Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin

Helen's Headlines - Monday 23rd January 2012

2012-01-26T18:10:00.002+11:00

Happy Australia Day!

I hope everyone had a lovely day to celebrate our national holiday. Mine was spent at home catching up with the jobs around the garden in particularly cleaning out the gutters of dead leaves.

It was nice to see everyone back at our first meeting at the SOC. Thank you to Jason for giving us a fascinating account into his childhood and student years in South Africa. We were all enthralled with his story and it gave us a great insight into the 'man behind the badge'.

Business Networking Events

Thank you to those members who have registered online through the website as you will have saved me time in creating a door list manually. For those who haven't already signed up, please ensure you do so at: www.trybooking.com/17704 It is simple to do and shouldn't take much of your time. This way it will allow us to keep an accurate record of who attended each night. Already we have the following numbers of non-Rotarian guests coming (except 2x guest speakers per night)

Mon 6th Feb: Social Media (8)
Mon 13th Feb: Carbon Tax (4)
Mond 20th Feb: Business Mentors (8)
Mon 27th Feb: Cell Care (2)

Please feel free to bring along a guest or two on the evenings. May I ask that whoever is at the door, GET A BUSINESS CARD AND GIVE THE CARDS TO ME at the end of the night so that I can update our database.

Also on these evenings, please gather outside at the bar and welcome guests first as doors will be closed until 6:25pm when we open for registration. Any other business can be done during the break or outside Rotary hours.

Group Study Exchange Day: Monday 26 March - FOR YOUR DIARIES!

As mentioned we will have a team of 5 Texans on Monday 26th March and we will host them with a day out in the city. I have planned the following:

0830 Hosts to drop off their team members at Cheltenham Train Station

1000-1130 Morning tea, behind the scenes tour and presentation of State Parliament by MP Bruce Atkinson

1130-1420 Lunch and wander around Bourke Street Mall

1430 - 1600 Afternoon tea, behind the scenes tour and presentation of City of Melbourne Council by a local Councillor TBA

1700 Hosts to meet and take their team members back home from Cheltenham station

I need at least 3 people to help out on the day to escort the team around. If you would like to have a nice day out and show these Texans our beautiful city, then please let me know.

If you want to read information on the GSE Program then look here: http://operations.9810rotary.org.au/the-rotary-foundation/group-study-exchange/

Otherwise, someone asked the question on who Andrew and I would be hosting in our home for the week of 24 March to 31 March from the Texan team. Her name is Anne Pape and she is aged 28, an Outreach and Development program co-ordinator for Interfaith Ministries.

Next week we will have Rebecca Lovitt from the Monash Health Foundation and our guest Amy Hayes who we sponsored through a unit of a Diploma in Youth Services. Her interest is working with youths and she recently completed a work placement for her studies that she will talk about.

Until then, have a great week!

Helen's Headlines - Friday 13 January 2012

2012-01-13T07:30:00.002+11:00

Hope you are having a nice January and not letting this freezing cold miserable summer get you down. I know I'm feeling it especially when I had grand visions of spending time at the beach during my holidays and instead, I had to pull out my winter woollies to wear!

Although having this time off has afforded me the opportunity to do the things around the house that I have neglected. I have replaced tap washers; weeded the garden; laid pine bark chips in the garden; mowed lawns; cleaned gutters; spider bombed the garage and roof spaces; cleaned out the garage; pruned all the trees in the front and back...the list goes on. It's been wonderful to have all this time during the day to do the little jobs that just get put off during the year.

Update on Business Events

The promotion has started! For the last couple of days I have spent a few hours every morning walking to the industrial estates along East Bentleigh shops (near East Boundary & Centre Road), Chesterville, Warrigal and Cochranes Road door knocking, chatting with people at these factory sites and handing out flyers. Admittedly, when they see me they think I'm going to flog some product but when I open up with "I'm in Rotary and we would love to see you at our Business Networking Events where local businesses such as yourselves have an opportunity to promote your products and services while networking with other businesses from the local area."

Once I open up with this statement, in all cases, people are interested in the flyer, stand there and read the key topics and genuinely look interested in it. This morning, I will continue the walk as I believe this is the best and only way to establish a presence by speaking to people directly - in the process, I have seen many factories here in my local area that I otherwise would have driven past and never know what these businesses contribute to the Victorian and Australian economy.

This morning I will continue the flyer drop and I do hope that others from our club can do the Bentleigh Shops. It could be appreciated if people can let me know what flyer drops they are doing so that we don't double up. Similarly, if we aren't doing any flyer drops, let me know so that I can get out there and do the Bentleigh shops which are a main business area we should be targetting - so let's not forget them!

So far, the online registrations are slowly coming in. It could be appreciated if Rotarians can register their attendance online at:

http://www.trybooking.com/17704

It takes a few minutes of your time and you register once for one or all of the events you want to attend in the one shot.

I've only had a couple of the club members register so far so please, make the time to get into the above site and register as it gives us a better idea for numbers.

International Interest in Business Events

The concept of the business networking events are gathering momentum overseas - okay, slight exaggeration. However the RC Cambridge, UK and RC Tecoma Narrows, Seattle Washington USA liked our concept of these events so much that they contacted me for more information. I have sent them the tools and templates of what tasks and co-ordinating need

Their feedback to me was that these tools were exactly what they needed. Both clubs now are proposing the concept and giving the tools to the Board for approval. RC Tecoma Narrows wrote to me two days ago to say that they are now setting up a small team to use my tools and templates to plan and roll out their own business networking events for their local area. The idea of bringing the 'vocations back into Rotary' is one that sits well with many Rotary clubs and it seems that internationally, everyone seems to have the same issues with membership.

Presentation to RC Ringwood

I had the pleasure to be the guest speaker to the Rotary Club of Ringwood to present on the concept of the Business Networking Events as they too are looking at how to encourage local business owners to join. Their club is similar to ours in size and age and the majority are retired.

The presentation went well as there were many questions from the floor but one of the things I did note is that on the onset, the co-ordination of such events does look time consuming [and it was to set it all up but that lessens over time the more you do. There is also a hesitation in the amount of promotion with local business and councils and 'computer' work that needs to be done - internet, LinkedIn etc ]. However, from the people there who had small businesses for themselves, they loved the idea and they relayed that they would like more people like themselves in the club.

But they have a different membership idea. One of their membership drives is a space they have at Eastland Shopping Centre where they sell raffle tickets. When they sell raffle tickets, they asked people if they wanted to know more about Rotary and took down their contact details. They created a list of over 30 people and started phoning each of them up and invite them over to a meeting every week. The have new faces at their club every week through this simple list. At the meeting on Wednesday, they had 2 potential members from this drive who signed up to Rotary that night.

I thought that this was a wonderful idea - they simply ASKED. By using a Rotary public activity, they simply asked people if they wanted to know more information about Rotary.

Maybe we should get into the community ourselves and start asking too?

District Role

DGE Brian Martin has given me the District role for Business Networking and so I will be the District contact for how to support clubs to run these events. I will be working closely with Tim Treeby and his small group of pilot clubs for the Rotary Corporate Membership Program and in effect, DGE's vision is that a variety of programs such as business networking and corporate membership can be developed to attract businesses into Rotary.

For my own vision, these business networking events are specific in function and there's a reason as to why they are monthly and three times per year. If we provide a consistent calendar of events that don't chop and change, businesses in our local area will instantly know that there are networking events they can attend every February, July and October every year. They will then know their local Rotary Club and what we do and we can continue the relationship through consistency. It's easier to advertise and promote 'Business Networking Months' than one off networking events that require a greater personal effort for one guest speaker. In effect, my aim is to establish a longer term relationship with business owners and operators and have them coming back every week of that month - and then following them up by email of ongoing events.

The District role is still in its infancy but to prepare for this, when I get some time, I will create an Information Pack for clubs and re-tweak the tools and templates so they are generic enough to be used by any club around the world.

Group Study Exchange Visit on Week of March 24

This year our international visitors will be from Fort Worth Dallas Texas. The team of 4 plus their Rotarian Team Leader will be coming to Australia and we're all eagerly awaiting for them. Andrew and I will be hosting one of the young team members, Anne Pape for the week starting Saturday 24 March. During the first week, they will have an active calendar of events visiting local industry, government and arts and cultures from our District.

I will be seeking support from our club members to act as 'drivers' for Anne in the mornings. The role involves picking up Anne from our home and dropping her off at the team point at the park near Southland every morning; and then (not all days) picking her up in the afternoons from the same place and dropping her off to our place. Andrew and I would have been able to do this however, we are both working at this time and will kindly seek your support. I will have more details when the GSE Committee sent out the timetables and then we can allocate people for certain days.

Club Day with Group Study Exchange Team Participants: Melbourne - For Your Diaries Monday 26 March 2012

On Monday 26 March, our club will act as host to the team for the whole day. I have organised a trip into Melbourne to see how our state and local government works and will be seeking a couple of volunteers from our club to act as hosts for the day.

The itinerary is as follows:

0830 All team members to meet at Cheltenham Train Station
1000 Commence tour and presentation by MP Bruce Atkinson at Parliament House (tea and coffee will be provided)
1200 Lunch in city and tram/walk to Bourke Street Mall for shopping and perusing
1430 Commence tour and presentation at City of Melbourne Council (tea and coffee provided)
1700 Rotarian host families to pick up their team members from Cheltenham Train Station

I'm still negotiating the tour at the City of Melbourne so it's yet to be confirmed. So if you are interested in getting a 'behind the scenes' tour and presentation of our government and act as wonderful hosts to our beautiful city and the Texan tourists, then please let me know. I would have been involved on the day but as I'm starting a new job, I cannot guarantee any leave from now on.

Venue Situation

When I emailed the South Oakleigh Club to confirm bookings of the large room for our Business Events early this year, they advised me that they have increased their prices to $50 for the small room; $150 for the large room and $50 screen hire every week. This came as a shock as it was unexpected and we hadn't been formally communicated of this change. I was disappointed as I believed our relationship with the SOC was such that we had open communication to be advised and then be in a position to negotiate these changes.

Philip has kindly offered to negotiate these terms as the prices will hurt us in the long run. In the meantime, I have contacted other venues in the area who have been quite open and accepting of our club's requirements so there are options to consider going forward. So far, La Cassetta Restaurant and Buckingham International are two possible contenders - with the former offering us a free hire of a private function room every Monday night and minimum $20 for a full range of meals to consider. Buckingham offers the same although they may have to move us depending on other functions or room bookings on the night.

Our main priority is to stay at the South Oakleigh Club and do our best to negotiate the terms so that it is a win-win for both parties. However, if it doesn't work, then the possibility is that we will move.

So that's all the update with the news so far. I will see everyone at the park on Monday night but I may be a tad late. I will be starting my new job on Monday and have done my best to do as much Rotary work during my leave so that I can focus 100% on work from now on...(okay 95%)...

Enjoy the weekend, hope it warms up!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T11:57:00.002+11:00

Hello everyone

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family and now looking forward to all that 2012 has to offer.

Andrew and I spent our Christmas with his family in Canberra and it was lovely to see our many nephews and nieces all of whom must have had a growth spurt since we saw them last. We are now back at home and as well as dealing with his hot weather, doing various odd jobs around the house that were put aside simply because we didn't have time during the year. I'm looking forward to starting my new job at the bank on Monday 16 January so until then, I'm crossing off a long list of household and gardening duties that were left aside last year.

I'm happy to report that all our guest speakers for our Rotary 'Connecting Business with Community' business networking month for February are locked in. They promise to be quite interesting and engaging and I'm sure there'll be plenty of Rotarians in business who will also find the topics pertinent for them. I'm going to use the mornings of the next week to go around to businesses in my local area at Chesterville Road to heavily promote these events and get even more people to attend. I'd love it if I can get your help and support to promote it too. We simply need more people to get out there and 'be the face' of Rotary and personally invite people to come along.

All the information is currently on our website and of course, people can book their attendance online through www.trybooking.com/17704

These business events are slowly gaining traction and I have been asked by Tim from RC Ringwood to present to their club about how they can also do the same. Tim is looking after the committee on Rotary Corporate Memberships and I will also be participating in this committee to see how we can get the vocation back into Rotary.

Over the break, I wrote an article for the Rotary Membership newsletter that is emailed out to all Australia and New Zealand and our zones to inspire some interest in the concept of business events and it has been heavily advertised in Linked In - a social media professional networking online group to which I had been contacted by a Rotary Club in Cambridge UK for the tools and templates that we currently use to organise these events so that they too, can run them at their own club...so slowly, these are gaining some international momentum. Although the concept is nothing new - it's merely going back to the roots of Rotary - I strongly believe that our unique selling point is that we have an international connection of business men and women who use their knowledge, skills and talents to serve the community. There is no other business club like it in the world - so what's not to like?

On January 11th, I have been invited to the RC Ringwood to be a guest speaker to talk about the concept of the business events and also been asked by DGE Brian to have a more active involvement in bringing vocations back to Rotary. You may also be interested that our first guest speaker at our November events, Bruno, is also looking at how we can incorporate these events plus our corporate membership so with his contacts in business, we can widely promote Rotary.

So it's all baby steps now, but I hope that it re-opens a door that had been long closed and locked, to a new world of potential new membership opportunities within the business world.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-20T16:05:00.004+11:00

Many thanks to Sheila who organised a fabulous event last night to celebrate our last function at the Buckingham. It was great to see our partners and friends of the club enjoy the night and I thank Chris for bringing all those wonderful presents for our raffle prize.

I wish you and your families a merry Christmas and a wonderful new year. Please stay safe and healthy over the break and let's see you back again on Monday 16th January when we will gather at Centenary Park in East Bentleigh for an informal BBQ [BYO drinks, nibblies and chairs].

You may be interested to know that our collections from the sergeant sessions all helped towards a special cause - thanks to Ian for making us part with our coins for a good cause.

Today, we had an email from RC Yarraville who said....
***********************************************************************************
To all Rotary Sergeants....

GREAT NEWS!

As a collective, our clubs in D9800 and D9810 raised very close to $6,000.00 for Police Blue Ribbon Day this year!

Please ensure your fellow members are thanked made aware of this terrific effort at your next club meeting.

