Well life just keeps throwing up challenges for us all at present, but we must remain optimistic and plan for better times ahead.
Judy and I have started our Club Visits and have been pleasantly surprised at the passion, energy and initiatives that clubs are displaying given the current restrictions.
It is important in these times to remember our motto of “Service Above Self” and ask ourselves individually what Service means to each of us.
I go back to my first 2 District Goals for this year
Focus on Member Welfare and Friendship – help ourselves before we focus on others.
Focus on Our Communities – reach out to find what’s needed.
Our first and primary task should be to focus on Club Service, being there for each other, meeting flexibly to suit the needs of all our members and ensuring that our own responsibility to keep in touch with our friends and above all don’t let our current members just drift away!
Secondly, we must adapt to meet the developing needs of our communities through Community Service.
Establish a relationship with local government, welfare agencies and other service organisations to offer our assistance and discover new ways of assisting our communities as we recover from the impact of the current epidemic.
August is Membership and Extension month. What better way to start the Rotary year than by sharing the joy?
RI President Holger Knaack has challenged us with the theme this year of “Rotary Opens Opportunities”.
Do you share your enthusiasm for Rotary with the people you meet? Could you honestly say that your family, friends, and colleagues know about your commitment to Rotary and the sense of joy and satisfaction you get from being a Rotarian?
Take the opportunity to tell people about this and give them the chance to experience that too. Invite them to join in a project, become a friend and share your Rotary Moment with them.
Please take the time to listen to Holger’s message:
District Interest Groups This year we are trying to do things a little differently by forming local (at Group level) and eventually at District level by providing an opportunity for members to engage and network with other members with similar interests.
The benefits to this are that it allows members to explore interests that may not be provided at club level yet, and/or share ideas and projects which could lead to new opportunities for both individuals and clubs.
To kick things off I have chosen two themes, firstly Literacy – Child and Adult, and secondly Environment/ Preserve Planet Earth.
Please see two articles in this newsletter from Judy Beasley (DG Partner and RC Bayside Geelong) and Barb Sheehan (RC Highton) on these topics.
If you are interested in getting involved in either of these areas please let your Club President know to pass your name and details on to the Assistant Governor for your Group.
Let’s continue our positive start to the year ahead by determining what both our members and in particular our very own communities need in terms of support and remember “Rotary Opens Opportunities”.
Please enjoy the collage of photos below.
DG Phil
Around the District with DG Phil
For the Centenary of Rotary in Australia, DG Philip and partner Judy have chosen to support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation as a project for the rotary clubs of District 9780 to support.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is dedicated to lifting the literacy levels in remote Indigenous communities, so all children across Australia have the same choices and opportunities.
Reading and writing are the basic skills everyone needs to help them learn and provide opportunities for their future. Literacy and basic education is one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation has a mantra of “Reading Opens Doors” and their vision statement is “Equity of Opportunity”.This ties in really well with the new RI theme of “Rotary Opens Opportunities”.
The ILF’s programs focus on ensuring access to quality resources including books in home languages, publishing community stories and empowering families to share reading and lead their own literacy future.
We as rotarians, by supporting the ILF in their important work, can open up opportunities to our First Nation People living in remote areas. Our support will help provide books and literacy programs to over 400 remote Indigenous communities across Australia, where they are needed most.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation, now in their 10th year, have already gifted over 440,000 books to hundreds of schools, healthcare centres, and service organisations that use the books in all different ways. They hope to donate another 100,000 books during 2020.
Just imagine if all of our rotary clubs in District 9780 worked together and contributed $500 or more each. That would lead to a substantial donation to this important foundation.
If your club would like to help, please use the following bank details to make a donation. Rotary International District 9780, BSB 633000, Account Number: 164 290 835. Please put as your reference: ILF and your club name.
With your help we can make a real difference and open opportunities to many young Indigenous children.
September is Rotary International’s Basic Education and Literacy Month
Rotary’s goal is to empower communities to support basic education and Literacy, reduce gender disparity in education and increase adult literacy.
World Literacy Day is coming up on September 8th. Literacy Day serves as a reminder of the Importance of Literacy for individuals and society. Let’s get involved by – donating books, Time or Money and spreading the word on Social Media. Changing lives, support literacy projects. Read and share a story with your child / grandchildren. Read, Write, Empower.
Celebrate Indigenous Literacy day on September 2nd where books produced by Indigenous communities are launched. support and donate to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, being DG Phil and Judy's District Project.
Many clubs and rotarians in District 9780 do great work in this area. Celebrate the wonderful Literary projects that your club is involved with. Or, introduce a new project for club members to be work on.
