Club service

Club Service under director Terry Kitchen has had a very successful year of fundraising.  

The main fundraising event was the ‘Lift the Lid’ on Mental Illness Lunch in October which was attended by 150 people and raised over $14,000.  Together with other fundraising activities during the year, including the sale of Christmas produce, a Bunnings Barbecue, and various raffles and Zoom meeting donations, the Club raised a total of $26,000 which was an excellent effort. 

The social side of Club life was not neglected either with highlights including:

·      a Melbourne Cup-themed lunch

·      the joint Christmas Party with Rotary Glenferrie

·      a tour with Rotary Balwyn of the restoration of the Alma Doepel and Wattle 

·      the International Women’s Day Lunch, and

·      last week’s Joint Hosting Dinner for interstate and overseas delegates to the RI Convention.

And not forgetting the Club’s online discussion groups, the Bookworms and Fixers, which met regularly to critique a range of books, and attempt to solve some of the world’s problems. 

Community Service

Community Service led by Katrina Flinn had another productive year. 

The Mental Health Unit Consortium entered its third year and is one of our signature community projects. It expanded during the year to include Forensicare, and the provision of clothing to Box Hill and Alfred hospitals. Katrina also helped Rotary Lilydale establish a similar project at Maroondah Hospital.  

A permanent space at DIK was secured to store items of clothing and other goods donated for this and other projects.

Our other signature community project is Rotary SAFE Families led by Dorothy Gilmour. New project initiatives during the year included:

·      training hairdressers to recognise signs of abuse in their clients;

·      establishing a strategic partnership with the Free From Family Violence Service, the lead domestic violence support service in the Eastern Metropolitan Region; 

·      translating the Rotary SAFE Families Guide into Mandarin (thanks to Vincent Chen), and also Swahili and Arabic. 

·      the development of a short educational film in English, Swahili, and Arabic, and

·      the establishment of a joint initiative with Rotary Melbourne to raise awareness among Australian African communities of family abuse and its prevention. 

The Club has nominated Rotary SAFE Families for a District Award at the District Changeover on 24 June.

Our other community projects included:

·      Christmas Gift Bags for socially isolated people in Boroondara;

·      donations of food items for Camcare‘s Emergency Food relief program;

·      donations to Education CHANCES scholarship program and the Rochester Blanket Appeal;

·      dismantling of playground equipment which is recycled for use overseas;

·      sponsoring a trainee bunk on the youth training vessel Alma Doepel, and,

·      gifts for the Free From Family Violence Service’s Christmas Gift Appeal.

The Club also continued its support for the Salvo Hawks home games.

International Service

Our International Service activities under Dr Peter Lugg picked up steam after Covid restrictions and political and climatic conditions in donee countries limited activities over the past couple of years.  

The building of the new surgical facility at Kampong Speu hospital was completed and a container of medical equipment and supplies sent to the hospital. Peter attended the opening of the facility in November.

The Board approved an additional $2,500 for the WASH project and two new trainee scholarships in Timor Leste, and we continue our involvement in the ‘Days for Girls’ menstrual hygiene project.

Youth Service

The focus of our Youth Service programs under Geoff Wright is support for students at Auburn High School.  

In September, Club volunteers conducted mock job interviews with a record 130, Year 9 students in sessions over two mornings, with District Governor Amanda Wendt participating in one of the sessions.  

We funded students to attend the Santos Science Experience at the Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre in September, and a Santos program at Melbourne University in January.

We have offered funding for students to attend forthcoming Santos programs at RMIT, Swinburne and Melbourne universities, and the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra in January 2024.

We sponsored a team of three Auburn High School students to participate in the Model United Nations Assembly in May, and out of 30 teams competing they won Best Team Runner-Up.

We also secured one of only ten District 9800 Foundation Scholarship Grants which will be shared by two academically gifted but financially disadvantaged Auburn students to complete Years 11 and 12. 

Several Club members participated in an Industry Insights forum at the school in December and the school is considering whether to expand this concept into a Careers Expo next year. 

Vocational Service

The Vocational Services committee under Vincent Chen organised three Enterprise Forums by Zoom during the year.

The first in September featured astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker, the second in March featured cyber security expert Darren Park, and a third is scheduled for 27 June with submariner Commodore Peter Scott.

The Committee is organising a trip for Club members to Moorabbin Air Museum in July, and further enterprise forums and vocational visits are planned for the next 12 months.

Club donations to Rotary charities

During the year the Club and its members individually donated over $13,000 to The Rotary Foundation, including $2,800 raised by the Club’s team in the Walk to End Polio in October. Our Club has one of the highest per capita rates of donation to The Rotary Foundation in District 9800.

The Club also donated $7,500 to Australian Rotary Health for mental health research.

Regionalisation

A major development during the year was the decision to go ahead with the Zone 8 Regionalisation Pilot Project. In September, 78% of Club members who voted on the project voted in favour of it going ahead.

RI Convention

The year was rounded off with the Rotary International Convention held in Melbourne last week. One of the many highlights of the Convention was the successful dinner hosted by the Rotary clubs of Hawthorn, Glenferrie, and Camberwell at Kooyong at which 70 interstate and overseas delegates enjoyed the hospitality and fellowship of over 100 host club members and friends.

Members

Sadly, the Club lost its oldest and second-longest serving member Past President and Honorary Member, Dr John Carre-Riddell who died in August at the age of 97.  John will be long remembered by those of us who knew him for his gentleness, warmth, and kindness, as much as for his many years of valuable service to the Club, and to the community through his vocation.

On a happier note, since the start of the year we have inducted three new members, Rebecca Tamusuza, John Perry, and Ari Talantis, and a membership application by Shakilah Wesonga was approved at the Changeover Board meeting prior to this dinner. I anticipate that Shakilah will be inducted at the Club meeting on 20 June.

This will bring the Club’s total membership at 1 July to 50.

Conclusion

In conclusion, none of the Club’s achievements this year would have been possible without the hard work and commitment of members and friends of the Club and I’d like to record my appreciation of their efforts. 

I’d also like to thank the directors of the Survey Street Trust Fund for their continued support of the Club’s community projects.

For me, there have been many highlights over the past two years, but one of the most gratifying has been welcoming new members to the Club, many of whom are women, some from diverse backgrounds, and all of whom bring new and valuable skills to the Club.