellow, blue or red plastic top from milk bottles, wash clean & pop into a container .
Drop Off To:- John McDonald
2/58 Zeally Bay Rd Torquay (Leave in specially marked bin at front gate)
Cause :- Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs, who collect them, sell them to recyclers and turn the cash into wheelchairs for people who can’t afford them.
Cause :- Recycle for Sight Australia a joint effort with Torquay Lions Club to send old prescription glasses to overseas communities where people cannot afford them.
Cause :- A Rotary "Donations in Kind" joint exercise with the Rotary Club of Boroko to disperse to needing schools in PNG. They need books that are used in Australian schools from Grades Prep to 8. Plus story books for younger children for grades Prep to 3.
Here's a challenge for everyone...….in these "different" times in which we are living there are more and more Clubs now holding on-line meetings so now it's easier than it's ever been to do a make-up.
You can do them from the comfort of your own home and you don't even have to get dressed up.
Let's have a club challenge to see who can do a make up form the most interesting city. Be sure to grab a screen shot of your meeting and send to me for the bulletin.
What a great way to meet other Rotarians from around the world and to find out how they are living through the COVID-19 lockdowns.
To make it easy the Rotary Club of Mount Lawley in WA have begun compiling a list of Clubs who are now holding On-Line Meetings to view the list click the link below.
Shekhar and Rashi Mehta at their home in Kolkata. Rashi painted the picture Mother and Child, behind her.
When I met Shekhar almost 20 years ago, he was busily manning a booth at the Rotary International Convention. His enthusiasm and energy in showcasing his club’s projects were infectious. A project man myself, I was inspired by the work exhibited at the booth. That casual encounter developed into a strong friendship.
Shekhar is a visionary leader. He always sees things others can’t. He envisaged a way to eradicate illiteracy in India by 2025 and designed the TEACH program (which stands for Teacher support, E-learning, Adult literacy, Child development, Happy school). He started the Shelter Kit project that now is in the vanguard of disaster relief in India. His Saving Little Hearts project, which provides heart surgeries to thousands of children, along with the more than 15 eye hospitals he helped establish, which have served hundreds of thousands, speaks to the scope of his dreams.
Ravi Vadlamani
Rotary Club of Guntur, India 2001-02 governor of District 3150
He has an exceptional talent for building teams and driving them to achieve their goals. Shekhar’s programs and ideas may seem larger than life, but he always walks the extra mile to make Rotarians feel at home.
His power of dreaming big is backed up by planning, perseverance, and patience. He’s an excellent communicator who connects with his audience instantly and can motivate people to move mountains. He is also a family man, ably supported by his spouse, Rashi.
Shekhar’s X factor as a leader? Nobody is able to say no to him when he asks for something.
District 9780 Governor for 2021-22 is John Clue from Rotary Club of Port Fairy
To read the DG Johns latest District 9780 December eNewsletter CLICK HERE
Rotary Down Under November 2021 Edition 644 CLICK HERE
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION 2023
Melbourne has been announced as the host city for the 2023 Rotary International Convention, the largest conference secured this century for Victoria.
Melbourne is a Big Events City! Set to deliver over $88 million to the Victorian economy, the Convention is the most valuable conference ever won for the state, with the four-day event anticipated to attract more than 20,000 Rotarians from around the world. The global spotlight will be on Melbourne and how we present ourselves to the world.
The Convention will take place 27-31 May 2023 using Rod Laver Arena and the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre for functions.
Watch this Space for further news as it comes to hand.
