COMMUNITY SERVICES
The Committee's major
project has been assisting Christ Church St. Kilda build and furnish a centre
for those in need of help. This is now
complete and was officially opened by the Deputy Premier, John Thwaites, in
August 2003.
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Last year the committee
ran the inaugural Town / Country exchange, a joint project with the Rotary Club
of Bairnsdale. We assisted ten girls
from MacRobertson Girl's High School to go to Bairnsdale and another ten students
from Bairnsdale to come to Melbourne.
Members of our Club hosted the students from Bairnsdale and organised
visits to Silverman Dakin, BDDO Clemenger, the ABC Studios, the Ford Factory,
the Police Academy and behind the scenes at The Windsor Hotel. For leisure, the group visited the National
Gallery, Federation Square, Parliament House, the Museum of Victoria, Docklands
and the MCG. The cost of the project
was $3,500 and involved more than fifty members of our Club, including
relatively new members. We plan to
repeat this venture again this year.
In December the
Committee, together with other Batman Cluster Clubs, organised the collection
of donated gifts for the ABC Christmas Giving Tree Appeal from ABC stores for
distribution to needy families via the Melbourne City Mission.
The committee supports
the Cairnmillar Institute to aid their counseling program for under-privileged
families to help prevent the problems of marriage and family breakdown.
AWARDS
Each year the Club makes
the Sir John Reid Community Service Award to a person (who is not a Club
member) for service to the community worthy of special notice. Previous recipients have included John Opie
for setting up the Bone Marrow Register and Matthew Pfahlert who runs a farm
for troubled teenage boys.
Members are encouraged
to suggest possible recipients and the Community Welfare Committee will then
nominate a recipient for approval by the Clubs' Board.
EAST TIMOR
East Timor Roofing - The
idea of the Bacau Beams Project came from the Rotary Club of Doncaster and from
day one has been very heavily supported by the Rotary Club of Melbourne and
embraced by our Rotary District.
A fundraising breakfast
at Crown Casino raised more than $50,000 with Brigadier General Cosgrove kick
starting the project. A further $500,000
from the Shell Foundation has been made available for training programs and
technical assistance.
Falantil runs the
roofing project and the sale of the finished product forms an integral part of
the rebuilding of many of the public buildings that were destroyed during the
uprising.
Micro Credit Scheme -
Our first project / loan was on the island of Atarua. A $5,000 loan has been made to seven families (village) to
establish a fishing co-operative. This money
has enabled the group to secure an outboard motor, nets and ancillary fishing
equipment. The business is now up and
running, regular payments are being made, and the Club expects the loan will be
paid off within the next two years.
This has been a very
positive start and with the help of funding from "Cheap as Chips" we
are in the process of putting together more business starting and business
development loans. The Club has
earmarked $10,000 for these programs over the next twelve months.
Hot Flima Fishing - The
Club has purchased two new (Vietnam War) cool rooms with generators for the
"Hot Flima" project in Dili.
This project will mean that fresh produce; fish meat, etc. can be sold
in the local market and will have a semi-respectable shelf life. The cool rooms were purchased and shipped to
Dili in October 2002.
Rotary Club of Dili -
This new Club was chartered on the 20th November 2002 and was made possible by
the hard work of many ex-pats with Rotary connections who were working in East
Timor, both before and after the uprising.
The Rotary Club of
Melbourne will sponsor the first indigenous East Timor member Caetano
Gutterres, who heads up the Hot Flima project in Dili. Caetano has been overwhelmed by the gesture
and we are sure he will make a most valuable contribution to the development of
Rotary in East Timor.
Computers - This program
started when Rotarian Philip Endersbee visited Timor last in 2002 and spent a
day in the orphanage in Bacau.
David Schultz approached
the Club last year - volunteering his services to supply computers to the Bacau
Orphanage - and has rounded up computers, stripped and reprogrammed them, and
the first seven computers were sent to the orphanage early in November
2002. The Club is working with
Tattersalls and hopes to secure 20 more computers in the near future.