If your club has not yet deposited its fine proceeds from the day, it’s not too late! You can contact me with any queries on this.

On behalf of the Blue Ribbon Foundation, I thank you all for taking the time to participate.

These funds will now be directed towards worthy projects that honour the memory of those Victorian Police Officers have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their community
Many of these projects can be viewed by clicking here.

***************************************************************************
We also had an email from RC Huntingdale thanking us for supporting the Masters Golf.

It seems like only yesterday I was writing to thank you and your Club for their support at the Presidents Cup – and now I am writing to say thank you again on behalf of the Rotary Club of Huntingdale for your clubs support during the Masters. I think that the effort from members of all Clubs involved to back up again and work at two events was fantastic and shows that the Rotary spirit is alive and well and contributed greatly to the success of the event. IMG have also asked me to pass on their thanks.

Helen's Headlines - Monday 5th December 2011

2011-12-09T16:23:00.002+11:00

Well what a week I've had. Although I was coughing, sneezing and spluttering on Monday night, gleefully sharing my germs with everyone in the room, the next four days saw me in bed - with fever, sore throat, coughing, sinus congestion, lethargic and this strange rash that had appeared. After 4 days of being with a fever, I sought the doctor's advice (again) and I did my blood tests to rule out glandular fever. So now I await the results and secretly hope that it isn't glandular fever because I heard it knocks people about for some weeks and up to months in some cases. Oh well...is this my body telling me to just slow down?

On Monday night, we had a most interesting (if not, abruptly cut short) presentation on the history of wool in Australia. Dr Donaldson talked to us about the wool industry and the heights it had reached in the 1800s. As a keen knitter and lover of wool, I found his knowledge on the subject fascinating and it gave me a greater appreciation of this worthy yarn for when I go to my annual jaunts out to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool show every July - the biggest national gathering of sheep breeders, wool shows and wool crafts in all of Australia.

There's not much to write this week as I try to recover from this lurgy so I hope that everyone has a great week.

Fellowship Night at The Bombay Club on Monday 28 November

2011-11-29T10:16:00.003+11:00

What a great time was had by all last night when we sampled the Indian banquet fare at the Bombay Club in North Road Ormond.

The Bombay Club was opened by Narandra 18 years ago and as the owner/chef with considerable experience in big name hotels, he saw a gap in the market of Indian cuisine and commenced preparing food using genuine North Indian recipes. He told us that Indian food is not spicy hot but it's warmth comes from the many herbs and spices like cinammon, cardamon and saffron.

We presented Narandra and his wife with a Certificate of Appreciation and a Rotary Banner which he proudly displayed above the till in quite a prominent place that can be seen! I belive he was chuffed to be presented with this and have an opportunity to talk about his country and his cuisine.

Here are some photos of the night.

Business Networking Events Are Over! (For Now)

2011-11-22T14:31:00.002+11:00

Well the business events are over! Phew, I can now let out a huge sigh of relief.

Lots of hours when into them planning, preparing, sourcing, co-ordinating, creating, promoting, walking, talking and door knocking. And guess what, we will be doing it again next year!

Particularly I'd like to thank Philip for acting as the Chair and ensuring that we all kept to time. A big thank you to Greg and Ian who set up the room and the AV equipment and ensured everything was working smoothly. Thank you to Bill, Geoff and Philip for doing the walk around the local business neighbourhoods to drum up support and to Yvonne who may have felt slightly swamped with the amount of people last night but did a stirling job to act as a charming host at the door. Thanks also to everyone else who spoke to their own networks, friends, colleagues and business people they know and brought them to share the evening with us. It's been greatly appreciated.

So what did you think about the evenings? Did you find them useful? Engaging? Did you find having a spread of ages and professions at the presentations interesting?

For me, it was an opportunity to observe that simply by sharing the evening with a wider group of people, we were all connected through business. Also, some of the feedback I was getting was that there was a real genuine feeling of openess and friendship in Rotary that inspired non-Rotarians to rethink or look at Rotary Clubs in their own area. In effect, even though we may not get any members, our club has been instrumental in promoting Rotary to others.

However, we can't stop at just one set of business networks. In order to be successful we need to get a 'name for ourselves' out in our community and continually keep holding these events. So next year, I believe our promotion will be made just a little bit easier because the people who attended this time around can also be the ones who spread the word. If anything, we will still need some door knocking to be done to get local businesses to come along so any assistance here would be greatly appreciated. I've already created the flyer for February events and registrations are now open online so please continue to spread the word!

Next week we are having a social night - we've earned ourselves a break - until we get back to the normal meetings. Greg has kindly organised a banquet meal at the Bombay Club at 556 North Road Ormond. The reviews on Urban Spoon show that this restaurant has some great food so it's not to be missed! We will need to get 20 people there on the night as the restaurant is opening the doors JUST FOR US! So please invite your partners and friends along so that we can be ensured of a great night. The cost will be $30pp.

So thank you once again to everyone for your support in the Business Networking Events. Already City of Kingston will advertise and promote our events in their business newsletter. I have made a limited colour print run and will hand these out to people to actively promote in December and January. Maybe we can set up a small team of people to go door knocking for a couple of hours over a weekend or during the week?

Business Networking Month - Lesson on Cashflow!

2011-11-15T10:24:00.004+11:00

Wow, did you come away from that presentation last night with a new appreciation of how hard some businesses are doing it when they consider cash flow? Were you as surprised as I was to find out that the average age of business owners in Australia is 55?

Lisa Gissing from the Davidson Institute which is the educational arm of the Westpac Branch gave us a rivetting presentation on Cashflow: The Lifeblood of Your Business". What could have been a dry topic actually turned out to be interesting and she had us engaged because she gave us real life stories and examples of business owners who we all could relate to. She had the knack of asking questions to us that made us think about our own business situations.

Thanks also to Merv Ericson who also gave us a short presentation on what Rotary has provided him in personal, professional and business development in his 46 years in the banking and finance industry. I do hope that what he said resonated with all of us. It certainly did with me - that's why I'm in Rotary. I'd like to believe that my knowledge and skills can be used for projects that serve the greater good.

We all congratulated John Perry for the Paul Harris Fellow Recognition. John contributed during October when the massive Global Polio Eradication Program was in full force and his contribution will go a long way to source more vaccine and continue to eradicate polio from this world once and for all. Congratulations John!

This morning I had a lovely surprise. Sarah from Sarah Belle Designs (who attended our first presentation) had mailed out to me a beautiful 'Friendship Card' that thanked Rotary for the Business Event. She mentioned that she had a really good time and everyone being so lovely. Here is the photo of the card and the message:

Next week, we have more people signed up to attend (up to 9 guests) so I would encourage you again to we welcoming hosts and enjoy the last of our business events for this month.

Our next set of Business Events are all locked in for February 2012 and promises to be great... here's a rundown:

Feb 6th: Priya Chandra, Online Marketer will talk on, "How to Engage with Your Customers Using Social Media" followed by Snigdha Gurrala talkin on 'My Experience on the National Youth Science Forum"

Feb 13th: How to Make Your Business Sustainable and Save Money followed by Rotarian in Business, Pat Armstrong, consultant on environment talk about "The Professional and Personal Value of Rotary in my Life"

Feb 20th: Roger James, Small Business Mentor will talk on: "The Value of Business Mentoring" followed by Rotarian in Business, Diane Fisher who is a business coach and change management consultant talk about "The professional and personal value of Rotary in my life"

feb 27th: Vocational tour of Cell Care in Heatherton followed by social evening at a local restaurant

Last Week a Busy Week In Rotary

2011-11-14T14:31:00.002+11:00

Last week I attended the Rotary Foundation dinner at the Dingley International Hotel on an evening that was best to be at home. At one stage, I thought the wild weather would have ripped off the roof and expose us all to the elements as we were caught in the middle of a storm that the whole of Melbourne was waiting for. The Rotary Foundation Roadshow occurs every year and it's an opportunity to learn more about the Rotary Foundation and its programs. There will be one particular big change occuring in 2013 around grants and also the GSE will not be covered by Rotary Foundation funding anymore - but by the districts.

All this information will be made available through the DG newsletters and also filtered to all clubs.

On Friday, I went to the Rotary Presidents Meeting (the second for this year) at the Wheelers Hill International. It's an opportunity for all Presidents in our District to get together and promote their various club activities. Here is a rundown of what was mentioned:

1. Membership Growth

In our District we now have 3 Interact and 3 Rotaract clubs and our aim is to grow it to 5 eac. Rotaractors are our future Rotarians and it was encouraged that we keep Rotaractors involved as they are keen people. If there is no Rotaract or Interact club in our cluster, clubs were encouraged to create them. Thanks also to RC Beaumaris who has establish Interact now in its second year and going well; whereas RC Rowville/Lysterfield is in their second month. RC BMC and Healsville are also looking into creating an Interact Club

2. RYPEN - District needs at least 3-5 volunteers to run RYPEN in May 2012. Any support appreciated.

3. Books for Babies - was run in Feb 2011 and it was a national Rotary project where Rotary gave a book to every newborn. It was a literacy project and undertaken to commemorate Rotary's birthday. The book was by Mem Fox called, "10 Little Fingers, 10 LIttle Toes" and we teamed up with Penguin Books who sold them to us at $6.80 each. There was also some PR and press coverage on radio about the project but the intention is to do it all again next year. Clubs encouraged to seek maternity wards in their area to give this book out to new mothers.

4. District Conference 2012 - planning in progress but people encouraged to take advantage of the early bird registration. Guest speakers are still being sourced but so far it's looking to be CEO Fairshare, Chairman of Rotary Health, Dr Leanne Wilton (IVF Melbourne), Crikey.com editor Stephen Maine and George Calombaris, Mike Brady and hopefully the US Consul General and of course, our Texan GSE team.

5. Rotary Leadership Institute - registrations are open for RLI. Cost is $50 and it will be 3 one day workshops on Rotary. See Jenny Coburn.

6. Rotarians who are inducted are invited to a New Member Reception at the Kingswood Golf Club on Thursday 17 November. This is a new event that welcomes new Rotarians into the district.

7. Corporate Clubs - Tim Treeby is setting up corporate membership for Rotary Clubs and there will be member information/business networking nights on at the following. RC Malvern, 15 Feb 2012; RC Dandenong on 20 Feb 2012; RC Geelong on 21 Feb 2012 and RC Ringwood on 22 Feb 2012

TAFE Vocational Award Recipient - Amy

2011-11-09T13:43:00.003+11:00

Last year, our club sponsored Amy Hayes, a local student from Bentleigh through the TAFE Vocational support program in partnership with Youth Connect. Amy was highly recommended as a worthy recipient of our club's support to assist her to complete her studies.

I spoke with Amy today who told me that for the last six weeks she has been doing a placement at Moreland Hall which is a drug and alcohol service. In this placement, she observes the mental health programs and actively engages with the clients. She tells me she loves it and is now looking forward to moving into the counsellor role in a full-time capacity...but not before she finishes more studies.

After her placement, she goes back to TAFE to complete her Diploma in Youth Work but that she has applied to also complete a Diploma in Drug and Alcohol Counselling. She is extremely interested in mental health programs and is passionate for her work and her studies.

I invited Amy back to the club in the new year so that she can tell us more about her work and her studies but would like to link it to a presentation around Mental Health or Drug and Alcohol and would like to call on John Hunt to investigate potential speakers in this sphere that can share the floor with Amy.

Good work Amy! This is definitely a good news story for our club and our club can actively support other students like her through their studies.

We are so Close!

2011-11-08T16:19:00.001+11:00

Business Event Networking Month Begins!

2011-11-08T07:51:00.002+11:00

Hello everyone

First of all I’d like to congratulate our newest member Jason Chetty and partner, Intha for joining our club. It was a pleasure to be able to induct Jason into our club last night in front of members and guests who got to see a small but important ceremony that not many people outside of Rotary get to see. Jason and Intha, I wish you both the best in Rotary and I hope that you both find personal satisfaction and new friends. Congratulations!

Thank you also to everyone who helped out on our first night of the inaugural business event. I believe it was quite a success. I have to thank everyone who made an effort to invite friends, colleagues and guests along and I would ask to continue doing the same for the next couple of meetings as we need more people to come along to the next events. So please let’s keep the momentum going. I’ll be knocking on doors over the weekend and handing flyers out again in my local business area because we simply need more people to come along.

Our guest speaker Bruno Bello was engaging and enlightening. His presentation on key success factors in growing your business really made us all think and looking around the room, he had us riveted. He presented it in such a way that it connected and resonated with all of us in the workforce. For me, I was listening to his presentation and realising that we can treat Rotary like a business too – we need to be able to ‘take stock’ of our club and look at the processes and the systems we have in place and then be open and honest about where we are and how to get to our end point. His comments about marketing and how simple things like paying for marketing, wrong website design and generating irrelevant newsletters that add no value back to the business made me think and reflect of our marketing efforts in the past and how they have fallen flat.

My personal take on last night is that as a club, we don’t have the connections to the local business community simply because many of us don’t live and work in the area. But I don’t see this as a negative, I simply see it that it means that we ALL have to work that little bit harder to make an effort to walk on the footpaths and go and visit the businesses and local factories in our area. Word of mouth in this instance is the winner because only then can we speak face-to-face with business owners to invite them to come along.

A personal connection is best in business – and not rely on email or website marketing as the main medium simply because these people are running businesses and don’t have time to read emails. I don’t know about you, but my best meetings and relationships have been face-to-face and this is why everyone in our club will need to go and have a chat to their local retail or business owners and invite them to come along. Who knows, you may make a new friend in the process or see your local shops in a completely new light.

Unfortunately although our second guest speaker who was going to be a Rotarian in business did not show, I don’t believe we lost the impetus on the night. However, I will ensure this never happens again as the main focus of these events is to have a connection back to Rotary and have a personal story of how a Rotarian has developed professionally and personally with an association to Rotary. Strangely though, in my organisation of these events, the most difficult aspect has not been organising external guest speakers (all who jumped at the chance to speak and be invited to a Rotary club) but our own Rotarians who declined or who were hesitant in speaking about their association with Rotary – even when I said that they can use the the opportunity to promote their own club!

