As members will now know, Lorry Rowe, our Fit4 Use Store Manager is retiring and moving to Queensland closer to family. The Fit4 Use Store was Lorry's brainchild and was established in 2016 after a great deal of work by Allan Bruno, Hugh Stewart and Ted Frank.
As Lorry explained to me when I visited her last week, she has been trying to retire for 2 years now! She has been a dedicated and tireless worker and has been the face of Rotary and our club in Werribee - she has supported all who come through the door with a smile, a welcome and a chat. She and her team of volunteers have provided that friendly social environment needed by so many.
Discussions are underway with Rotary Werribee who have been invited to take over the store due to the lack of our members able to commit to ongoing support. I will keep you informed as to the outcome.
In recognition of Lorry's service, an afternoon tea will be held at the store on Saturday 21st May at 2pm. Please make a note in your diaries and make an effort to attend.
Congratulations and thank you to Edith Chen who was farewelled from the board of Kensington Neighbourhood House after 6 years last month. Edith has been a strong community advocate and has assisted in a number of initiatives over the years.
Members are reminded of an opportunity to meet up with PDG Senake Amerasinghe from Sri Lanka and the RORP team next Monday 2 May - 4pm in the upstairs room of The Local Hotel 22-24 Bay Street, Port Melbourne.
This will a great opportunity tohear about the challenges in Sri Lanka currently, how the playground project is progressing and what next for RORP.
RIMERN are in desperate need of volunteers and as a member club I seek your assistance.
I am available to help at the store depending on work - Thursday is usually the best day. Anyone who is able to help for a half day on Saturday 7 May or Thursday 26 May please let me know. If you are available any other Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday, please let Lyn know.
The Club President's Changeover has been set for Friday 24 June at the Mercure Hotel in North Melbourne.
Please diarise this event now and be ready to share the evening with Shraddha and I.
This is 3rd time lucky as this venue was set for our changeover in 2021 - and cancelled; our Christmas Party - and cancelled and our anniversary - cancelled.
Our next meeting is Wednesday 4 May at Mama Bear Cafe at 7.30 for a 7.45 start. See you all there.
Lesley
District Conference Albury
I was delighted to represent our club at the District Conference in Albury on ANZAC Day weekend. It was such a joyous occasion as we were able to get together in person for the first time since 2019!
The Rotary Club of Brighton conference team led by Peter Shepheard, Jane Pennington and Sandi Fulcher did an amazing job in organising such a wonderful event in just 4 months.
I was able to catch up with many old friends of ours including our former Assistant Governor Ian Ada & Ann from Carlton, Nilda Escalante & Cathy Hall from Caroline Springs, Denis & Mary O/Brien and Greg & Sue Ollett from West Footscray, Cherie & Yvonne Osborn, Paul & Allison Perrottet, David Dippie and former Assistant Governor Michael Donnelly from Keilor East and many more.
I was representing the District Environment team on a showcase table and of course was able to chat with my Rotarians from across the district.
For me, some highlights were the amazing Scots School Pipe & Drum band; the video address from Incoming RI President Jennifer Jones; the entertaining talk by Lucy Bloom, Tania Milatec's talk on Peace {she was our 1st District Peace Fellow in 2002; and the energetic PDG Jennifer Scott. Congratulations to RIPEN Michael Lapina from Wyndham for arranging such fabulous musical entertainment during the weekend.
This forum is now finalised and promises to be an invaluable event helping to make sense of the mental health puzzle. The focus is on teenagers and young people and their families and will provide an insight and some understanding into anxiety and depression; 2 areas of mental health which seems to be the new pandemic facing us today.
We are fortunate to have a lineup of amazing and expert speakers to help us including the engaging Maria Ruberto - an old friend from my days as a Principal who can give us some relevant information and history. We will also be joined by our club's ARH PhD scholar Catherine Johnson, Dr Parisa Shiran who focuses on women's and migrant health and Fatima, a young woman who will speak on lived experience!
Kensington Town Hall Wednesday 18 May starting at 7pm.
Members will be needed to help setup from 6pm and to assist during the evening. Please let Lesley know your availability.
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RORP Update
Peter Cribb has forwarded some photos from the Railuli playground in East Timor, thanks to Kris Webb from Spend it Well.
The playground was installed last year but the photos have just arrived - such joy on the childrens' faces.
PP Peter Cribb received a phone call from one of our Somali contacts, Ibrahim Hussein from OzSomCare seeking assistance for a family whose house had been destroyed by fire.
RIMERN quickly came to the rescue and yesterday Ibrahim and Rashid collected furniture, mattresses and household goods for the family of 6. They had been sleeping on the floor! So, free of charge - mattresses and bases, fridge, washing machine and microwave, bed linen, bedside tables, sofa, armchairs, coffee table and kitchen goods. All donated to RIMERN from our wonderful volunteers.
