Rotary Club of Caulfield
Celebrating our 50th year of service
The Rotary Club of Caulfield Inc will celebrate its 50th year of service to the community in 2012. (See events page for details of the celebration).
During the 50 years the Club –
- has participated in student exchanges;
- supported programs for Youth Leadership Training which has included the establishment in 2011 of the Rotaract Club of Monash University (Caulfield)
- in 2012 will host the 35th Annual Festive Season Lunch for recipients of the City of Glen Eira’s Meals On Wheels Service. This is an event for people who might ordinarily be house bound to have a day of fun, frivolity and festivity. Transport is provided for many of the guests with entertainment by volunteer performers;
- provided a diverse range of services to local and international communities from its first project in 1962 of delivering 15 truckloads of firewood to people in need to sending insulin abroad, building a playground at Caulfield Primary School, sending water saving and non-polluting Greenclean laundry balls to Samoa, collecting supermarket points and vouchers for local Primary Schools, to name but a few of the Club’s projects;
- supported music and dance as means of therapy, assisting the breakdown of social isolation through its musical and dance concerts over several years and holding a an intergenerational Masked Twilight Tea Dance;
- held Art Exhibitions, but realized that something more was needed to give longer term support to local artists and give them the opportunity to work collectively for creative advancement, while providing the general public with a chance to observe the artistic process in action. The Club established the Glen Eira Artists’ Society Inc.-which now holds weekly Figurative Art and Portraiture sessions, a monthly En Plein Air Day at Caulfield Park and in 2012 will hold its Third Annual Paint In the Park Day.
- from its establishment, the Club has had a strong environment ethos, its earliest forms of fundraising being the collection and sale of newspapers and glass bottles, then in the late1990’s establishing a Recycling Centre. Currently its sells eco-products at Eco-Expo’s, Sustainability Festivals and at the Murrumbeena Community Market which is a quarterly seasonal Market (see the Events page for details). The Club won the District 9800, 2010 and 2011 Environment Awards.
Over the 50 years the Club has distinguished itself as a small but extremely active group of “doers”. Every meeting is a working lunch, except when there is a Speaker. There are no separate Board Meetings, as the Club functions on a “whole of Club”- consultative, decision making model of full transparency and accountability. There are no fines and no set weekly Lunch fees. The Club acknowledges that everyone has different dietary requirements, so attendees order their own meals and drinks and pay individually.
The Club is a Rotary Club of the Future - seeking young people looking for mentoring on the path to establishing their careers or businesses, people who operate home-based or e-businesses and active retirees. The fundamental criteria are that Members be people who want to participate in the community by service while enjoying fun and friendship.