In my experience and observations, it seems that Rotarians can easily speak about their Rotary programs that they are involved with (eg ROMAC, Polio eradication etc), but struggle to talk about themselves and how Rotary has assisted with the business and professional development. This must change if the business events are to be successful. We need to have the personal story back into the meetings so that Rotary is contextualised for the guests and to make it relevant for them too.

I spoke to all of the guests last night and some of the comments that they said was that they were, “inspired” (thanks to Jason’s emotional and heart felt speech) and that “they now know what Rotary is about,” and “they felt welcomed,” “the food was great for the price”, “that Rotary is something they would like to know more about”, one lady said she “liked the spread of ages and experience in the room – everyone had a different story”. We had enquiries and interest about joining Rotary from 4 of the guests but as they live in different areas, this presentation has inspired them to search for clubs in their area.

I also believe that congregating outside at the bar area and introducing and welcoming everyone before we all went into the main room was another good factor as people could relax and chat before the proceedings started. I’d like this to continue and certainly the bar staff appreciated the patronage!

So thank you once again to everyone who helped make this night a success and I would ask of you to do it again twice more.

I will follow up now with the people who have left their business cards to see if they will be attending next week (4 have already expressed that they will come along again next week – so this means I have to change my speech again to keep it ‘fresh’).

I sincerely believe that Rotary has the right formula for success. With a blend of business, community and socialising we do have something that no other service club has around the world. We need to be more open and continue inviting our friends and colleagues along, we also need to lessen the formalities and create a welcoming and friendly atmosphere and a varied calendar of events because this is what attracts people to keep coming every week.

So one down, and two to go! Keep those invitations going…

Kiva Credit is Now Available

2011-10-26T08:39:00.003+11:00

For those of you who remember that I won $100 last year in the Joker prize, I got online through the microcredit site Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/) and gave $50 to a group of ladies in Mexico who wanted to set up a dressmaking business. I lent another $50 to Namsarev Demberel, a lady from Mongolia who was setting up a stall and wanted to buy underwear garments to sell.

Already the Mexican ladies have repaid their debt and are now in business. Similarly, Namsarev from Mongolia is on track with repaying her loan and has paid back 25%. Here is a photo of her at her stall:

Therefore there is credit in my account and once all debts are repaid, I will further lend another 2 $50 lots to a couple of others who are trying to establish a business and provide for their families.

I would thoroughly recommend Kiva site if you want to assist people as it provides regular updates on the businesses and it's an easy-to-use and reputable website. (I'm impressed with it so much that I even volunteered my services to help out writing the stories of the people).

Helen's Headlines - Monday 24 October 2011

2011-10-25T08:00:00.002+11:00

Yesterday was World Polio Day and we celebrated it with orange balloons at the tables and having our trivia proceeds go towards polio eradication. I encourage anyone who would like to contribute to the polio fund to go to the RI website as for this week only, there will be a 2 for 1 recognition for donations over $US100. See more: http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Polio/Announcements/Pages/111013_annc_double_rec.aspx

Last night Paul Towers, Head of Fundraising from the MS Society gave us a short presentation on the crippling disease that affects over 20 000 Australians. Through our charity golf day, we presented a cheque for $11 000 that will be used in its entirety for McKinnon House, a local 6 bedroom home that houses and supports younger members with this disease and provides 24/7 care.

We also had a couple of visitors, Colin from RC Nunawading to promote the Christmas puddings (see Paul de Smit to put your order through) and Graeme from RC Mordialloc who was promoting their club's 40th birthday event at the Woodlands Golf Course on Saturday 12th November (cost $55 with guest speaker John Bertram).

During our club forum last night, we went through the final outline of the Rotary Business Month that commences next week. Already, things are in place and it's just a matter of waiting for the day to come around. I know I keep harping on about it but we need everyone's support on these events. This means having a chat to your local tradesperson, dropping flyers, speaking to friends and family of those who are in business. In order to make it successful, we need as many non-Rotarians there as there are Rotarians.

I have contacted the local Leader newspaper and spoke with the editor of getting a photo and story in the paper over the next couple of weeks. Bill has kindly agreed to have the photo shoot at his business with the angle of how Rotary has supported his business in the water and sanitation business; how it helped him when he was growing his business; how valuable it would be for younger people in business starting out to have a network of people whose knowledge, skills, experiences you can draw upon.

My vision for this is to get back to basics. Rotary started out as a vocational service club that used the member's skills and knowledge to give back to the community. Bill mentioned last night that we cannot always be seen as a club that gives out money to charities who need it most - I believe we can do so much more. With more people from various vocations, trades, professions, jobs, we can provide knowledge. We can provide our expertise and our own networks more than just handing over a cheque can do. You only have to see what places like www.goodcompany.com.au are doing where they match the skills of a person to a charity that needs those skills.

But in doing so, I don't want to lose the friendliness and the fun of the club because it cannot all be about work. It has to be fun. Our meetings must be enjoyed by our members, that you enjoy coming every week and seeing your friends. So in the new year, we will continue to have an active calendar of events but I'd like us to try and come up with a signature event that we can do as a club that will involve everyone in the club playing their part. Something different, something unique, something fun. So put your thinking caps on!

Maybe I can run a workshop at the next club forum where we can brainstorm this event and have it as some competition of who can come up with the most interesting event and vote on it? Mmmm...I'll give it some thought.

We also had our Board meeting last night that had some friendly heated discussion and debate. The time has come for us to decide who would like to be the next President for our club so I encourage everyone to put their bids in for this esteemed position.

In all honesty, even though I'm 3 months into the role, I'm still learning and I know that I have done plenty of mistakes along the way so thanks to those who steer me along the steady path and prod me at various times to undertake things.

Celebrate World Polio Day - Wear Something Orange to our Meeting on 24th October

2011-10-18T21:26:00.003+11:00

This message came to my inbox this week and it's a great opportunity to contribute our trivia session proceeds to polio next week. Also why not wear something orange to our meeting on Monday?

Show your support for World Polio Day on 24 October!

*********************************************************************************

Message from Bill Boyd:

With your help, we have made tremendous progress in the fight to eradicate polio. We are at an historic moment -- less than 1% away from the end of polio forever. In honor of World Polio Day on 24 October 2011, we are asking for your help to tell the world about Rotary’s achievements and to finish the job.

We would like you to encourage your members to participate in two major online initiatives: a 2-for-1 donation recognition campaign and a social media push promoting Rotary’s global polio eradication efforts.

2-for-1 Recognition During the week of 24-28 October 2011, donors will receive 2- for-1 recognition for every online contribution of US$100 or more made to PolioPlus on www.rotary.org/contribute. We need your help to encourage members to donate online to make this promotion a success. You must be registered with Rotary’s Member Access prior to making an online contribution. Member access provides Rotarians with online services and other important features. To register for Member Access, please visit www.rotary.org/memberaccess.

The promotion will begin on 6 a.m., Central Standard Time (CST), on Monday, 24 October, and end at 12 noon sharp (CST), on Friday, 28 October. Please note that contributions on www.rotary.org/contribute are in US dollars and 11 other Rotary supported currencies, including AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, EUR, GBP, JPY, NZD, NOK, SEK, ZAR. Also, online contributions cannot be made on behalf of another individual, club, or district. We expect to have a high volume of online traffic associated with this promotion. Please allow 4-6 weeks for the promotional recognition to appear on your account and to request recognition materials. Clickhere for more information on the 2-for-1 recognition promotion.

"This Close"Rally your members and spread the word to friends and family to participate in an exciting online campaign. To encourage widespread support for the effort to eradicate polio, Rotary has recruited a select group of notables for a “This Close” public awareness campaign. These public service announcements emphasize that Rotary is 99 percent toward its goal to eradicate this disease.

You can join the ranks of high-profile participants right now by creating your own “We’re ‘ThisClose’ to Ending Polio” image, sharing with members of your social networks, and encouraging them to do the same by visiting www.thisclose.net. Clickhere for suggestions on how to create your ad and maximize your social media reach.

Together we can celebrate this year’s World Polio Day by bringing global attention to Rotary’s work to eradicate polio. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign.

Sincerely,
Bill BoydChairman, The Rotary Foundation Trustees, RI

Helen's Headlines - Monday 17th October

2011-10-18T21:03:00.003+11:00

Thank you to all who attended last Monday night's meeting to see DG Juliet Riseley present 'What Rotary Means to Me' to our club. Juliet showed us that Rotary means many things to many people but she doesn't want it to be around the 'M' word - that is, meetings!

(For those of you who know me, know how much I hate meetings unless they are planned, co-ordinated, there's an agenda, action item list made up so that responsibilities are allocated and followed up. That is, meetings to me must have a reason. I believe it's because in my usual job, I can be in and out of meetings all day and many of which achieve nothing and yet the outcome is that I still have to do the work that comes out of them. No wonder I have a cynical attitude about them!) Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.

I also have to thank everyone in the club making a real difference to the projects. Sheila, for taking a proactive approach to community service and establishing relationships as well as getting us all to help out in our little way through donation of food and clothing.

Thanks to Geoff for his tireless work in Foundation and helping us find Engineer Extraordinare Andrew Boast who was selected for the Australian team to Texas on the Group Study Exchange 2011. We hope to see Andrew at our meetings as much as possible!

Thanks to Bill for his work with the Rotary Action Groups in Cambodia and promoting the importance of water and sanitation.

Thanks to Philip for work with the club service and co-ordination of the Presidents Cup and all the administration to ensure the club runs smoothly.

A big thank you to Ian for your trivia sessions. We enjoy them so much but not only go away lighter (our coins are emptied from our pockets) but we go away richer in new and useless knowledge that may come in handy in the future. Fear of long words? Really now.

Thanks also to Paul for volunteering to help Laurie out with the Plum Puddings and to Laurie for his exceptional work with the naturalisation ceremony - only having missed them twice in his years of helping out. Your work is appreciated and recognised Laurie and we hope that you have a smooth transition into your new living arrangements.

Thanks to Greg for your work on the bulletin. I enjoy and eagerly await the bulletin's arrival into my email every week. It's an important job and you do a stirling job especially with the crosswords that you include to keep us mentally active!

Really thank you to everyone who helps out in the club and it's nice to see that we all have our little roles to play to keep the club ticking over and in the near future, I hope that the "Connecting Business with Community" events will inspire some new faces to come along to our meetings so that we can promote Rotary and our club.

In the new year, I'd like us to rally together as a club (and our partners too - whoever is interested) to create a signature event or fundraiser that is going to be fun and enjoyable and get us all involved. I'm open to ideas - theatre restaurants; theatre night; movie night; cooking school; dress ups; swing dance and rock and roll night etc - one that involves a fun night, one that we can invite our friends and family to; one where we can let our hair down and just enjoy each other's company - because let's face it, we can always do with some more fun....
Anyway, I'd leave that thought with you all but if this is something that we can set up a small committee (and this includes partners - let's get them involved) then why not?

Helen's Headlines - Monday 10th October

2011-10-14T07:44:00.002+11:00

Hello everyone

My apologies for missing out on this week's meeting to hear our guest speaker PDG Bob Richards talk about the floods. From what I hear, his presentation was interesting and I saw a photo of a town before and after the floods which certainly made me take a step back.

The reason for my absence was that my contract at NAB had ended a couple of weeks ago and since then, I have been back to my original company Omni Asia Pacific. In the last two years, Omni has grown considerably so there were new faces to be introduced to. There was a team day that I had to prepare for the next day and as I was away all weekend golfing, Monday night was my only time to prepare.

Last night, Philip, the AG Peter and DG Juliet met at my place to go through the club planning guide and discuss how the club is performing. The DG confirmed that our Business Networking months may be a way to connect with the local community and establish a presence. There were some additional ideas that were floated around how we can do this simply by looking at the shops and businesses in our areas - for example standing outside the local IGA and doing a 'meet and greet' with the public; or even contacting the Women in Business group in Bayside along to the events. The latter I will chase up.

We also talked about the various projects our club is doing and how fellowship and social aspects are critical to the success of the club. One great idea is to involve the partners in an event or on a project that women would find interesting so this is something I'd love for us to have a think about so that we can have an event that raises money for a worthy cause but involves our partners.

Another project to think about is the co-ordination of the Mental Health First Aid Certificate course. First of its kind in Australia, the call is put out to Rotary Clubs to co-ordinate this 2 day course and find people to attend. I'm going to chase this up with the Australian Rotary Health to see how we can go about organising one event but this would be the perfect way to get our name out there in the community. I'll let you know more about it...

Other than that, I heard that Susan had come to visit us at the club and I'm sorry I missed her. Susan, you are welcome to come along anytime!

I wish you all a wonderful week in Rotary and see you and your partners on Monday night when we have our DG Juliet coming along to present.

Helen's Headlines - Monday 3 October 2011

2011-10-04T18:18:00.004+11:00

Stephanie (our newest member) and her husband Grant

Once again an enjoyable night was had by all when we welcomed our newest member, Stephanie Bishop into our club as a Rotarian. On behalf of everyone, I wish Stephanie all the best in her Rotary life and hope she gets as much satisfaction with service as we all do from our club. For those of you who may not know, Stephanie's classification is in Real Estate and she has been an active member of our club and social functions over the past year. Welcome onboard Stephanie!

Last night's talk was conducted by our guest speaker, Liz Lodge from the not-for-profit organisation called Evolve. Evolve runs bush adventure camps for youths on the fringes of society who are at risk and provides a programmed level of care for 2 years so that they may connect back with their family and society. To run a program of 10 male youths, it costs $120 000 and every cent of this needs to be raised by donations as they get no government support or funding.

Liz presented a thought provoking and heart wrenching presentation and we now should consider how we can assist. She tells us that they are looking for various Donations-in-Kind materials and equipment for the youth camps, money or even working bees. I do hope our Board considers how we can help this organisation no matter how small to continue to run these beneficial and critical support programs for our youth.

Other than that, I've been actively promoting the Rotary Business Month through the web and email and I see that there has been a trickle of interested external parties that will come along but the numbers will need to increase significantly. This is where I need everyone's support to bring someone along to these nights that will be on for the first 3 mondays of November. You now have more than enough information about the night - you have the flyers - you have the website link - so get cracking! Spread the word! Promotion must be occuring throughout October and also the first couple of weeks of November so please, don't stop at just one person. Seek out as many as you can!