Thank you to Sue Robb who picked and packed and made this happen so quickly!
Another fantastic help to community - circular economy saving landfill.
Rotary International and UNICEF are partnering to deliver lifesaving medicines, clean drinking water, education materials and other critical supplies to children and families.
The partnership will capitalize on Rotary International ‘s global network along with the alumni of Sri Lanka’s leading schools to raise funds from the Sri Lankan community living overseas.
UNICEF will use the collected funds to procure essential medicines, medical equipment, water purification tablets, and school stationery to support vulnerable communities facing severe shortages across the country.
The partnership was launched ON 22nd August in Colombo by UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, Mr. George Laryea-Adjei and UNICEF Sri Lanka Representative, Mr. Christian Skoog together with Zone Director of Rotary International, Mr. A S Venkatesh, and Sri Lanka Rotary District Governor Ms. Pubudu de Zoysa.
Donations can also be made by direct deposit to: UNICEF Sri Lanka through the bank details below. Please note ‘Lifeline Sri Lanka’ in the description. Please also email notification of the deposit to: donatesl@unicef.org
Account name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND
Bank name: Sampath Bank PLC Account number: 002960004747
On Tuesday 6th September we joined with Essendon Rotary at the evening meeting with guest Speaker Josh Mahoney, CEO of Essendon FC.
Our table included President Shradha Sharma and Samara, PP Peter Cribb, PP Anne Heyes, PP Lesley McCarthy, Carolina Sevcikova, Yvonne Farquharson and Bob Farquharson.
It was great to catchup with friends including PPs Sunil Pereira, Marioa Kouppas and Lisa Lowcock and Royce Abbey Coordinator Roger Leask, amongst others.
Josh spoke about his history as a player and football manager. Josh has been involved in the Australian Football League (AFL) for over twenty years, both as a player and manager. Josh played two seasons with Collingwood but was traded unbeknownst to him to the Western Bulldogs where he played nineteen games before being de-listed. He then played for Essendon in the Victorian Football League for two years.
He was selected by the Port Adelaide Football Club where he played for four seasons and in 2004 he played in an AFL premiership with Port Adelaide beating the Brisbane Lions. All up Josh played ninety games of VFL/AFL football over his playing career. He remarked that he still sometimes feels like a cricketer who fell three runs short of a century.
After his playing days ended on ninety-seven games, Josh turned his talents to football administration, becoming an AFL Assistant Coach at the Melbourne Football Club and from there moving into football management. He was General Manager Football of the MFC for seven years. He was directly involved in the rebuilding of the team, and in the establishment of the inaugural women’s football team.
He holds a science degree, Master's Degree in Marketing, and an MBA. He is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Josh by offered several insights from his sports participation and management career:
Preparation is critical The pursuit of continuous improvement is vital Treat people well Getting the right people is essential to success.
Josh responded to a range of questions. One of his answers was that diversity is important in decision making settings as we want to open up and seek a diverse array of experiences and opinions. On the challenges facing EFC a present, Josh noted firstly that all staff wanted to stay and contribute to the Club’s turnaround.
Secondly, Josh predicted that a new senior coach will be appointed by the end of the current finals season. Josh observed that great coaches get into the hearts and minds of players and are skilful at delegating. Josh also commented that it was so important that players have an exit strategy. For instance, twenty-nine of the current EFC senior list are studying at tertiary level.
It was a very interesting talk and the audience had a number of extra questions - including when will Essendon be ready to win another final.
On Wednesday, 24th August, Leonard and Shraddha met for breakfast at Sugarbeat cafe close to their homes, and what followed was an interesting & insightful walk down a memory lane of Len's life which was lived on the philosophy of hard work, friendship and care for his family, friends and community.
Len was born 11 April 1933 in a small town in Victoria called Murtoa. We moved when I was still young to Linga, situated between Ouyen and the South Australian border in the Sunraysia region. There I went to Linga state school. My father was a Bank Manager, and my mother managed the Post Office until we moved to Melbourne in 1940, after my fathers' passing in 1937.
Len still remembers the 14 room house they had when his mother managed the Post Office in Linga, it brings back very fond memories of the place. It was getting difficult for my mother alone with two kids, so along with aunty Flo, her daughter Bev, mum, uncle Alan and I moved to Melbourne.
We lived initially in Fitzroy and eventually mum found work to manage a tennis court and milk bar in Union road. Alan & I joined Ascot Vale West Primary school.
Len was introduced to Rotary by another of my school mate Ron King in 1991. He was the President at North Melbourne Rotary and we used to go to their Rotary dinners. Over one such dinner he introduced me to the president Ross Bradfield of Rotary Club of Flemington & soon after I joined.
