Last week’s meeting was a most casual gathering with members collecting their breakfasts from a buffet choice. Pres Geoff welcome Glenda who was In Melbourne for a few days. Marvellous to see her. He also welcomed Zilla who has not been well and this was her first face-to-face meeting and Kevin who has been in Queensland.
Ron gave us Invocation. Pres Geoff explained the meeting was a chance to have a forum so each committee chair would give us an overview which would be followed by general discussion.Linda O’B began by reminding us the year had been difficult not only because of COVID but physically and lack of budget. She talked about the Timor-Leste school that we support. There is an amount that is left over and with 150 children with no toilets and no water work should start in February and should now be on its way. The club contributed largely to Disaster Aid and Shelter Boxes. These need to be ready when and before the need is required. These were also used for bush fires so we donate on a regular basis. Dollars are needed for Interplast to help Tonga and Kiribati. This tiny country has now a twin sister club with Savusavu. It is a gesture of friendship and the clubs are keen to foster this. Glenda has suggested a mighty project for Papua New Guinea to give important assistance to the midwives in this country. There are 250,000 births a year and the death rate is the highest in the world! There is a recycling project for Savusavu and a cyclone severely damaged and destroyed a school we helped for Indigenous children We have donated to Rotary Health for scholarships towards health. A donation has been made to MITS. We are looking at sponsorship with Indigenous Art in the way of show using council property. Well Done Linda and the team for International and Indigenous affairs.
Jo, who is team leader for Community informed us that COVID forced a different operation. The ideas and being in touch with Community groups were done largely through Zoom as some places had to stop. The focus was to try and talk with isolated people. She talked of St Anthony Church in Carnegie This church serves meals to its needy parishioners. The amount of meals served jumped from 100 meals to 300 a week!! The conversations contour with the Salvation Army, Glen Eira Support and support for 1200 International students who were stranded and dropped through the cracks. There is also discussions to help the two Toy Libraries. Well done to Jo and her enthusiastic team.
Ron chair of the Market told us the market is going well and is sold out the next 2 weeks! He thanked Kevin for getting the iPad working. Kevin who although he was in a Queensland has been working on the Club Plan. His team is going through implementation and the next discussion will be on the Road Map for the club. Kevin is also working with Ian on the new website. This a huge work on progress and will be remarkable when the thoughts and ideas are in place. Tony Grusd is working with Helen on Youth and Vocation. Greg gave us a update on Cilantro and apologised that the restaurant is still not open to the public. As with the students who rely on the public for their training and are as anxious as we are for the restaurant to reopen Greg explained the talk of Risk adverse to Risk assessment. He felt that it needs at least another month to work out. Thank you Greg. We appreciate the stress you and Holmesglen’s staff are under. We are looking forward to hearing Dr Helen Parker (Ian’s Partner) speaking on the 10th February on COVID and the many facets that fall under that subject. Have a good week. Remember ROTARY OPENS OPPORTUNITIESZilla (Bulletin Reporter)