Also we've signed young Andrew Boast's paperwork to be selected for the Group Study Exchange to Dallas in 2012 and we wish him all the best in the selection process!

It's all go go go with our club and I thank everyone for their enthusiasm and activities in their committees that make our meetings lively and engaging.

Have a great week in Rotary,

Helen

Helen's Headlines - Monday 26 September 2011

2011-09-27T13:05:00.002+10:00

What a great night last night - informative, educational and fun. I don't know about you but I found the tour and presentation of Caltooling quite an eye opener. For someone who works behind a desk and in front of a screen all day, it was great to learn that a 'tool maker' isn't someone who makes tools - it's someone who makes the machines that makes the tools!

On behalf of RCMM, thanks to Joe and Cheryl Calvo for organising the tour and inviting us all into the plastic injection mould world. I now have a greater appreciation of the trade and the craft. A big thanks also to RC Braeside who hosted a shared Rotary club meeting at the Dingley International Hotel. Not only did we socialise but we also shared some ideas about how our clubs can help each other out. I'll get into contact with them again to see what we can do about a fundraising night for ROMAC.

If you have any other ideas and contacts for future vocational tours please let Greg know. These behind-the-scenes tours are obviously enjoyed by everyone because they take us out of the meeting room and into another world of vocations that we don't see everyday. I also believe that they are a main attraction for people interested in joining Rotary because of the appreciation of vocational diversity.

I hope everyone has a great week in Rotary!

Helen's Headlines - Monday 19 September

2011-09-20T12:08:00.004+10:00

Thanks for everyone's help and assistance last night collating the Membership Packs for our upcoming Rotary Business Month. Slowly but surely, the event is coming together and over the coming month, we will all need to start promoting it to our family, friends, colleagues, business networks and even your local tradesperson. Let's all get behind this initiative and bring a guest or three, along to these events in November. (Then, we all need to let our hair down and have a social activity on the last Monday of November to celebrate - or, is that just me?)

I've had a few enquiries already from people out 'there' (non Rotarians) who have heard about our business month and have offered to be guest speakers. I have been collecting their names and inviting them to attend the sessions first but if there is such interest now, there's nothing stopping us from continuing these sessions into 2012 and focussed around industry sets. Already, I've got a couple of speakers from the health and medical fields so we can target this industry in the future. Effectively, I want to get the word out there that Rotary is about being a community volunteer through using our vocations, networking and shared expertise. It's also about enjoying the company of people who have different professions, come from all walks of life and who also would like to serve the community as best they can.

In the next month, we will need to get busy promoting the event. This means that I need your support and assistance to spread the word to your colleagues, family, friends and tradespeople you may know. You should have a few of the handouts already to give out but if you need some more let me know. Geoff and I will be busy getting on the phone to call businesses to invite them along but we also need to do a flyer drop at some local businesses. The hard stuff is going to be in October until such a time we get a 'name out there' and a bit of publicity so that people can find us and then look us up to come to more in the future. It's just like promoting a new business I guess you can say...

It was a relatively quiet night and the quickest board meeting we've had but it just goes to show that we are all working away on our respective committees and doing good work which is greatly appreciated.

Some good news about the Calcutta Night and the cost has been slashed by half to $30pp. With this price, we will sell all the tables easily and once it gets promoted to the District over the next week or so, the tables will disappear. Currently there are 24 tables of ten in total but 10 of them have already been sold. If our club want to have this as a Club Night then I would suggest we buy a table of ten - if we can get ten people there asap and I can book the table on my credit card through the online registration process.

I'm looking forward to next week - not only to share the evening with a fellow Rotary Club but to see a vocation-in-action and visit Caltooling. I believe these vocational tours are what stands us out from other clubs and frankly, it's interesting to see what businesses are doing in our area as well as strengthen our relationship with these businesses and learn something new in the process.

Have a great week!

Helen's Headlines - Monday 12 September

2011-09-13T08:53:00.003+10:00

Wow, what a great night last night and I hope we have many more meetings like this one. It was rowdy, it was fun and everyone had a good time. This is what Rotary is about!

Our guest speaker Hamish Curry from the State Library gave us a wonderful presentation that re-inspired the need to visit the library once again. Many years ago, when I had lots of time, I used to spend hours in the library just perusing books and sitting in a quiet corner reading and flicking through the books. Nowadays, this seems like a luxury for me when there's so many things that fill up my day such as long hours at work, chores at home and committments with my family. But I promise myself that when I have a lazy day of nothing to do soon, you will find me at the State Library.

Thanks also to Yvonne who gave out Certificate of Appreciation to our club members who helped out with the Spellathon. Her initiative is receiving much attention in the local primary and secondary schools and we look forward to reading about it in the local newspaper. Our visitors Intha, Nola, Jason and Anne from the Bentleigh Secondary College also have been instrumental in making these spellathons at the school a success to raise money for Operation Cleft. This fundraising initiative promotes literacy but is a fabulous way to connect with the schools in our local area.

We welcomed Andrew from Lewis Engineering too. He is applying for the GSE 2012 to Fort Worth Dallas Texas and our club will give him all the support that he needs to be selected for this opportunity. In that short time Andrew had with us last night, he presented well and spoke passionately about his job and how the GSE would help him vocationally. We will see Andrew again soon at the club where he will give us a 5 minute presentation as a practice run before the selection interviews.

One of the things I forgot to mention last night is that I attended the Naturalisation Ceremony at City of Kingston with Laurie and Sven. I was surprised to learn that Laurie has been doing this role of supplying the trees for over 40 years and only missing out on two ceremonies. When he calculated how many trees he has given out over the years, it was 48 000. It's an amazing feat and value Laurie's contribution to this community service role.

Next week we will have a Club Forum and Discussion Night. During this time, I will ask for your help to create a quick working bee to make up Membership Folders for our Business Month in November.

In October I will ask all Rotarians to actively promote these events and to get as many people to attend. All your friends who are in business, your tradespeople, your colleagues, your family and friends. Anyone who is in business for themselves, or who have an active interest in the small to medium business enterprise and how to network and socialise with like-minded people should come along.

I've seen that the City of Kingston has already advertised these events on the Calendar of Events on their website and soon to be in their Business Newsletter as well as having the flyers distributed in their Business Packs that they give out to all attendees during their seminars. Closer to the date, I will write up a press release and get it to the local Leader newspaper for further promotion as well as hit the pavement Saturday morning door knocking the factories along Chesterville Road. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Have a great week.

Our Business Events are Now On Kingston Website

2011-09-07T16:07:00.001+10:00

Hello everyone

Our business events are now on the City of Kingston website directory and calendar of events. Here's how it looks like....

http://www.kingstonbusiness.com.au/Content/Pub/ContentDetail.asp?lngContentID=672

Helen's Headlines - Monday 5 September 2011

2011-09-06T12:18:00.004+10:00

It is with sadness to inform our club members that our friend Jim passed away last night peacefully. Jim suffered a severe stroke and unfortunately did not recover from it. During this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Varee and family and we will offer any support to the family. Jim will be remembered as the one who, with his quiet manner and smile, participated in all events and functions and got on well with everyone. He will be sorely missed.

************************************************************************
Despite a week of sad news for our club that weighed heavily on all of us and its members, we were delighted to have a wonderful and inspiring talk from Stephanie Davy, our sponsored Rylarian last night. Stephanie is in her last year of a combined Engineering and Arts degree majoring in Materials Engineering and English Literature. She is indicative of the youth of today who are passionate about her studies, her friends and how she can make her mark in the world through community service. She told us about her experiences on RYLA in July this year and saw it as an opportunity to learn about herself and how to communicate and work with teams. She had a wonderful time learning skills and techniques to make her a better person and make some new friends in the process. She is now looking to join Rotaract Monash and we hope to see her again soon at our club.

Thanks also to the people who helped out Yvonne at the Spellathon last week. I know that sometimes it is difficult to attend and represent the many functions and events that occur but your presence undoubtedly would have made a good impact with our community partners.

Our Membership and Marketing Committee also had a meeting last night to cover off on a couple of items. The first one is to identify a President for the 2011/2012 year. I would strongly encourage those who haven't tried Presidency to give it a go as we would provide all the necessary support to ensure that it is not only a fruitful year for you but also an enjoyable one for you and the club. Alternatively, those who have been President before and would like to savour the experience once again, please let me know.

Secondly, we went through some event co-ordination for the Rotary Business Month and we can foresee that when it comes around, we'll be asking members to be gracious 'meet and greeters' of the non-Rotarians and visiting Rotarians who will be coming to all the events. The evenings will be slightly modified in format to enable the guest speakers, visitors and Rotarians to network with each other as well as learning about Rotary and how vocational service has inspired them in their personal, professional and business development. The consistent message we'd like to get across is that Rotary is an opportunity for all vocations to be able to give something back to the community as well as establish new friendships.

There will be heavy promotion of this event across various media but I would strongly urge every one of us to bring along a friend (non Rotarian) on the night. Think about people who you know who are in small business, industry, trades or professions. This may be someone you know, a friend, a colleague, a neighbour.

Already I have advertised these events across our Cluster and invited a couple of representatives from each of our cluster group to attend the evenings to be able to participate. Who knows, they may even get interest for their clubs. Also, this morning I have sent an email out to the President and the Membership Member for RC Braeside to approach partnering in these events with us. The events have also been uploaded into the City of Kingston webpage (Under Calendar of Events) and closer to the date, we will advertise in local press and radio.

I hope that each of you are as inspired as I am to promote Rotary and to connect with businesses in our local area so that we can achieve our community service ideals and in the process, make new friends.

Have a glorious week and see you next week.

Spellathon at Bentleigh Secondary College

2011-09-02T08:20:00.003+10:00

Rotary Club Moorleigh Moorabbin members at the Operation Cleft Noticeboard
Operation Cleft: a Wothy Cause and one in which our Spellathons (thanks to Yvonne) has raised thousands of dollars from local primary and secondary schools
Bentleigh Secondary School Teachers get on board with the Spellathons

A group effort for great rewards to little children with cleft palates

Rotarians wondering how to actually spell that word

Thank you to Yvonne for organising a successful Spellathon, our first for a secondary school at the Bentleigh Secondary College on Thursday 1st September. Thank you also to the Rotarians from our club who attended to support Yvonne and promote our club and this wonderful project that raises money for Operation Cleft.

A Smile

It costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash and the memory of it lasts forever. None are so rich they can get along without it and none so poor but are richer for its benefits. It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a business, and is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature's best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anybody till it is given away! If someone is too tired to give you a smile, leave one of yours. For, nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none to give.-----Anonymous

SMILING
Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner,
and someone saw my grin.When he smiled I realized,I'd passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.
A single smile just like mine,
could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin,don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic quick,and get the world infected!

Helen's Headlines - Monday 29th August 2011

2011-08-30T09:35:00.005+10:00

Hello everyone and welcome to our new member Stephanie! It was lovely see her back again to share the evening with us and hope that Rotary brings her as much enjoyment as it does to us. So welcome onboard!

Thanks to Bill for his talk on the 2011 Rotary International Convention in New Orleans. Despite the initial audio problems the talk on New Generations was interesting although I must admit, I was sitting there thinking, "if this guy is talking about how he knows Rotary, then why isn't he a Rotarian??!!" Only when he put the badge on his lapel did I breathe a sigh of relief. However, what he said about Rotary appealing to the younger generation because of their volunteerism and their need for mentorship was spot on.

Maybe Rotary's softly softly approach working behind the scenes, using word-of-mouth to get new members and not actively promoting the good work we have done, has been our undoing. Sometimes though it's nice to get a bit of recognition and acknowledgement as it means that it gets our name out there and it inspires people to join to be part of it all.

David from Rotary Club Montrose spoke to us about the 2012 Rotary International Convention in Bangkok on 6-9 May. He is planning a package tour for District 9810 Rotarians to start after the convention for 10 days that will see the major sights and ending in Chang Mai. If you're interested, there'll be more information in the bulletin but you can also fill out a booking form and pay a deposit and he'll organise the lot - accomodation, flights, pre- and post convention tour.

If you haven't been to an International Convention before, I'd strongly recommend. I've been to the Los Angeles and Birmingham ones to date and both have been quite memorable. I particularly like it because we get to meet people from all parts of the world, and actually they are quite fun. The little pub that was created at the House of Friendship in Birmingham was Andrew's hangout in between the presentations. So even though we weren't planning to go to next years convention, we changed our minds when Andrew found out that there's a Tiger Temple Buddhist monastery that he simply must visit (wearing his Richmond jumper). We're looking forward to going now and doing the District 9810 post convention tour.

Other than that, great to see the community service intiatives in our bulletin so if you can help out Sheila with handing over any toiletry items (for the homeless project); and used work clothes for the Fitted for Work (helping women who have been released from prison find work) and hamper items, it would be appreciated.

Also good luck to Yvonne Beadle who will hold the first secondary school spellathon at Bentleigh Secondary College this Thursday in the library from 9am to 11am. Thanks for everyone's support in providing some fantastic prizes to give out the students. The spellathon is a real community service winner that is improving the literacy of children in our local area!

Other sad news that we heard is the unfortunate accident that Jim had in the week and our thoughts and best wishes for a speedy recovery are with him and Varie at this time.

Have a good week and next week, I'm looking forward to hearing what Stephanie says about her experience of RYLA and how it has inspired her to join Rotaract.

Helen's Headlines - Monday 22nd August

2011-08-23T07:52:00.006+10:00

For those who liked history but also enjoy a game of golf then last night would have 'ticked all the boxes' for you (as they say). Graeme Ryan has written and published extensively on the subject of golf. He gave us a presentation on the history of golf and what I liked in particularly, was the photos and stories of how the first golf courses in our local area were established. His website is here: http://www.ryanpub.com.au/golf_courses_of_australia.htm

Rotary Business Month: Connecting Business with CommunityThese events in November will require everyone's assistance and support!

Already, we have secured our guest speakers for these events!

Bruno Bello, a Business Enterprise Advisor for AMTIL will speak about The Future of Your Business in the Marketplace: Key Factors to Success in Manufacturing" on Monday 7th November.