In those days, Myers had a factory along the Maribyrnong River, so when I turned 15, I joined the upholstering and bedding section there. After I completed my Merit Certificate, the skill in upholstering saw me move to TAA for fitting-in airplane seats. I did that for some time then moved to buy a taxi truck, I was about 22 then, & it was around that time that I met my lovely Audrey. The truck only had one seat in the front and she would have to sit in a pinata box. We married in 1956, it was the first Saturday of the Olympic games here in Melbourne.As driving hours were not compatible to my married life, I joined Hunter products in manufacturing support. Alan Hunter (with whom I'd gone to school) proved to be a great friend and support over the years. My career progressed to being the top salesmen to managing the whole production. We also moved to Queensland for 8 years. We eventually came back to Melbourne, and I continued working with Alan and Jo Ferrrara.
I have very much enjoyed and cherished my friendships: the most with Alan Bruno, Geoff Cawsey, John Sklenar and so many more. The way we joined to host BBQ's every month, it gave me a sense of purpose in something bigger than us.
During PDG Vance Hilton's Presidency we hosted the District Conference at Canberra, I think the memory of that event is very fresh in my mind. It was known to be one of the best run events of the time.
In terms of travelling, Audrey and I travelled a fair bit around Europe, but my most revered one is the 15-day Rhine river cruise we took.
I think the joy of people coming together in the local community where you knew each other and were supportive is harder to see now a days in physical form, they say people meet online, I don't understand how they feel connected in this space.
My favorite way to spend time these days is reading the newspaper in the morning, catching up with friends for lunch and when I can, I like to still be helpful in Rotary and business contacts.
Sport and hobbies: Len laughs! Oh it has been a long time. I used to play football at Ascot Vale, and we played with Hastings too. I don’t play a musical instrument, but Audrey loved dancing so I would join her.
If you could make one major change in society it would be …. I would want people to be more tolerant of each other’s disagreements. People can have their say, agree to disagree and still be friends and respectful of each other’s choices.
Interesting fact about Murtoa: Prior to 1870 the town was known as Marma Gully. It is generally accepted that Murtoa means 'home of the lizard' in the language of the local First Nations people, probably the Jaadwa language group. There are a number of large lizard mosaic sculptures on the median strips in Marma and Duncan streets.
Interesting fact about Linga: 'The name Linga is believed to be an invented derivative from the traditional Aboriginal name Lar-gni which meant camp of ... because as a place to camp it was a place to linger.'
Source: wikipedia
Guess who is coming to dinner. Who would your dinner guests be? It'd be you (to Shradd) and my nieces Leonie Dekker and Joanne Murray
I've had dinner catered at my place and had had few neighbors along, I think you'd all love to meeting each other.
What three things have you discovered that are most important in life? Kindness, understanding and fairness.
And the last word Thank you to all that I have crossed paths with.
vonne was born in Mount Beauty, where her father was working on the Snowy Hydro Scheme; the 3rd of three daughters with a younger brother. The family moved to Ballina in New South Wales where she completed all her schooling. Her father is 99 and still lives in Ballina; her mother died in 2015.
Yvonne has been married to Bob, an Agricultural & Resource Economist for 44 years and they have 3 adult children (a geotechnical engineer, an archaeologist, and an editor in the publishing trade) and 4 grandchildren who live in New South Wales. Education is a big part of our family life!
Yvonne gained a BA from the University of New England and a Diploma of Education at the University of Canberra. Her whole working life has been in education, mostly teaching in high schools and primary schools. Her last role was as VCE Coordinator at Gilmore Girls College, Footscray.
In 2017 she founded “Filter Your Future” and created the "Healthy Kidneys Education Project”, an education program for young children to reduce the incidence of preventable chronic disease. The program is aligned to National Curriculum and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 for Health and Well-being. The program is freely available for teachers across Australia and New Zealand.
Yvonne was a Rotary Exchange Student hosted by the Rotary Club of Wynberg in Cape Town, South Africa in 1973. She has always valued the ideal of service and the objects of Rotary and after retirement she reached out to the club. She was inducted at our Changeover evening in June. Rotary Exchange whet her appetite for travel. Her most recent travel experiences pre-pandemic were a fascinating boat trip in 2018 along the Ayeyarwady River in Myanmar (Burma) and a ‘Women in Leadership’ 2019 Tour to Cambodia with World Vision, to visit education and health centres.
In her spare time, Yvonne likes to complete the daily New York Times Wordle, Quordle and Sudoko. She also enjoys swimming, Clinical Pilates and occasionally riding her bike when the weather is nice. She played field hockey and represented Australian Universities and the ACT in her younger, fit days.
The last word: “Tell me, and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand.” I have applied that throughout my life, my faith and my teaching career.
