In Rotary you get to meet some interesting individuals from overseas Clubs which was my experience this week.  PDG PP Dennis Shore was contacted by PDG Ravish Dakoju from the Rotary Bangalore Club in India, asking to meet with some local Rotary Club members.  In Dennis’ absence, DG Ron Payne and I agreed to catch up with Ravish while he was in Melbourne visiting his daughter who is studying here.

Just to give a bit of context to the story, Ravish is a very generous donor to the Rotary Foundation with a donation of US$14.7 million in recent times.  The Rotary Foundation provided some background information on Ravish which is included in the Bulletin.

Ron and I had an enlightening catch up with Ravish and he was very interested in the projects undertaken by Hawthorn and the local District.  He explained how, in his Club with 350 members, sometimes it is difficult to undertake projects in part due to the lack of personal connection among the members.  He was quite impressed with how Rotary Hawthorn can do so many varied projects like MHU Care Packs, Year 9 Mock interviews and Rotary SAFE Families with only about 45 members.  He was also impressed with the Club’s connection to Lille Fro and took away some background information to investigate further.

Ravish comes back to Melbourne from time to time and I have invited him to attend one of our meetings and hopefully be our guest speaker.

Work is underway by Dorothy, myself and other Board members regarding the 2nd July Member Forum meeting.  We will be providing members with additional information over the next few weeks to enable those members attending, and any members unable to attend, to have input into the key topics being discussed.

I probably should not mention the Footy Tipping results for this week since I have taken over number 1 spot and Terry is now in number 2.  We still have quite a few weeks to go and, given the number of upset wins in the last round, it is still anyone’s comp to win.

Announcements:

Again this year Rotary Hawthorn will be supporting Camcare with The Winter Food Project at in-person meetings in June and July.  We ask members to bring non-perishable foods and cleaning products to meetings, which will be collected at the front desk for delivery to Camcare.  This week’s Bulletin will have a list of the items they are looking for, in particular canned fish, vegetables and fruit.

A reminder of the Auburn High Mock Interviews scheduled for Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th September from 8:30am to 12 noon.  Geoff Wright has been contacting members to confirm their availability to ensure we have the 32 interviewers required over the two days.

The next Club meeting is on Tuesday 18th June at Kooyong and the guest speaker will be Ashley Siedlecki; his topic will be Insights Into Timor Leste.

Ashley is a past RYLA participant. He is also a climate scientist and international development practitioner. Through his work, he is acquainted with Leopoldina Guterres (known to Rotary Hawthorn) and the Baguia area of Timor Leste.  He will share his experiences and endeavours from the time he has spent in Timor Leste, including the geographic conditions, and shed light on the challenging economic landscape of the region.

The meeting will also include the induction of Norman Franzi as our newest member.

I hope you will be able to join us.

Doug McLean

President 2023-24