Our second speaker on Monday 14 November will be a Westpac Business Education Faciltator, Lisa Gilling, who will speak about Managing Cashflow in Your Business.

Our third speaker, Danny Schwarz, CEO of Youth Connect will talk about Bridging the Gap: Is Succession Planning Important? How to Deal with Generation X and Generation Y in the Workplace.

These issues are CRITICAL issues for small to medium business operators and we will be seeking all club members to actively promote Business Month. What this means is that I will be seeking your support to advertise, promote, talk and email to your networks. That is, your plumber, electricians, your tradey friends, everyone!

The next step is to create a flyer that we can hand out so that you have something to give to people who may be interested when you speak to them. Also, I will be advertising this event through the City of Kingston Business Directory Newsletter as well as attending the City of Kingston Business Presentation on 15th September where I will distribute and talk with the people attending and give them the flyer.

Our meetings in November will be slightly modified on the night as we will have a short welcome to guests and introduction about Rotary by me before introducing the guest speaker. After the guest speaker, we will introduce a Rotarian In Business who will give a short 5 minute presentation on what being in Rotary has meant for them personally and professionally. All guests will receive Membership Rotary packs and get on our email distribution list as potential volunteers for projects. Guests may decide to come back and see more presentations if they like.

Our purpose for these business meetings is to re-engage with the local small to medium business operators with the original intention of why Rotary was set up in the first place. In today's environment, there are many business network groups that offer training, support and advice to businesess. What makes Rotary stand out is that it occurs in a less formal environment, it is more frequent, you have access to a wide range of vocations internationally but to top it off, you make new friends AND you put back into the community. No other business networking organisation can offer these attributes.

I will be updating our website with details as we lock in guest speakers but if you have anyone you'd like to pass on the information then check out:
http://www.moorleighmoorabbin.websyte.com.au/site.cfm?/moorleighmoorabbin/7/

Membership and Marketing Committee Meeting Change of Date from Wed 7 September to Monday 5th September

There's nothing much else to report apart from the fact that we have a Naturalisation Ceremony coming up on Wednesday 7 September. This means I have double booked our Membership & Marketing Committee which was going to be on the same night.

Instead, I will move this meeting to occur AFTER our Monday night meeting on 5 September. So Yvonne, Philip, Geoff, Bill and Greg, if you can stay back for a coffee and a meeting regarding the co-ordination of our Business Month, it would be greatly appreciated. We should only take an hour.

Next Week Bill Talks About the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans

Attending a Rotary International Convention is a 'must do' if you can make it.

David Mackenzie from the Rotary Club of Montrose who is the District Travel Agent will also come along to our meeting too and give a 5 minute run down of the pre- and post- Convention tour he is planning for next year's RI Convention in Bangkok to continue with the theme.

Andrew and I have already put our names down for the RI Convention and District 9810 tour which will take us up through Thailand as well as stop at various places to view the good work that Rotary has supported or assisted in parts of Thailand.

In the spirit of good humor, I'll leave you with another pun from my favourite punmeister, Tim Vine, "I'll tell you what's close to my heart at the moment. My left lung."

RCMM Support Relocation of Family From Africa

2011-08-22T10:41:00.002+10:00

This morning I sent off a letter to Bill from RC Montrose and District Inc who are supporting the relocation of the Congolese family of Deo Masudi. If eligible for refugee status to Australia, the Rotary Club will be looking to assist the family gain employment, accomodation and providing the necessary household items to help establish a home. He has asked all Rotary Clubs in our District for support in any way that we can. Board approved and support this request.

Letter to the Prime Minister To Re-Engage with Polio Eradication

2011-08-20T21:37:00.005+10:00

I sent off this letter today upon Rotary Australia's request to all clubs to send to the PM regarding the re-engagement of polio eradication program.

Prime Minister,

At the recent Rotary International Convention in New Orleans, USA, the subject of polio eradication was raised by Keynote Speaker Bill Gates, Jr, of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated in excess of $US1.3 billion, $US355 million of which has been channelled through Rotary International’s
End Polio Now Campaign.

The polio campaign began when an Australian, Clem Renouf, was President of Rotary International in 1978-79. Rotarians in Australia and around the world have been working tirelessly in all the polio-endemic countries − there are only four left − and have since donated in excess of $1.3 billion. Our latest fundraising effort to raise $US200 million is nearing completion, in line with the effort to finally rid the world of this insidious disease.

You may recall the situation that arose when one polio-infected man from Pakistan landed in Melbourne along with 238 passengers aboard a Thai Airlines flight in 2007, a situation that reinforced the argument that nobody is safe from this disease until worldwide eradication is complete.

In addressing delegates to the recent convention, Mr Gates gave examples of admirable efforts by Governments around the world such as Canada, which in 2008 donated $60 million, the USA, which is committed to spending $130 million a year, the UK, which announced in January that it would invest more than £60 million over the next two years and the United Arab Emirates, whose Crown Prince has donated $US17 million.

Almost 500 Australian delegates to the convention among 19,000 others from all over the world were then disappointed to hear Mr Gates take the Australian Government, among others, to task: “Donors that were once involved, that have fallen away — like Australia, Germany, and France — need to re-engage.”

Mr Gates* then urged Rotarians in these countries to, “Make sure that your politicians know about polio and its urgency. Go and tell them about the need to finish. Invite them to your meetings. And when they visit, don’t let them leave without telling them you expect them to be champions in this fight, and that you’ll be holding them accountable for what they do”.

Therefore, as one of more than 35,000 Rotarians in Australia, I am writing to you to respectfully request that the Federal Government join us and re-engage in the worldwide polio eradication campaign with an appropriate continuing financial commitment until such time as the world is declared polio-free.

Australian Rotarians have fought polio for more than 25 years. We are 99 per cent of the way there and we need your help to complete the task.

Yours Sincerely

President
Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin

District Marketing Committee Meeting Outcomes - Saturday 20th August 2011

2011-08-20T12:49:00.002+10:00

I attended another of the District Marketing Committee breakfast meetings on at the Buckingham International Hotel at 7am on Saturday morning. I quite enjoy these meetings because it's an opportunity to breakfast and chat with representatives from other clubs in our district and come up with ideas to promote and market Rotary.

Cinema Advertising at Southland
Planning to target Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays for 12 weeks for all sessions on these days. The cinema advert will be the one here: http://www.rotarydownunder.com.au/RDU/home-page-videos/join-rotary.asp Standy by for that one next time you go to the movies!

Calcutta Night Monday 31 October 2011
Organisation for this night is already in progress. 5 tables have already been sold; menu organised and venue booked. Yours truly is in the progress of setting up a registration website to capture credit card payments which will be online and active soon. Ticket price for this event will be $65 (TBA) and venue at the Rossdale Golf Club.

The aim is to raise money for the Salvation Army Community 12 seater bus and this is a District Fundraising event. Information about this event will be out soon via District media to get as many people (non Rotarians) to the event. Not only will this be an event to raise money for a worthy community group but it will promote Rotary and inspire people to join as volunteers hopefully.

Rotary Billboards
Billboards are being erected in our region slowly. They are located at Epsom Road Highett, corner of Heatherton and Clayton Roads, Warren Road Parkdale, Station Street & Nepean Highway. One will be erected at Southland Shopping Centre.

I mentioned to the group that we have permission by the Kingston Centre to erect 2 on Warrigal Road on both sides and Dingley Village have kindly given us ours to make up the numbers (Kevin only had one left - now with the Dingley one as well, we can put them both up).

Ideas about the Rotary Jingle
During PETS, I offered up an idea to create the Rotary jingle into an iTune application where it can be downloaded from iTunes as a ringtone. A component of the cost of download could go towards a particular charity (eg polio etc). This idea is now going to be further explored on how to make the Rotary song into a ringtone for iTunes.

Polio Eradication is Foreign Aid's Greatest Hero

2011-08-18T08:41:00.002+10:00

I don't know if you know about the TED talks - these talks occur all around the world with guest speakers who are inspiring, creative and get us thinking.

While at the gym this morning, I watched this video podcast I had downloaded about the eradication of polio by Bruce Aylward who had presented his talk in February 2011. He is a brilliant speaker and yes, Rotary is mentioned in the middle of the presentation as well as Bill Gates asking him some questions at the end of the presentation.

A must see...

http://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_aylward_how_we_ll_stop_polio.html

National Cupcake Day - Not Our Photos but Here's How People Try to Outdo Each Other

2011-08-16T13:45:00.004+10:00

I forgot to mention that our National Cupcake Day raised $26.10 in our gold coin donations which has been mailed to the RSPCA today.

I was chatting with a colleague at work who told me how people try and outdo each other when it comes to baking cupcakes and he showed me some examples. Here they are:

Helen's Headlines - Monday 15 August 2011

2011-08-16T09:31:00.004+10:00

Well our first committee meetings have been completed so thank you to the people who contributed their ideas for their particular portfolios.

Many had mentioned in our survey and in our club forums, that committee meetings have been non-existent in the last few years. This explains why certain projects have been with with individuals for many years and how difficult it is at times to get more people involved in projects or committees.

One of the things that did come out in last night's meeting is that with our reduced numbers we need to look at what projects we can and can't do through the year so that we don't over-extend ourselves. We also need to look at what skills these projects need (do they need skills; our time; our expertise; our knowledge; our networks etc); also we need to look at what grants we can apply for and how to do this so that we can offer a bigger level of funding assistance to chosen national and international projects.

One way we can overcome this is to look beyond our club and seek assistance from other Rotary Clubs, our partners and our extended Rotary Family. We need to get them back into the fold so that they too feel a part of the club on various volunteer projects. The benefit is that they support the ideals of Rotary but we have a lot more fun when we can share the experiences with our loved ones, but also with other Rotarians.

There's a few ideas that came out last night and Greg mentioned that he will now put into the bulletin a section on 'Volunteering' for those who want to get involved in smaller, once-off volunteering opportunities such as those mentioned in my previous post.

Community Service

Sheila will look through the City of Kingston directory to find charities that we can offer our hands-on practical support for a couple of hours every few months. Also she will chase up a Tree Planting scheme where we can partner with Bentleigh Secondary College and plant trees and have a BBQ for City of Kingston.

Greg and Yvonne are working with the Kingston Centre who have agreed to put up 2 Rotary Billboards on each side of Warrigal Road promoting Rotary. They will organise to have these erected soon. Similiarly, they are also finalising details for the Kingston Centre's Centenary where we will provide car parking support and BBQ for this big event. We will be seeking other Rotary Clubs support in the event which promises to be an exciting event for the public. This is going to be one to mark in your diaries as we will need everyone's support on the day and a great way to promote Rotary to the public.

International

Bill will look at how he can apply for a grant with his international projects aimed at achieving the millenium goals on water and sanitation projects in Cambodia

Foundation

Geoff asked if you have any potential GSE candidates please let them know of this excellent program which will go to Texas in 2012. The GSE Committee is also looking for home hosters if you are interested in hosting one of the Texan team members from 24 March to 31 March 2012. It is likely that we will once again, host the team for a day next year and I'd strongly encourage members to come along to that fun day where we can show off our beautiful city to these international visitors.

Next week is a Partner's Night and our guest speaker is from the Yarra Yarra Golf Course talking about the History of Golf. May I ask the people slotted for duties as host, doorperson or chairperson to let me know if you are an apology so that alternative arrangements may be made ahead of time.

So What Happened At the Rotary District 9810 Presidents Meeting on Friday 12 August

2011-08-13T07:50:00.009+10:00

Last night I drove over to the Mulgrave Country Club and wondered why something didn't feel quite right. Of course, I just happened to be at the wrong venue so drove around the corner and up Jells Road to turn into the Best Western International Hotel where I should have come in the first place! But this little setback didn't deter me as I was there in plenty of time for a glass of wine so everything was alright in the world. Presidents from the District's clubs gathered to hear updates by various Rotarians on projects that need assistance or support; items that we should be thinking about in our clubs and of course, talking about the District Conference. Some items were interesting in that our club could directly get involved with community service - but in particularly, not just our Club Members, but everyone part of our extended Rotary Family. Here's the rundown:

District Conference in Melbourne on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 April

Due to the high cost of holding the event at the Melbourne Convention Centre, the venue has been moved to the Peninsula Room at Shed 14, Central Pier at Docklands which is by far, a much better menu and right in the heart of all the action. The venue has been inspired by the London Tate's museum and the group that runs the catering won many awards this year for its catering for functions so it promises to be an event that is sparkling with wonderful food and in a state-of-the-art venue. The historian in me likes it because it is a place of historical significance so it's got to be good. Parking and hotels are plentiful and all nearby -also it's a short walk from the Spencer Street station trains so there's really no excuse not to come along for the weekend! If you want to see the website: http://www.peninsulaagv.com.au/

The cost will be $385pp but this includes the event registration and the Saturday night 3 course dinner which is kept secret but promises to be exciting.

It was mentioned that conference attendance that registrations have dropped considerably over the years but now being that it is in Melbourne, and on a weekend, every effort has been made to get as many people over to the conference next year. They are also looking at other costing options for those partners who may not want to attend the full conference but only the Saturday night event. More information will be provided over the coming months.

Go Back to Where You Came From (Part 2) - A Proposal By Rotary

Bill Sutherland proposed an excellent idea to the Club Presidents last night. I don't know if anyone saw SBS's superb documentary on how a group of hard core Australians who were dead set against refugees and migration, be put through the test by going through the experiences that refugees have to go through to get to Australia. They were put through the ringer, emotionally, physically and mentally and by the end of the program we saw that this experience had changed their outlook, attitude and made them more aware of the plight of these people who risk death to come to this country for a better life. During that program there was an African family who was separated with half of them living in Australia and the other half in Africa.

Bill saw this and had the idea, "what if Rotary can help to get the family back together again?" This started many phone calls to SBS, Australian Immigration and eventually, back to the actual family. This weekend, he will be writing letters to the officials in an effort to support this family back to Australia. If successful, there will be another television show produced about the lives of these people and Rotary will be promoted. So this is an opportunity not only to help out a family in need to be connected once again with their loved ones but to promote what we do across Australia.

Walk for Life. How do you change a child's life forever with just $200?

