Posted on Nov 02, 2022
    Faye was our chairperson for today’s club meeting at Cilantro.  Ron conducted the invocation and Neville conducted the loyal toast.  Faye welcomed guests – Denise and Chris from R.C. Beaumaris, Rod and Sean, our guest speakers from Angel Flights, and husband Ken.  Tony,  Julie and Karin joined the meeting via Zoom.
PRESIDENT ANNOUNCEMENTS – President Margaret
    President Margaret reminded everyone of the following upcoming meetings/events:
    Wednesday 9/11 – Club Board Meeting for all board members
    Wednesday 30/11 – Evening club meeting at Cilantro with Johnathon Marshall as our guest speaker – members, partners and friends/guests are welcome, but numbers to be advised.
    Xmas cakes and puddings – President Margaret will take orders over the next two weeks for this year’s Xmas cakes and puddings.
    Wednesday 7/12 – Morning club meeting will be held at Moorabbin Airport to be following with a tour of the Aviation Museum
    Sunday 11/12 – The club’s annual end of year social get together will be held at the  Rotunda in Packer Park in Carnegie – more details to follow
    Wednesday 14/12 – This will be the last club meeting for the year – however, venue is TBA.   Cilantro will be closed for refurbishment.
    CLUB MARKETING COMMITTEE – Larry Green will chair this newly created club committee, and in this capacity, will attend board meetings.  
GUEST SPEAKERS – ANGEL FLIGHTS – with Rod and Sean
    Rod (Faye’s next door neighbour) is a retired engineer, having retired from Toyota 4 years ago.  With his love of driving and seeking an opportunity to ‘give back to the community’, after seeing the news story in September last year of how Angel Flights, a charitable organisation, was having issues with government red tape to fly a young girl stranded in NSW and unable to return home to QLD following medical treatment, he researched Angel Flights for what they do, and then contacted them and offered to volunteer as a driver.  After some online training, Rod was onto his first mission.  Rod explained Angel Flights provides patient transfers to/from home to hospital for non-critical patients living in rural Australia and remote cities/towns seeking medical treatment often in one of the major hospitals or health service providers in the city.  They do not take the place of emergency services or provide any medical care.    Transfers are provided free of charge to the patient and serviced by volunteer pilots and drivers using their own planes and vehicles with transfers arranged through a small coordination team based in Brisbane.
    Sean has been working in the aviation industry for many years, and is a volunteer pilot for Angel Flights.  He provided a short video that showed some of their patients who had transfers.   Angel Flights was established in 2003 and since that time, they have provided over 50,000 missions and 75,000-80,000 flights –averaging 20 missions daily.   They do not receive any government funding and rely entirely on donations and support from fueling companies.  Funds are used for aviation fuel and associated costs with no administration fees.  Transfer coordination is provided by a small volunteer group in Brisbane.  Flights are provided by private pilots through to commercial airline pilots in single engine Cessnas to twin engine jets, with the larger planes often transferring multiple missions – costs ranging from $300 per hour up to $3,000 per hour for the larger planes -  the average being $1,500 per hour.   Angel Flights constantly lobbies for government funding and support whilst also having to deal with bureaucracy issues.      Thank you Rod and Sean for explaining the wonderful and much needed work carried out by Angel Flights.
CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS
    Ron advises the board had approved club advertising on a digital display board.  Our first ad will be displayed on the corner of South Road and Nepean Highway commencing Monday next week.  The ad will run 12 times each hour.  Ron invited everyone to keep an eye out for it – though only whilst stationary!
SERGEANT SESSION – Sergeant John
    John checked if anyone knew what a aphorism was, and went onto explain it was a statement of truth or opinion and provided a couple of examples – Red, White and Blue are colours of freedom, but not if these colours are following your car!; a connection between past relationships and algebra – the Ex wondered Why.   Sam was fined for having her own rugby club; Karin was fined because Gary has been masquerading as a newspaper photographer; Neville was fined because John’s dog found a field of flowering yellow Cape Weed in William Fryer Reserve and of course this is Neville’s fault for having brought the weed with him from South Africa; Faye was fined because Gold Trip won the Melbourne Cup and she was ‘tripping back to the Gold’ Coast; and lastly, Grant was fined for ‘struggling’ to keep his white truck clean despite the rainy weather.   John finished with a paradox –‘ Americans will fly across the world to fight for democracy, but some will not even walk across the road to vote’.    
ROSTERS – The next marketing roster was announced  however refer the bulletin for the next meeting roster.
MEETING CLOSE – President Margaret closed the meeting with this year’s Rotary theme – Imagine Rotary.