Bob Glindemann on DIK

Chairman Ken MacNamara introduced long term ( >40 years) Rotarian Bob Glindemann.   As Ken gave a run-down of Bob’s CV we were reminded of all those roles which he has undertaken on various community and Rotary programs –the list went on and on.  Not surprising that he received well deserved and special Rotary recognition at the past District 9800 convention in Albury.   Having a long term management career in the petroleum industry he has transported those skills across many areas and relevant to his address at our meeting is the Donation in Kind (DIK) “business”.

Hawthorn RC supports DIK by contribution to warehouse rent at one of the two sites West Footscray-there is a second at Geelong.  That much we knew but we were less familiar with the DIK operations.

It was aptly summarised that DIK’s goal is to store and distribute good quality surplus materials worldwide to less advantaged peoples and regions.   Bob explained that end destinations covered more than the usual Pacific Rim countries although East Timor is a major beneficiary, but includes Africa and even Belarus. 

Since 2001 385 containers of materials worth about $39 Million has been distributed.  All labour is volunteered and amounts to 105,000 hours!   

It was stressed that DIK wants good quality surpluses it is not an alternate site for a junk tip.  Here we were taken back by practices in our throw-away consumer society as Bob described and showed us examples of the “surpluses” which were donated to DIK.  Perfect and unused clothing with out of date logos were abundant.  Barely used items such as special medical beds, wheel chairs, computers and redundant stationery were all collected and stored for subsequent distribution by DIK.  In this regard the recent acquisition of a van by DIK has been rewarding. 

DIK’s biggest external cost is freight and that is always the budget focus.   Otherwise it enjoys support from many well-known commercial entities, hospitals, and service providers and the ongoing supply of materials is not the concern.   

Thanks Bob for an interesting and complete address on DIK.