Christmas meeting and DG visit

 

Greetings members, fellow Rotarians and friends.

We began this Rotary year with the theme Unite for Good by doing just that.

At our first meeting for the year, PDG Michael Lapina surprised us with a visit where he presented PP Lesley with a RI Vocational Service award for her contributions to all Avenues of Service.  The stunned look on Lesley’s face was priceless.

In July, we welcomed Rotary Youth Exchange student Lenka Pocarovska from Czechia.  Lenka’s first host family was with Carla and Scott Tatuaschwili whose son Jay is currently on exchange in Denmark.

Then, in partnership with MVCC our members helped to plant 6000 seedlings as part of National Tree Day – and assist RC Keilor East on the BBQ.

In August, we farewelled Haruka Tanaka, our Global Grant scholar from Japan who completed a Master’s Degree in Developmental Studies at Melbourne University in the last 2 years.  Haruka was a delight and we enjoyed her attendance and participation at a number of events.

Peter Cribb continued the efforts to develop RORP in District 9800 with a storage site located at the Rabitha Mosque in Rockbank thanks to our member Anwar.

September saw the induction of new member John Farmery.  John had already participated in a number of events before this.  John saw our story in FlemKen News and came along to see what we were about!

This month we had the first of this round of RYDA – Rotary Youth Driver Awareness which covers 4 schools in our area and is funded by a grant from MVCC.  Students from Buckley Park College were first.

Peter and Lesley, regular volunteers at DiK together with Shraddha welcomed Nepalese Consul Mr Nirajan Gauli for a tour to see what goods could be available for a humanitarian project.  Sadly, the club trip to Nepal had to be cancelled to due civil unrest.

Then, we participated in the City of Melbourne Community event where we showcased Rotary to business and service providers in the area.

October was another very busy month:
We ran an information evening for the traders and local community where we established some very good contacts, and spread the word about Rotary.

Then we ran a BBQ for the Djerring Hub holiday soccer program, then another BBQ for the Flemington Multicultural Festival, and hosted the amazing Kerri Hicks as a guest speaker,

Additionally, PP Lesley was recognised for her volunteer work with a Victorian Seniors Award at Government House.  Peter, Shraddha and Beate were able to attend and support her.

November wasn’t just about the Spring Racing Carnival either:
At the AGM, I was honored to be nominated for a second year as President which I gladly accepted.  One year isn’t enough to do everything.

The first of our Food and Friends meal events launched on 12 November with 160 meals being served.  This exciting and much need program is a partnership between MVCC - Djerring Hub and ourselves with support from LIFE Church West Melbourne.

We were thrilled at the response and saddened the obvious need in the community to this.  A fabulous group of volunteers from the local community joined Rotarians from not just our club, but from West Footscray, Williamstown, Pascoe Vale and Essendon as well.  The second meal on 26 November served more meals and offered some take away servings as well.
The third meal on 10 December was another huge effort,

We again ran Ryda, this time for 140 students from Essendon Keilor College when we were delighted to welcome participation from Sally at RC Keilor East and Jenny at RC Essendon to see the program.

Our Bunnings BBQ on 29^th was a huge success, and will fund another 6 sessions of facility hire for Food and Friends.

December has come around already, how the year has flown.
Lenka has now moved to live with Chris Richardson.
Peter and Chris attended the 15^th anniversary of L2P, the program which began with our club as RoadStart supporting migrant women learning to drive and which then was absorbed into MVCC.
I have presented scholarships to students at MAC, Kensington PS and ?????? and Jeff has organised awards for other schools.

Thanks to our members and DiK, we donated 40 bags to the Share the Dignity appeal through Jenny at Danny Pearson’s office.

 

Throughout all this, the Op Shop has remained the face of our club in the community: it is not just a retail outlet but a centre for friendship, conversation, recycling and repurposing.  Our regular and long serving volunteers are the force behind the shop and many of them are with us tonight.  Sincere thanks to Deb, Fran, Nahla, Vinh and Rui, Glenice, Jo, Karolina, Gael and Laura.  Your time, efforts and dedication are to be applauded.

The shop also collects and redistribute to RIMERN, baby clothes to Caroline Chisholm, clothing to Youth Projects through Peter and Sue Duras, books and puzzles to the Venny, books to the Djerring Hub children’s programs and the maternal & child health nurses.

 

The shop funds our charitable foundation which contributes thousands of $ each year to our projects and Rotary causes and is the powerhouse behind us.

So as you can see, we an active club involved in every aspect of Rotary service. 

Locally we continue our strong partnership with MVCC, Djerring Hub and Ryda as well as the myriad small opportunities which arise.

We have 5 international projects in the pipeline including the current educational project in Nepal, and are working through logistics with Abdi, Soreeya, Shirhan and Peter on projects in Somalia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives {as well as RORP}.

I am looking forward to continuing this service in 2026.

Melina