There was an air of a little bit of light heartedness and hope as we enter into a new phase of life in Victoria. The shops and beauty, hairdressing and more freedom to all of us is happening or about to happen. There is positive talk about the market re-opening and there is talk of mini-meetings face-to-face. WOW! Well done us. This was re-iterated by Pres. Geoff as he addressed us on his way to the country. We have more scope with what we can and cannot do. He continued by reminding us to follow all the rules and be observant of the guide lines and look at more positive ways of moving forward.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. He wished us a happy meeting as he drove off. Ron, our Market Director suggested that we should meet at the Market the day before for the first 2 weeks to familiarize ourselves with COVID safe conditions. Temperature checks for all the volunteers are a must and masks are mandatory for everybody who comes to the Market. Ron would like to have more volunteers during the day to oversee that distancing and mask rules are kept. Updates will be sent to all of us. The first day of opening should be on Sunday 8th November. Now that is exciting! There was more excitement when our Guest Speaker, Jane Tewson arrived on screen. Helen introduced her saying that Jane was to the core a humanitarian and her accreditation would take a week to describe what Jane has achieved. Jane Tewson CBE is a British charity worker and is the originator of several charitable organizations and ideas for community strengthening in the UK and Australia. Jane thanked Helen for the introduction and told us she was born in London, grew up in the country had a joyous life and loving the country has a veggie garden in front of her house. She informed us that she was dyslectic and this made it impossible to follow in her parent’s footsteps to be a doctor. She had a great friend who had Down’s Syndrome and at the age of 21 after visiting a Down’s Syndrome institution, which she said was really shocking she, she got the fuel of injustice in her veins and set up a ne
w charity and somehow got money to create the organization costs. Red Nose Day created a million dollars! With this energy it took 15 years to give people their own voice. The homeless are not nameless, the elders are not elderly and asylum seekers who only have 3 possessions, the sufferers of domestic violence and families who need care by reconnecting people, families are co-supporting other families. Jane has enormous energy that is unstoppable. She creates charities but does not ask for money but connects people. She told us that she when she set up Igniting Change she had 3 wonderful volunteers who by combining extraordinary lives gave a place where Sudanese, homeless, out of prison people can come for support. Igniting Change is a deliberately tiny charity, passionate about sparking big, positive change for people doing it tough in our community. It inspires new resources for unmet needs. Jane stresses that she is a facilitator. At the beginning of this amazing person’s presentation she suggested that we should ask the questions. Therefore, it was natural that on learning that boxes of food were delivered, she was asked where did these parcels come from. Jane explained that people who worked for Igniting Change came with trust and everything and the food was donated. The charity is given vouchers and they in turn are donated to people who need them. At one time in her life, Jane was a volunteer helping in an African refugee camp with only 1 doctor and no nurses. She discovered that amongst the refugees were many trained nurses and doctors who were not allowed to work. Jane set up an organization so that the refugees could run their own camp and her organizations will only support African run and they need people who understand. On being asked, where does she gets her incredible energy, she says the energy comes from the people who she meets. Jane, your passion, your energy, your inspiration and your achievements must make you very proud and we as a club and the members who listened to you today, are completely more than impressed. We also learnt that you are a regular visitor to our Market. We are thrilled and would love it if you could make yourself known to us in the office. Thank you for your time today. Kevin reminded us to be in touch with Market Facebook page and that he will put updates there and asked us to share the information posted there. We are reminded that November 4th is an evening meeting and John and Margaret talked of the District Morning tea and that November if Foundation Mont. To become a Centurion during this month is a really good thing to do. Once again Acting Sergeant Tony R made his profound knowledge of the race track known to us. Winners, Losers and anything in between made good fodder for a fine and he matched and fined us perfectly. Bad Luck for you that Zoom froze for a few moments so thereby ending your delightful Sergeant session. Pres. Geoff returned to close the meeting remarking that Jane Tewson is an amazing person showing total commitment to purposes. He once again asked us to think of ways of getting together and not to just wait until things get “normal”. Good Luck Greg to get Cilantro back and functioning. Happy birthday to all the October members and we wish you a year of more hope and happiness. Have a good week, stay safe. ROTARY OPENS OPPORTUNITIESZilla (Bulletin Reporter