This presentation was moving and emotive. In Bangladesh, due to the lack of vitamins and basic health care, many children are born with club foot and left untreated, it affects their lives. This charity promotes that with $200 a child can have this club foot treated (without the need for surgery) so that the feet turn to the correct position. Through the use of continual massage and wearing casts and then a brace (see the photo below) where the childs feet are put in this position for a long time to train the feet to stay in position, the condition can be rectified.

They are now looking for clubs and supporters who can assist by partnering with them for matching grants. Their aim is to get 385 of these treatments completed when the grant moeny comes through but they are always looking for more support from the clubs.

Check out their website on: http://www.walkforlife.org.au/

Applying for District Simplified and Matching Grants

A presentation was made regarding how easy it is applying for grants and how the money can be increased substantially when we partner with other clubs and get District funding as well. It's also the time to put in applications for District Simplified Grants as applications close on 17 October 2011. You can find out more information and how to apply here: http://operations.9810rotary.org.au/files/2010/07/2011-12-DSG-Application-Guide.pdf

Community Service: Volunteers Needed - Eastlink Bike Race on Sunday 13 November (Open to all Rotarians, partners and Rotary Family)

Here's a wonderful opportunity to get out there as a club with our extended Rotary Family. Steve Liston is looking for 180 volunteers to line the Eastlink Freeway during a bike race that will see 6000 competitors participating. Volunteers will be placed 200m apart and their role is to communicate any issues that occur during the race to the officials. All volunteers will get a Rotary cap, a tee-shirt, sunscreen, and a cut lunch. This is a great opportunity to promote and showcase Rotary and the clubs participating will be allocated that part of the freeway closest to their club.

Community Service: Volunteers Needed - Paws for a Cause Walk on Sunday 9 October at Nortons Park Wantirna South (Open to all Rotarians, Partners and Rotary Family)

Here's another great opportunity for our club to get involved to promote Rotary. Mandi Hyland from the Bridges Connecting Communities organisation is seeking volunteers as marshals for this dog walk event. It will be on 11am until 2pm on Sunday 9 October at Norton's Park Wantirna South. If our club would like to participate just get in contact with her asap.

Indigenous Exchange - Sponsorship Support Needed for Cockatoo Primary School

One of the Rotary Clubs sponsors Grade 5 students from the Cockatoo Primary School on an exchange program to the Northern Territory to learn more about the indigenous culture. In exchange a small group of the Grade 5 students there come to the Cockatoo Primary School to learn abut the European cultures here. In the past, the school did much of the fundraising but recently is finding it difficult to raise the funds required. The request was for Rotary Clubs to sponsor a student (cost per student $500) so that this beneficial program is continued.

Rotary International Conference Bangkok 6th-9th May

If you haven't visited a Rotary International Conference then in the words of Molly Meldrum, "do yourself a favour!" Next year, the event will be held at Bangkok so it will be quite close for us to visit and participate in the events. David Mackenzie from RC Montrose is organising pre and post convention tours at reasonable rates to consider. He has a Post Convention tour of 9 days and 8 nights that will visit places of interest like River Kwai, ancient temples of Ayutthaya, Sukhotoai, Lamp Pang and Chiang Mai. The other benefit is that it will visit places where Rotary projects have made a real difference to the lives of people there so it's a perfect opportunity to see first hand the effect that Rotary projects have made to this country. It certainly got me thinking of how I can score some leave and do this tour but I don't think my husband wants to come with me....might have to save some money and go by myself? The cost of this tour is $1374
And When You Don't Have Any Projects in Mind but Still Want to Give?

The "Rotarian's Greater Goods Catalog" is a catalog full of simple items to address some of life's biggest challenges all with minimal impact to the environment. Rotarians have field tested products like these to help families and find sustainable solutions. Use this guide to inspire our next project or to encourage our community to give. Ideas includes:

Starter flock of chicks

Rehydrations spoon

Solar ovens

Waterless toilets

Bio sand filter

Hand sanitiser

Mosquito nets

Charity Golf Day Registrations Now Open for Tues 13 September 2011

2011-08-10T13:30:00.000+10:00

Rotary Charity Golf Day – Tuesday 13th September

For those who were unable to attend our golf day on 6th May or who would like the opportunity to play Australia’s number 1 course again, the second part of our Charity golf day takes place at Kingston Heath Golf Club on Tuesday 13th September – 7.30am shotgun start.

The format for this event is different, in that it is booked and paid for on line, using the “golf link” website. It is run by Kingston Heath Golf Club, with all proceeds going to the Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin, to be distributed locally.

The direct link is:

http://www.golflink.com.au/opendays/

If this doesn’t work please go to www.golflink.com.au Home page, then “upcoming open days and events”.

The cost is $165 and includes golf, competition fee, pull buggy and a plated lunch.

Helen's Headlines - Monday 8th August 2011

2011-08-09T07:04:00.002+10:00

Wow, what a great night last night when all but two of our members were apologies but it was a full house! It certainly made a difference when we're all there, are having fun with catching up with the chit chat and having a laugh. Of course, it does help too having a superb guest speaker who spoke to us about an interesting topic that got us thinking and planning how we can get involved.

Jo Saunders is the Executive Officer from the Caroline Chisholm Foundation. It is an independent charitable trust supported by the Chisholm Institute of TAFE and it encourages and supports members of the community experiencing hardship to participate in vocational education. How do they do this? By providing scholarships for youth to apply for to undertake their trade training. Many Rotary Clubs (but only two others from this District) have been involved and this is something that I hope our club may contribute to as part of the Vocational Committee or jointly with New Generations. (Don't forget that this concept isn't new for our club. Recall that we are also sponsored a lass through her studies supported by the Bentleigh Youth Centre). So here's a Foundation that will be able to work with us to come up with some scholarship guidelines, find the applicant on our behalf and we can support them through their studies with a scholarship under our Rotary name. If you want to read more about the foundation, check out:
http://www.carolinechisholm.org.au/Pages/default.aspx

Last night we also welcomed back Bruce from his leisurely European river cruise and we said goodbye to Ian who will be holidaying. Syd will be taking over seargeant duties while Ian is away. Some of the members also stayed back for a brew and a chat outside which was a good way just to chill out after the meeting and continue with the socialising.

I also mentioned that there are some action items being undertaken by the Membership Marketing Committee already. Greg and Yvonne are in the process of organising a Rotary Billboard to be erected at the Kingston Centre as well as exploring an opportunity to assist with car parking at the Kingston Centre's Centenary in September. This is a wonderful opportunity to get out there and hand out membership flyers and brochures to spread the word about Rotary. With more details, I am sure that we can organise a roster for the weekend to have people assist. Similarly, I'm talking with the Kingston Business Directory to organise some guest speakers for our November Business Month and will get back to you with more details. However, should you know of anyone who works in the local area and would like to come along to these nights in November, let them know! Or else, you may have someone who you think would be a great guest speaker - let me know so that we can invite them along. I'm trawling through the local newspapers too seeing what inroads and successes are being achieved by local businesses and earmarking them for as potential guest speakers.

Don't forget that next week is our respective committee meetings. How are we going to play this?

Two groups (Group 1: Bill, Jim, Geoff, John H, Graeme, Ian and Paul) will concentrate on International/Foundation matters and Group 2: Sheila, Laurie, Syd, Philip, Greg, Bruce, Susan, Yvonne, John P, Andrew and Robert will concentrate on Community/Vocational/New Generations. It is going to be an informal evening and up to the Directors on how to handle the meeting but the aim is to achieve a small list of actionable items complete with potential dates and responsibilities so that we can work this into our annual calendar.

Outline for the Evening
6:30-6:35: Rotary Introductions/Toasts/Apologies/Makeups/
6:35 - dinner served: Break up into respective groups to discuss projects and action items to complete
After dinner - 8:00pm: Continuation of meetings with Directors to aim to have a list of items that have been discussed ready for Board Meeting (plus trialling out the cupcakes)
8:00pm: Close - Board Meeting commences

In the interests of time, let's hold off on the Seargeant's session or door prizes). The intention for this night is to re-invigorate and re-introduce committee meetings to have a team approach for projects and a joint effort in planning various projects and events throughout our calendar - but not forgetting the social aspect to it all. Remember, our partners and Rotary Family can help us in many of these projects.

But it doesn't have to be all serious! Guess what? It's that time of the year again when the RSPCA's National Cup Cake Day is on. So please bring along a few cupcakes and place them on your table to eat for dessert. To participate, it's a gold coin donation (or however much you can spare) when you are paying your registration.

Quick reminder that you will need to have your Board reports into Graeme this week ready for our Board Meeting next week!

Hope you have a lovely week and if I can leave you with a pun from my favourite Punmeister Extraordinaire, Tim Vine: "I saw a bargain the other day, a television for 1 pound. Only problem was the volume control was stuck on full. Come on, how can you turn that down?"

Okay while we're on it, here's another one:

"I took my dog for a walk and it was really angry - well, it was a cross breed!"

Update on Membership and Marketing Committee Meeting Number 1

2011-08-05T08:02:00.003+10:00

On Wednesday, our small Membership and Marketing Committee (Bill, Geoff, Helen, Yvonne, Greg - Vocational Director, Philip - apology), gathered at my place to discuss some items that would re-ignite some action items designed to promote and advertise our club to get more members to join.

The night started off with the question, "what makes someone want to join Rotary?" and the discussion was heated as it was generally agreed that the answer to this question had changed over the years. There was also some questions around "what do we do?" "how do we explain what we do to others?" and, "is this enough to make people want to join?" Effectively, it came down to having a unique service proposition and the words that we agreed on was that we provide a service to the local, national and international community through friendships and networks. But is this enough? Does this provide enough information for someone to join?

The main item of discussion was that our target audience may need to be concentrated around the main industry focus of the City of Kingston manufacturing and trades. This target audience makes up about 51% of the manufacturing business in Melbourne. We discussed the idea of holding a 'Business Month' in November targetted with guest speakers talking about relevant and critical topics related to the interests and business needs of these industries and inviting them along to our Rotary meetings. In that event, we will also have guest Rotarians who are in that business explain the personal and business benefits of being in Rotary. These events are to be run a few times a year and open to all in an effort to promote Rotary into our community.

It was discussed that one of our meetings be replaced with volunteering at a local charity as the way to best advertise ourselves is to 'get out there'. We will approach the Volunteer Resource Centre at City of Glen Eira and already, I have also talked with the Community Service Director at the City of Kingston to get a list of potential hands-on charity projects that need our support for a couple of hours once a month or bi-monthly.

Another idea was to split the club members in groups and ask them to attend another Rotary club in the district on any day of the week. This would be for socialising but also supporting other clubs and then reporting back to the group about their learning and other ideas we could use at our own club. I'd love to have this happening so I'm the first to put up my hand for this one - who wants to come with me to one of the other clubs??!! I've got some ideas of clubs I'd like to visit - this should be fun!

Other items of discussion were placing the Rotary billboards at various places around the community so that the public can get the information and the 1800 number to Rotary; as well as getting approval from the South Oakleigh Club to promote that Rotary meets at their venue through putting up signage at the venue - much like what many of the American Rotary clubs have.

Other items for discussion were reduced membership rates for the first year for new Rotarians joining our club.

Overall, a very effective meeting with definite action points that have already been set in motion by the committee members. I would strongly urge the committee directors to use every opportunity to meet and re-inspire their team with some ideas of what their portfolio can get involved in. We are a small club but there's so much we can do - but let's make it fun so we can involve everyone in our extended Rotary family too.

Next Meeting to Organise Business Month will be Wednesday 7th September 6:00pm - 8:00pm at Helen's.

Our Club Is In the Kingston Business Directory

2011-08-03T10:42:00.001+10:00

Hello everyone

I have registered our club into the Kingston Business Directory. This way, if there are people in the area looking for community service groups, our contact details are registered and we will also receive information on what's happening in our local area around business events.

See what it looks like here:

http://www.kingstonbusiness.com.au/emem/mem/ememProfilePreview.asp

Helen's Headlines - Monday 1st August 2011

2011-08-01T20:26:00.004+10:00

First of all, let me apologise to Susan and Ian for forgetting to welcome them back to our meeting. It was great to see them back again to share the evening and we hope to see more of Susan back again soon!

Our guest speakers for tonight were Jeff Needham and Bert Dyt. They have rallied together to organise a Men's Shed for Glen Eira Community. A men's shed is a place where men of all ages can come together and in a supportive environment, be able to work on various trade projects to support community service groups and individuals. There are about 450 sheds Australia wide and Jeff and Bert have worked tirelessly to gain the support and funding by government to organise a shed for the community. They came to our Rotary Club to seek support and our involvement. Their first priority is to set up the shed which has been allocated to 118 Leila Road Carnegie at Packer Park as well as set up a Steering Committee and are seeking a Rotarian with a trade and leadership background. If you would like to be involved in this, or know of someone who fits the bill, let them know. This is a wonderful initiative that supports men's health and well being in our community.

I will be advising Bert and Jeff that they have Rotary Club Moorleigh Moorabbin's expression of interest for support as we may be able to provide assistance in the near future whyen they have set up the shed and are looking for other people to assist.

If you would like more information on this initiative, check out: http://www.mensshed.org/ or call 1300 550 009 - we may even consider a vocational visit one day out to see the Men's Shed in Chelsea or Monash if need be.

Reminder that there will be a Membership and Marketing Committee Meeting at my place this Wednesday night at 5:45pm - 7:30pm. No need to bring anything food wise - just ideas! Smally eats will be provided.

For your diaries, on Monday 15 August, is our club night - that means we will have our major committee meetings on that night and encourage everyone to attend this meeting as you will have an active role to play.

On that night, it will be National Cupcake Day (Monday 15 August): www.rspcacupcakeday.com.au

and I encourage everyone to bring in a few cupcakes to share with your committee groups (and we have received approval from the SOC to have them) and put in a gold coin donation. All money raised that night will go to the RSPCA.

Have a great week,

Helen

Helen's Headlines - 25 July 2011

2011-07-26T08:49:00.005+10:00

Owners of the restaurant happy to take a photo with me in it...Paul - that might be a bit too close for comfort. Your wife is sitting just nearby!

When's the next course coming out?

Bring us more food please!