Yvonne was interviewed by President Shraddha Sharma.
The thing I realized I was that day is that no matter what other people think of a woman, we as girls can build our future the way we want as long as we believe we are strong enough to stand up. And that is what they said at the International Women’s Day Breakfast to achieve most of their goals in life.
Lucia
A thing that stood out to me at the IWD breakfast, is and it kept being brought up in relation to different questions, was how we need to take the time to listen to each other. IWD is about celebrating the achievements of women and striving for equality between all genders and people and we can’t achieve equality or make big achievements if we don’t support each other. By listening to others, we empower them and offer our empathy, helping them achieve their best and get through hard times.
Amelia
The International Women's Day Breakfast was an amazing experience, but one of the things that really resonated with me was how we were talking about the idea of the superwoman. The pressure that women have to be able to do it all. The way they have to do well at work or school, raise a family and please everyone. The idea that women need to be perfect or they are not good enough. That really resonated with me because growing up I witnessed my mum doing it all. That's what I strive to be like when I grow up. But I don't think it's fair to put this pressure on girls, it's ok to make mistakes and be who you are.
Habon
Something that resonated with me was that women can do what they want to do without having to be a superwoman. The fact that yes you could do many great things and you can achieve lots of your goals nothing can stop you. But, at the same time, you could be a human being, you could make mistakes, you can fail at some things. No one is perfect and the fact that you as a woman are pursuing dreams that many are not should not make you feel like you have to always be great and achieve perfection.
Peter Cribb has alerted us to the difficult situation in Sri Lanka. Our friend Dr Eshantha Ariyadasa, , Director of the Sputnik Girls Home tells us that food is in sort supply and he has reached out for assistance.
Peter has bank details if you are able to assist.
The 365 Day Project at Sputnik Girls’ Home
Could you sponsor the Sputnik Girls’ meals for just 1 day a year? For only Sri Lanka(LKR) Rs 15,000 , Japan Yen(¥) 10,000, British Pound(£) 50, Euro(€) 60, United State Dollar($) 70, Australian Dollar(AUD) 80 you could sponsor these children’s meals on just 1 day a year.
With 4 inspiring speakers, attendees learnt more about mental health - the causes, stresses, symptoms and signs. Then the impact of mental health and responses in multicultural communities - the stigma, language issues, inability to access treatment and visa and migration hurdles. Mental health a lived experience from a young volunteer through Headspace - a conversation and how sufferers try to protect their loved ones. So where to get help, hw schools support students and families and the poer of Mental Health First Aid.
Thank you so very much to Maria Ruberto, Fatima Ibrahim, Parisa Shiran and Catherine Johnston for their time ad expertise, and for their empathy towards the audience and their concerns.
RIMERN (Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network) have joined with Prospect Wines to offer a selection of 6 great value wines to help raise funds for a new van.
Please order some “Van Rouge” or “Van Blanc” and help RIMERN hit the road to collect vital goods donations! Thanks for your support & Cheers!
In Checkout, please select the RIMERN Rotary Club you are supporting.
Minimum order quantity: 6 bottles (can be all 1 wine, or several different wines).
Rotary International and UNICEF are partnering to deliver lifesaving medicines, clean drinking water, education materials and other critical supplies to children and families.
as launched ON 22nd August in Colombo by UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, Mr. George Laryea-Adjei and UNICEF Sri Lanka Representative, Mr. Christian Skoog together with Zone Director of Rotary International, Mr. A S Venkatesh, and Sri Lanka Rotary District Governor Ms. Pubudu de Zoysa.
esday, 24th August, Leonard and Shraddha met for breakfast at Sugarbeat cafe close to their homes, and what followed was an interesting & insightful walk down a memory lane of Len's life which was lived on the philosophy of hard work, friendship and care for his family, friends and community.
ed and cherished my friendships: the most with Alan Bruno, Geoff Cawsey, John Sklenar and so many more. The way we joined to host BBQ's every month, it gave me a sense of purpose in something bigger than us.
f people coming together in the local community where you knew each other and were supportive is harder to see now a days in physical form, they say people meet online, I don't understand how they feel connected in this space.
Interesting fact about Murtoa: Prior to 1870 the town was known as Marma Gully. It is generally accepted that Murtoa means 'home of the lizard' in the language of the local First Nations people, probably the Jaadwa language group. There are a number of large lizard mosaic sculptures on the median strips in Marma and Duncan streets.
Interesting fact about Linga: 'The name Linga is believed to be an invented derivative from the traditional Aboriginal name Lar-gni which meant camp of ... because as a place to camp it was a place to linger.'
Please order some “Van Rouge” or “Van Blanc” and help RIMERN hit the road to collect vital goods donations! Thanks for your support & Cheers!