Welcome to 2024, as we start off the New Year for Rotary.
Unfortunately my first Club announcement relates to the passing of David Rosback on Monday 22nd January. Judi rang me with the sad news yesterday and asked me to let all Club members know how much he appreciated the Club, the long-term friendships he made at Hawthorn and within the wider Rotary community.
David made a significant contribution to Hawthorn and Rotary District 9800, which has been highlighted in a special tribute included in this week’s Bulletin, compiled by Dennis Shore, Noel McInnes, Bill Troedel and Gordon Cheyne.
I personally found David to be very supportive and passionate about our Club and he always wanted the best outcomes for the Rotary community. When details of David’s memorial service have been finalised, I will email members to ensure everyone has an opportunity to attend.
The annual Christmas ham, cake a
nd pudding sales fundraiser was another success this year with a profit of $8,170 generated. Many thanks to the key organisers, Phil Stewart and Richard Logan, and again this year Jellis Craig was the major supporter thanks to the O’Donoghue family connections. The funds raised will be used to support a number of Club projects and I’m sure everyone enjoyed their Xmas goodies on the big day.
Continuing with the Christmas theme, I had a call from Bryan Griffiths, President of Rochester Rotary, to advise me their Christmas raffle was a success thanks to the hampers purchased by Hawthorn. The raffle raised $1,400, which will be used to support local families in need to buy student school supplies and uniforms in January 2024. Bryan also mentioned three of the four raffle hampers were won by local Rochester families, which made their Christmas a bit brighter.
I am pleased to advise the Sensory Garden renewal project at Box Hill Hospital has been completed by Katrina and her team. Staff at Box Hill have invited the Hawthorn Rotary team to a special lunch on 2nd February to thank the Club for supporting the project, and Sue Felton will be joining us in recognition of the John Carre-Riddell bequest funding the project.
As outlined in the recent email to Club members we are having discussions with Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in relation to their proposed increases for meeting meal charges and room hire in 2024. Rotary Glenferrie have received a similar notification and we are working with them to encourage Kooyong to review the level of increase. We have also started discussions with other venues to look for an alternative for our in-person meetings if this is going to provide a better outcome.
Announcements
Rotary District Conference Bendigo Weekend 12th – 14th April. David Pisterman, as Club Conference Coordinator, would like members to advise him when they have booked so he can lock in the accommodation.
The next Club meeting will be at Kooyong on Tuesday 6th February. The meeting will include the induction of Alan Thomas as a new member. The guest speaker is Jacqueline Kuruppu and her topic is Exploring the Response to Child Abuse and Neglect in Primary Care Settings. Jacqueline is passionate about improving children’s health and well being and completed a PhD on the response to child abuse in Australian primary care.
I look forward to catching up with as many members as possible at our first meeting as we move forward into 2024.
Doug McLean
President 2023-2024