First of all, a big thank you to Greg (and Joy) for organising such a fabulous night last night at the Saeng Thai Restaurant, 713 Centre Road East Bentleigh. Andrew and I had been going there for years and we loved the food but never knew it was a family run business and one where even the Thai people come to eat! It made us appreciate our local favourite Thai restaurant even more.

Looking around the tables, it was obvious that everyone had a lovely time and enjoyed socialising and catching up with all the news and gossip. The banquet meal was delicious and in future, I'll be ordering more of that red curry dish as I couldn't get enough of that sauce.

Having the chef come out and talk to us about the differences in Thai food from the north to the south side of the country was interesting and it made me think that we are lucky to have such a blend of cultures in this country to experience all this lovely food, herbs and spices.

We're looking forward to having more of these fellowship/vocational nights at restaurants where we can experience the ambience, the food and the culture. So stand by for the next one!

I'd like to be able to give a small banner to every local restaurant we visit in the area along with a letter of appreciation. Greg mentioned that for the savings we made last night, we will give this to a charity on behalf of the restaurant. I'd like this to happen quickly so that I can write the letter to the restaurant advising them of what we have done and appreciate their support.

Can't wait for the next one! Word on the street is...might be Indian!

Southern Marketing Meeting on Saturday 23 July - Update

2011-07-23T10:09:00.002+10:00

I attended the Southern Marketing Breakfast Meeting on Saturday 23 July 2011. The committee was set up about 18 months ago in an effort to promote and market Rotary across our District. It was attended by 8 people, representatives from some of the clubs in the southern part of our district, with the aim of getting more reps from other clubs for the next meeting.

Calcultta Night at Rossdale Golf Club on Monday 31 October 2011
This social and fundraising night will be one of the events that the committee is organising to raise money for the Salvation Army Bus for Dingley. It was agreed that there would be an annual fundraiser to promote to communities with limited number of tickets spread across our clubs to invite guests. Every year, the reps from clubs will submit a charity project to raise money and the committee will vote on it. The annual fundraiser will be promoted across business and council and community in the region. As well as raising money for a worthy cause, it will be a way to promote Rotary in the region and also boost membership.

I will be assisting this event by organising the social media around it.

Rotary Billboards Now Ready for Erection
Rotary billboards (about the size of a House for Sale sign) are ready to go and clubs are invited to get in contact with Kevin Harrison to erect the sign outside their club meeting place OR member's might want to put up outside their business or any other area they see fit. This sign promotes Rotary "The Best Job That You Never Get Paid For" and it would be well worth our interest to see if these signs can be erected anywhere for additional promotion at no cost to us.

Money Spinners
If we want to borrow money spinners for any fund raising events or activities then there are two available through RC Noble Park and RC Mordialloc. It's just a matter of getting into contact with Claire Button with time and date needed.

Cinema Advertising at Southland Cinemas
The committee approached Southland Cinemas for cinema advertising and for very little cost, we will put in a proposal to run 3 x 30 seconds adverts for Rotary using the jingle developed. It was decided that movies on Thursday and Fridays and Sundays for afternoon and evening shows (and those on Cinema Europa) will be best targeted at our preferred audience.

Public Relations Grant
The committee will be submitting for a PR grant this year again (District puts in one third of the amount) but ideas for promotion and marketing are needed asap. Already, last year Think Tank was approached who did a social media survey to find out that Rotary does not have a presence 'front of mind' when it comes to community service - we have no image out in the public. As a result, they have developed a social media platform but the gaps are that there is very little input by way of human interest stories that can be promoted and communicated through the site at a multi-district level so the platform has not been rolled out as yet until this component is complete. Last year, the money was spent on Rotary Today little brochures and a Corporate A4 brochure used for corporate alliances.

Committee asked to submit ideas of how they can spend money for effective marketing by Sunday 24 July.

Helen's Headlines - 18th July 2011

2011-07-19T09:17:00.003+10:00

It's official. We're hopeless at darts!

Last night, John gave us a run down of the game of darts and had set up a dartboard for us to compete against each other. Thank you John for taking the time to explain the game and how it’s played. We also welcomed back Paul and hope that he has a speedy recovery!

The Committee Directors had a Board Meeting last night where a few things were discussed but the bulk of the action items for the new Rotary year will occur at our next Club Forum where the committees will talk with their members and come up with an annual plan. We will advise what these will be during our club meetings.

Our business cards are ready and will be distributed in the next week. You would have seen the samples on your tables last night. Use these business cards to hand out to potential new members and visitors to our club as these have our contact details.

Other than that, I will represent our club at the D9810 Marketing Committee breakfast Meeting this Saturday at the Buckingham. This group looks at how Rotary can be marketed in the southern regions of our District. I hope to come back to our club with some ideas of what we can use ourselves or share with the other clubs. One thing is for sure, marketing Rotary is critical but it’s up to the clubs and districts to do the best they can to promote their projects into the community. RI has a plethora of marketing tools (billboard adverts; print ads; banners; logos etc) but the cost is borne to the club to use these in printing and banners; and how and where they are to be displayed or promoted. Hopefully our own Club Marketing and Membership Committee can come up with some ideas to action using the Sunday Market to promote Rotary to the public.

On Saturday night, Andrew and I are looking forward to attending RC BMC’s Changeover Dinner but I’m afraid that all my nice frocks for this black tie event have strangely shrunk in the wash so I need to find something to wear.

I hope you have a wonderful week and see you all at the Saeng Thai Restaurant at 6:30pm next Monday night for some lovely Thai food and socialising with our friends and partners.

Helen's Headlines - 11 July 2011

2011-07-12T08:27:00.003+10:00

First of all, congratulations to PDG and PP Philip for the award of his 5th sapphire with the Paul Harris Fellow for services to the District. We all know how much he and Carol have supported the club, the district and Rotary and it's lovely to see that the work has been acknowledged. Congratulations!

Last night we had a Club Forum to continue the results of our Member Survey focussing on Committee Meetings. We all voiced our thoughts and our ideas and agreed that Committee meetings are important so that we may plan and action projects. In the past they have been ad hoc, or not happened at all. We agreed that Committee Meetings need not occur outside our regular meetings and we decided as a group that they will now occur every couple of months during the Club Forum/Board Night meeting. During these times, the two committees split by Community, New Generations and Vocational; and, Foundation and International will use this time to plan and action what projects and support they need.

Our first club 'committee meeting' will be on Monday 15 August. On this night, sit with your respective group (or split to go anywhere else in the venue) to prepare, plan and write your action plans.

I've asked Committee Members to have their reports about their annual projects ready before the NEXT board meeting on 15th August 2011. This allows you plenty of time to speak to your committee and write out your plans for presentation at this board meeting.

We're also sending our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Ian and to Paul who have been in hospital. Get better soon so that we can see you again!

I hope you all have a lovely week. I leave you all with this week's quote by Pablo Picasso, "Action is the foundational key to all success."

Roles and Responsibilites for 2011-2012

2011-07-07T13:48:00.003+10:00

President: Helen Blunden
President Elect: VACANT
Treasurer: Andrew Kenny
Secretary: Graeme Amoore
Foundation: Geoff Gray
Community: Sheila Ward
Vocational: Greg Pullen
New Generations: John Perry
International: Bill Chapman
Membership: Geoff Gray, Bill Chapman,Helen Blunden,Yvonne Beadle
Programme: John Hunt
Bulletin Editor: Greg Pullen
Attendance: Ian Anderson
Fundraising:
Operation Cleft:Yvonne Beadle
Bentleigh Market/Club Rosters Philip Hedley
Charity Golf Day Kevin Nixon,Graeme Amoore,Philip Hedley,Ian Anderson, John Perry
Almoner: Sheila Ward
Fellowship: Sheila Ward,Andrew Kenny,Laurie Cincotta, Helen Blunden
Market Roster: Philip Hedley

Roles and Responsibilites for 2011-2012

2011-07-07T13:48:00.000+10:00

President: Helen Blunden
President Elect: VACANT
Treasurer: Andrew Kenny
Secretary: Graeme Amoore
Foundation: Geoff Gray – Board Member
John Hunt Paul de Smit
Community: Sheila Ward – Board Member Laurie Cincotta – Naturalisation Ceremonies Bruce Fitcher Robert Kalkbrenner
Vocational: Greg Pullen – Board Member
Susan De BolfoIan Anderson
New Generations: John Perry – Board MemberGreg Pullen
International: Bill Chapman – Board Member
Jim Partridge
Membership: Geoff Gray - ChairmanBill ChapmanHelen BlundenYvonne Beadle

Programme: John Hunt
Bulletin Editor: Greg Pullen
Attendance: Ian Anderson
Fundraising:
Operation Cleft Yvonne Beadle
Bentleigh Market/Club Rosters Philip Hedley
Charity Golf Day Kevin NixonGraeme AmoorePhilip HedleyIan Anderson John Perry
Almoner: Sheila Ward
Fellowship: Sheila WardAndrew KennyLaurie Cincotta
Helen Blunden
Market Roster: Philip Hedley

First Meeting of the New Rotary Year Down...51 To Go!

2011-07-05T07:42:00.002+10:00

Well my first attempt in the meeting as President of the Club wasn't as daunting as I expected it to be.

We had a great start to the new Rotary year by listening to the incredible personal stories of Peter Wilcocks and Shirley Glance from the Bayside Polio Group. Peter and Shirley contracted polio at an early age and talked about their experiences living and growing up with the disease.

In Rotary, we hear so much about the good work that is being done around the world to eradicate this disease but I hadn't heard any stories from people on what this disease had affected in their lives. What we took for granted in our childhood, the freedom to move and play with our friends, for some who had this disease, their childhood was one of pain and ridicule. I do hope that this disease is eradicated once and for all. If you know of anyone with the disease and who is in need of a support group, I'd strongly recommend getting in contact with the Polio Network of Victoria. Details can be found on their website: http://www.polionetworkvic.asn.au/polio-support-group/index.shtml

Secondly, I'd like to thank those members who agreed to take on their roles and responsibilities again for the new year but also to those who have taken on new responsibilities. Here they are:

Treasurer: Andrew
Secretary: Graeme
Foundation: Geoff
New Generations: John P
International: Bill
Community Service: Sheila
Vocational: Greg
Club Service: Philip
Sergeant: Ian
Bulletin: Greg
Program: John Hunt

People working on special projects such as Fellowship, Operation Cleft, Golf Charity Day etc - still hold the same but of course, let us know if you need more support.

Similarly, everyone in the club must be aligned or part of one of the committees above to help out and support as required. Personally, I don't mind if people float from project to project if that's what you would like to do as we would need all the support we can muster. Similarly, if you have an idea or project in mind that you'd like to get across to the club, again, all you need to do is to let us know.

What's my vision for 2011-2012?

In this Rotary year of 'Reach Within to Embrace Humanity' my vision for the club is to bring back the fellowship and the sharing and enjoying each other's company as well as the injection of some projects that are shared with other community service or Rotary clubs to inspire some interest and re-engagement with our community and our own club members. I see a club where projects and fellowship are not only done by club members but members of our extended Rotary Family.

Membership will continue to be an issue over time and we can initiate some ideas of connecting with our vocational networks.

I've also joined the Women in Rotary group at the District level working with District 9800 and this may be another avenue for membership to consider: let's look at the special women, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and welcome them to Rotary and our club.

I'll leave you with a quote from Maria Robinson, " Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending".

Yours in Rotary,

Helen

Barbara Chapman - Paul Harris Fellow

2011-04-21T11:14:00.002+10:00

We congratulate Barbara Chapman for her efforts in international service through Rotary with a Paul Harris Fellow award.

District Conference Gala Event - A Garden Party

2011-04-10T12:40:00.004+10:00

Many thanks to Barbara Chapman for organising the club's costumes for this event!

Rotarians Living it Up in Adelaide for District Conference

2011-04-09T10:36:00.004+10:00

Club members enjoyed a night out at an Irish pub last night with fellow Rotarians from Bentleigh Moorabbin Central. They were all in Adelaide for the Rotary District 9810 Conference.

Group Study Exchange Experiences Melbourne Weather, Tsunamis and Lanes

2011-04-09T10:23:00.004+10:00

On Tuesday 5 April. our Rotary Club hosted the 5 team members from Santa Barbara who were here as part of the Rotary Vocational Exchange Program. In the morning we had a presentation and tour of the Bureau of Meterology's Forecasting Centre and then a trip to the Tsunami Warning Centre. It was great to see and talk to the people here who monitor the weather and seismic activity and issue alerts when needed.

Afterwards, we had a nice lunch followed by a lanes and arcades tour of Melbourne conducted by yours truly and then followed with a trip up to Melbourne's Eureka Skytower to see the city from above.

If you want to read Alicia's account of the Eureka Sky tower read it here:

http://carotarygsetoau.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/eureka/

First Social Night for 2011 - Milano's Restaurant, Brighton

2011-01-19T08:59:00.002+11:00

Christmas at the Buckingham - Monday 20 Dec 2010

2010-12-24T08:28:00.005+11:00

RC Waikiki – The Friendly Club

2010-12-13T08:24:00.007+11:00

Photo 4: Syd and Chris ordered a red Mustang to travel around the island of Hawaii. Somehow this is not what they were expecting
Photo 3: Revisiting THAT bin again placed by RC Waikiki at the top of Diamond Head. Other people usually scale Diamond Head for the excitement and the views. To a Rotarian, it's things like this that promote the good work that we do that gets them excited!

Photo 2: Handing over of the Rotary banners

Photo 1: Rotary Club of Waikiki

On the 24th November, I had the pleasure of visiting the Rotary Club of Waikiki in Honolulu – “The Friendly Club” – for a lunch meeting with Hawaiian shirts and a “hang loose” attitude prevailing. RC Waikiki meets at 12 noon each Wednesday at the Pacific Beach Hotel, 2490 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu, for lunch…..and what a lunch they provide, groaning boards of food available for all at the princely sum of $17 under President Gene Gelfo. Met some very interesting Rotarians, including a Sydney-sider Rotarian who spends three weeks in Waikiki every three months and lives in the Pacific Beach Hotel, he quipped that he attends more meetings than some of the locals! The club has in excess of 100 members. A nice touch is that members will often to pay for someone else lunch as part of their fundraising or sergeant at arms session. The presidents table is something to see, raised above the floor and decorated in true Hawaiian form. (Photo 1)

You will be glad to know that I contributed to their version of the “copper pot” as it was 45 years to the day that I had first visited Honolulu having my birthday there whilst en-route from Britain to Australia.