Let the District 9780 Literary Resource Chair, Judy Beasley, know what your club is doing in this area of focus.
Email: j.beasley490@gmail.com
Invite a guest speaker on Literacy during September. Rotarian James Carter from the Rotary Club of Camperdown has a great story to tell about his literacy journey. James would be happy to speak at your club. For further details on how to contact James...
On June 25th 2020 Rotary proudly announced a new area of focus: supporting the environment. Providing our members more ways to bring about positive change in the world.
The environment sustains all life on Earth and Rotary cannot effectively or sustainably serve humanity without also focussing on supporting the well-being of planet Earth. Adding the Environment as a unique Area of Focus will enhance Rotary’s potential to develop, fund and implement projects to sustain the environment which we all live in. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment will give Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact. It will complement the other areas of focus - peace building and conflict prevention; disease prevention and treatment; water, sanitation, and hygiene; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; and community economic development. Grant applications for projects will be accepted beginning 1 July 2021.
The Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) has been instrumental in raising awareness as well as assisting Rotary Clubs in planning, implementing and evaluating service projects, and inspiring action. Joining ESRAG will support their on-going work and provide access to a wide range of environmental projects and related resources. An existing key Environmental Sustainability project supported by ESRAG, is ‘Rotarians for Bees’, which is working on solutions to address the decline in the bee population as a consequence of the ecosystem degradation ultimately threatening our food supply.
The Rotary Club of Alfredton have created the Rotary Centennial Park, adjacent to Lucas Winter Swamp and Mullawallah Wetlands.
The Official Opening was held on Sunday August 2nd. The day kicked off at 10am with the participants complying with Covid 19 rules. It was a fun day and a great opportunity for the Group 8 Clubs to share in a joint Rotary Project.
District Governor Philip Beasley and Ballarat Mayor Ben Taylor, officially opened the Rotary Centennial Park.
DG Phil gave a background history of Rotary and the Centenary of Rotary in Australia
Mayor Ben spoke of the work done by the Rotary Club and the lovely aspect that the park has to the Winter Swamp being at the entry to the City of Ballarat.
This is a lovely resource for the Alfredton community. Club members have worked to clear and clean up the land and have planted some 300 trees to date. An information sign has been erected on the site identifying the wildlife and the benefits that wetlands bring to our environment. A further 130 trees were planted on the opening day. It was nice to see rotarians and locals getting involved.
The Rotary Club of Alfredton is hoping that individuals, or families could purchase and plant a tree. What a great chance to leave a lasting legacy, by planting a tree. You or your family will be helping the environment in which we live and future generations will benefit from this lovely space. The Club will install a name plaque at the sign, recognising these contributions.
This is a nice opportunity where we can all be involved, but with social separation. Any money raised from this event will be put back into the future development of the park.
If anyone would like to participate in further plantings in the future, please contact President David Sanders on 0419 108 844.
(Photo courtesy of Geoff James, Ballarat)
The current environment is challenging for everyone and Interplast is no exception. Elective surgery programs have been cancelled across the pacific and all travel for teams has been halted.
However, Rotary support is more important now than ever. Interplast has switched to providing training and support via digital means. Virtual Mentoring programs are running through webinars and virtual workshops. A Hand Hygiene program has been virtually delivered and there is a severe burns management program running in Fiji. Virtual support through online meetings and via video is offered to ensure those health teams in their own countries are still supported in emergency situations. Webinars are gaining momentum with interest from countries where Interplast does not currently offer programs. Timor Leste, Nauru and Pakistan have reached out for support during this time.
The Interplast District Committee is running a raffle and the drawing date has been extended out to the 31st of October. This is our major fundraiser for the year and we ask for your help to ensure all the tickets get sold. Some clubs already have tickets and we are able to distribute more. Tickets are $10 each. The prize is a travel voucher (with an extended travel date) to the value of $3500 (First prize) or $1500 (Second prize). Can be taken as cash too if travel restrictions still haven’t lifted.
For further information or to organise a speaker, please don’t hesitate to call or email the newly appointed Interplast District Chair, Claire Holt, on 0433 836 541 or Claire.holt@rotary9780.org, or Janette Etherington, the Rotarian Engagement Coordinator at the Interplast office, on 03 9276 7476, or janette.etherington@interplast.org.au.
Staying Safe in Covid Times
The need for social contact, that sense of belonging are needs that we all have. Further to that, is our collective strong desire as Rotarians to help and assist those in need, but we must not do this at the risk of becoming infected or infecting others.
Please follow the advice from the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, available through this link:
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