The computers are used
by the students in the classroom, where they are assisted by the Sisters (IT
teachers) to prepare for a working career.
Posyandu - The Club is
working with the Sisters of the Good Samaritan to introduce the school
education health program (POSYANDU) to the island of Atarua. This program involves the whole community
and starts with the children at school.
Rotary has had enormous
success throughout the South Pacific with these initiatives and we hope we may
be able to develop something similar in East Timor, starting at Atarua.
HEALTH ISSUES
The Health Issues
Committee considers health and medical issues in the community which are raised
by members of the Committee or are referred to the Committee by the Club's
Board. It adopts projects in a limited
number of areas where it believes it can make a positive difference by
utilising the skills available in the Club or the wider Rotary network.
Current projects include
assisting carers of the mentally ill by establishing and publicising the rights
of carers to obtain from medical professionals information which is relevant to
the proper treatment, wellbeing or welfare of family members.
The Committee is also
working with LifeGift in trying to increase the rate of organ donation, which
is at a low level in the Australian community.
INTERNATIONAL
Leprosy - The Club is
investing $US60,000 in a three year project to support Cambodia's National
Leprosy Elimination Program.
The project emphasises
the early detection and diagnosis of leprosy (Hansen's Disease) with a view to
treatment and cure, maximising prevention of disability and reducing the need
for subsequent rehabilitation of this age-old disease.
Commencing January 2004,
the project continues through calendar years 2005 and 2006.
Indonesian School
Posyandu Project
Literacy and Numeracy -
Afghan Women
ON-TO-CONFERENCE
The On-to-Conference
Committee aims to provide information and advice to members who plan to attend
the Annual District 9800 Conference. The District Conference is a time and
place to meet new Rotarians and renew old friendships. The official program and
informal activities provide an excellent opportunity for fellowship.
The Club Committee liaises
with the Conference organisers to arrange the Club's participation in the
Conference and, depending on the location of the onference, organises an
On-to-Conference car tour for those who wish have fun as they travel to the
Conference venue.
PUBLIC ISSUES
Street Numbering - the
objective of the project is to increase the awareness of municipalities and
residents of the value of having easily seen numbers on properties. This facilitates identification of houses
and shops for emergency services.
The support for this
project has been strong in some municipalities. The committee is endeavouring to secure the support of the
responsible Minister in order to publicise the benefits of numbering
properties.
STUDENT EXCHANGE
Members of the committee
are those likely to host students or act as counselors. Others are required to help with
arrangements for the students.
The current status is
that our club is hosting incoming exchangee Thomas Erdosi of Switzerland from
July 2003. Thomas is a budding tennis player so our committee will be looking
for coaching and tournament opportunities.
Trinity Grammar provides
schooling for Thomas. Emma Palmer has
successfully won the opportunity to go overseas and the committee will
facilitate this.
VOCATIONAL SERVICES
The major Vocational
Service Committee project over the last two years has been 12 Connect. Each year, approximately 20 ex-wards of the
State face a major drop in financial support from the Government when they reach
16 years of age. This occurs when they
are seeking to complete their HSC. Last
year the Club funded two students and this year we are sponsoring another two
students. The Club provides $2,500 per student and this, so far, has been able
to meet needs of books, equipment and tutors. Club funding for this project is
complete and
the committee is seeking
additional funds to extend the project into next year.
AWARDS
In August of each year
the Club makes awards to three of Victoria's top apprentices, who address the
Club and receive $500 plus a certificate.
In October of each year
the Club makes its Vocational Service Award, a major Club award and the
recipient also speaks to the Club.
In March of each year
the Committee makes awards to three young achievers (persons under 25 years who
each receive $500 plus a certificate) for making a major contribution in their
vocations.
Each year we also
organize nominations for the District Shine-On awards and assist our nominees
to attend the Awards Day.
WHAT'S NEW IN MY LINE?
The committee believes
it is important to provide a means of sharing vocational experiences and as
such, the Committee organises the " What's new in my line?" three
minute talks, which provide interesting backgrounds on members and their vocations.
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE COMMITTEE
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