I had the privilege of presenting the Moorleigh-Moorabbin banners and our National Flag to RC Waikiki in exchange for their “Friendly Club” banner. (Photo 2) During a brief chat with the president, I learned that RC Waikiki would like to “team up” with an overseas club for information sharing and opportunity to meet”, we certainly could do no better. We are assured that should any of our members visit Honolulu, they would receive the warmest of Hawaiian welcomes. Have a quick peek at their website for further information. http://www.waikikirotary.org/

A little later, Chris and I scaled Diamond Head crater and I revisited the refuse bin placed by the RC Waikiki in 1992. (Photo 3)

At our last RC meeting, I was – at long last - able to emulate some of our members in claiming a “Make Up” at some exotic, foreign location…..RC Waikiki certainly qualifies on both counts!

Aloha!

Syd and Chris Gallagher

Melbourne Cup Eve Social Night Photos

2010-11-09T20:11:00.003+11:00

Girls Night Out to Eat Pray Love Raises $1262 for the Cancer Council

2010-10-08T12:30:00.005+11:00

(Photos By: Maria Triantos)

Brighton didn't know where all these women had come from when they gathered at the Dendy Palace Cinema on the night of 7th October.

They were here to catch up with the special women in their lives, mothers, daughters, sisters, girlfriends for the charity movie event "Eat Pray Love" on its nationwide opening night.

Organised by Helen Blunden of the Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin, the event was part of the Australian Cancer Council October 'Girls Night' Campaign that encourages women to host events to raise funds and awareness for womens cancers. This year, the Cancer Council hopes to raise $1 million towards cancer research and this small event contributed $1262.00 towards the goal through ticket sales and raffle prizes.

It was a special night out, not only to support a worthy cause but it was an event that was shared with the special women in our lives.

A Multicultural Concert in Esperanto?

2010-10-05T08:49:00.002+11:00

Syd responded to a competition through a local community flyer and he got SECOND PLACE! Here's his entry...

***********************************************************************************************

"I have been reading the leaflet about the Multicultural Concert Series and would like to offer a name for the event. The words used in the "ideas" section of the leaflet relate, in one way or another, to a one-ness of people as does the expression "multicultural". As a play on words, the alternative meaning of concert is 'acting together for a common purpose."

Consequently a very simple translation for all these togetherness words and the series itself would be: "one people in concert". I have taken the liberty of translating the phrase into Esperanto, which is regarded the world language and this is my entry into the competition....

"UNU POPOLO en KONCERTO"

*************************************************************************************

Toward A Stronger Australian Rotary Conference, Canberra, 21-22 August 2010

2010-08-23T08:59:00.002+10:00

Over 400 Rotarians across Australia attended the national membership and marketing conference called, "Toward a Stronger Australian Rotary" at the Hellenic Club in Canberra on Saturday and Sunday 21-22 August 2010.

The focus of the conference was to look at ways to make Rotary stronger and more effective. It was also to look at how to improve Rotary awareness nationally and locally as well as focus our services to best serve our communities.

RI President Ray Klinginsmith opened the conference and asked cowboys to apply "cowboy logic" and make Rotary clubs, "bigger, better and bolder". The fundamental principles of cowboy logic was to take pride in your work, talk less and say more.

His strategic priorities were:

* Develop Leaders (through effective leadership programs; succession planning; mentoring; education on Foundation programs)
* Extend Rotary (create new clubs)
* Encourage strategic planning at club and district levels (through club visioning of a 5 year plan; develop action plans; follow up with club assembly; have an elevator pitch; and develop a club leadership plan)
* Focus on and Increase on Humanitarians service

Throughout the 2 days of the conference, participants had plenty of opportunities to share ideas about what they do in their clubs in these areas and to learn new ideas, tips, hints, techniques, tools to take back to their own clubs.

To support and strengthen Rotary clubs some ideas suggested were:

* foster club innovation and flexibility
*review club meeting structures
*promote diversity (get more women in the club)
*improve member retention and recruitment
* have fun
*gree visitors

For Enhancing Public Image and Awareness:
*Celebrate 23 February - Rotary Day for the whole week
*Publicise club projects through local media and radio
* Build relationships with local media and community service groups and agencies
* Get a Facebook page: use social media
* Engage with businesses in the area
*Update your website
* Have a marketing plan
*Wear your Rotary badge

Overall, the three themes that came out of the weekend are:

CONNECT PEOPLE
SHARE IDEAS
IDENTIFY RESOURCES

You can read Twitter updates on the conference at: www.twitter.com/moorleighmoorab

Club Raises Money for the RSPCA Through Cupcakes

2010-08-17T07:12:00.004+10:00

As part of the RSPCA's national campaign to raise awareness into the protection of animals, our Rotary Club held a Cupcake Day. Thanks to all those Rotarians and their partners who showed their baking skills and create the most delicious cupcakes for our immense pleasure and enjoyment. Everyone got into the spirit and delighted in eating one or three of these beauties after dinner.

The money raised was $56.00 to the RSPCA. Now loosen those belts, and hope to do it again next year....

Vocational and Social Visit to Zests Training Restaurant

2010-08-16T11:27:00.002+10:00

On Monday 9th August, our club visited Zests, which is a training restaurant for vocational education students at the Glen Waverely Holmesglen campus. It was a great night for fellowship but also to support the learning of the Year 11 students who were undertaking their studies. This was the second time they had served to a large group and the Rotary Club was proud to have been the diners of such wonderful, fresh food that was beautifully presented.

Limoncello Ladies

2010-08-09T08:06:00.008+10:00

On Saturday, 7th August we were invited to Susan's house to make limoncello which is an Italian lemon liqueur. Using the lemons from her tree and a secret recipe, our afternoon was spent grating and stirring and sampling the alcohol. Although we cannot divulge the recipe, in one month's time, the liqueur will be ready for consumption - and we can't wait!

Here we are enjoying our limoncello. Cheers!

The artistic shot of the lemons, the frosted limoncello glasses and on the left is the store bought limoncello, on the right is the home made stuff. I prefered the home made limoncello by a long shot!

Susan showing us the lemons from her lemon tree. Feel how soft they are! (There's a secret there as to why they are so soft but we're not telling).

Mario the Cat watched us with curiosity and wondered why the place smelt like lemons!

Girls Night In - Raising Money for Cancer Research

2010-08-07T07:51:00.007+10:00

It's not strange to find that many of us have been touched by cancer whether personally or through family or friend.

Every year, the Cancer Council holds the annual fundraising event called 'Girls Night In' and inspires women to get together to stay in, or hold an event that gets them to donate the money they would have otherwise spent on going out, to this worthy cause.

The Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin instead will organise a movie night to raise funds for the Cancer Council instead. It will be a night to be shared with the special women in your life, your mum, your daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother, and girlfriends.

We are proud to announce that we have booked the event on Opening Night of the new movie, "Eat, Pray, Love" starring Julia Roberts based on the best selling memoirs of Elizabeth Gilbert. It's a quest of one woman and her spiritual enlightenment, a story about her battle with depression, divorce and heartbreak.

See the trailer on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZzmqHJ0gPU

Details of the Movie Night are:

Time: 5:45pm for 6:00pm Drinks & Socialising (TBA); 6;30-7:00pm screening (TBA)

Date: Thursday 7th October 2010

Place: Palace Cinema, Dendy Brighton, 26 Church Street, Brighton
(see map at: http://www.whereis.com/?id=EB75E4E62CB00

RSVP: By email on: moorleighmoorabbin@yahoo.com.au (include your name and how many tickets you want) or call 0438 884 730.

Cost: $20

How To Pay:

Cheque: Mail your cheque made payable to RC Moorleigh Moorabbin Girls Night. (Include details of your name and how many tickets you want so that you can collect them on the night).
Send to:
RCMM Girls Night, 411 Chesterville Road, Bentleigh East VIC 3165

Cash:
In person to any member of the Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin

Bank Transfer:
BSB 063 148 Acc 0090 3840
(Include 'Girls Night In' subject line, your names and number of tickets required in comments area)

There will be raffle prizes drawn on the night and all ladies will receive goody bags.

So what are you waiting for? Save the date in your diary today and spread the word to the special women in your life to enjoy a lovely night at the movies and raise funds for a worthy cause.

Youth Learns To Lead and Excel in Rotary's Leadership Program

2010-07-20T08:09:00.001+10:00

(Bentleigh, Victoria, 11th July). Forty young people ages 18 to 26 had the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of leadership, effective communication skills, problem solving and conflict resolution during a one week Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), an annual global program sponsored by Rotary that educates and trains young people with outstanding community service and leadership potential.

Nick Bonett (19) of Cheltenham participated in this year’s RYLA camp on 3rd to 10th July at the YMCA Lodge at Lake Dewar, Myrniong. He is currently in his first year of an Engineering degree at Monash University.

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin, Nick was chosen to participate in this year’s RYLA where he learned how to speak publicly, work with a team and gain a broader awareness and exposure to a variety of global and community issues. The program also taught Nick the value based leadership, ethical behaviour and how to become a good corporate citizen.

“The program was amazing”, he said. “It has been the best week of my life and I have many new friends. RYLA strived to get me out of my comfort zone and gave me a ‘tool bag’ of skills and experience to use and reflect on what I want to do and how to achieve my life goals. It allows me to put into practice what I have learned and taught me that if you have passion, you can take it anywhere.”

But it wasn’t all work. Nick took part in fun group leadership activities such as canoeing and flying fox designed to build self confidence and esteem with other young people all of whom were sponsored by Rotary Clubs throughout the south eastern suburbs.

RYLA participants receive training from successful professionals and community leaders. Group activities are led by team leaders who are previous participants of RYLA. All RYLA participants receive special emphasis on the importance of ethics and community service and often become leaders in their schools, communities and career paths.

The Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin is part of Rotary International’s global network of more than 32 000 clubs in 166 countries. Rotary International consists of 1.2 million professionals who volunteer to improve the quality of life in their home and world communities. Through service efforts, Rotary club members help promote understanding and peace throughout the world. Rotary Clubs support programs that address today’s most critical issues, including hunger, the environment, illiteracy and youth development.

For more information on RYLA, or how to join Rotary, please see www.d9810.rotary.org or call 1300 4 ROTARY (1300 4 768 279).

RYLA History

The RYLA experience was developed in Australia. The first program was held in 1960 in Brisbane and the program flourished throughout Australia. Rotary International officially adopted the RYLA program in 1971 and each year; thousands of young people take part in the program worldwide.

RYLA aims to:

* Demonstrate Rotary's respect and concern for youth
* Provide an effective training experience for selected youth and potential leaders
* Encourage leadership of youth by youth
* Recognise publicly young people who are rendering service to their communities.

Hedley Elected As President for Rotary Club Moorleigh Moorabbin

2010-07-20T08:06:00.000+10:00

Parkdale resident Philip Hedley was elected president of the Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin, to serve for one year beginning 19th July. A Rotarian since 1991, Philip recently retired as a Chartered Accountant acting as a consultant working with businesses in their financial and commercial activities.

As president of the 22 member club which received its charter from Rotary International in 1984, Philip Hedley will be responsible for strengthening the group’s participation in the local community and international service projects while attracting new membership.

The club meets every Monday night at the South Oakleigh Club and is made of up a cross section of small business owners, professionals, managers, and businessmen and women who collectively use their knowledge, skills and networks for humanitarian projects locally and internationally through service programs that address concerns such as poverty, illiteracy, health, hunger and the environment.

“This year, our club will concentrate on Rotary International’s theme of Building Communities, Bridging Continents using our close relationships with the local primary and secondary colleges as well as supporting several international projects. We will explore the matching of local school with one in the Orbost area of regional Victoria. Several projects overseas are also in the pipeline including sanitation projects in Africa and South East Asia as well as a micro credit opportunity in Uganda.”

The Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin is part of Rotary International’s global network of more than 32 000 clubs in 166 countries. Rotary International consists of 1.2 million professionals who volunteer to improve the quality of life in their home and world communities. Through service efforts, Rotary club members help promote understanding and peace throughout the world. Rotary Clubs support programs that address today’s most critical issues, including hunger, the environment, illiteracy and youth development.

For more information on Rotary, or how to join Rotary, please see www.rotary.org or call 1300 4 ROTARY (1300 4 768 279) for your nearest club.

Club Changeover Photos Friday 16, 2010

2010-07-19T22:45:00.006+10:00

Here is a snippet of photos from the Club Changeover Night on Friday 16th July 2010. Apologies that the photos are not in order as the blog cannot upload powerpoint presentations. If you would like to see the full photos, refer to our Facebook album. Apologies for the order too as for some reason, the blogger software doesn't upload the photos in the order selected!

Rotary is Everywhere

2010-06-06T17:56:00.002+10:00

Recently, Chris and I spent a terrific week’s holiday in Honolulu, I’ve probably told you little bits about it and it was reinforced to us that Rotary is EVERYWHERE!!

Our first journey around the island in a hire car – steering wheel on wrong side and car on wrong side of the road – took us to the Diamond Head crater, the head itself is as much a famed part of Honolulu as is Waikiki Beach. The walls of the extinct volcanic crater stand some 750 feet high and the lip is reached after a 40 plus minutes climb along and up a trail built by the US Army in 1910 to service military installations. The walk commences in the hot, humid centre of the crater and ends after climbing some 90 odd concrete stairs and a steel spiral staircase to emerge on the crater lip in cold, howling wind.

The name Diamond Head came into use around 1825 when a group of British sailors (some say they were slightly inebriated) found some rocks sparkling in the sun. Absolutely sure they had struck it rich, the sailors brought the "diamonds" back into Honolulu. Alas, the "diamonds" turned out to be calcite crystals. The sailors didn't become fabulously rich, but the name Diamond Head stuck.On reaching the lip of the crater, I paused for a rest and a photo opportunity and to my surprise there was Rotary International – complete with brass plate to announce that a concrete refuse container had been donated by RC Waikiki in 1992. I ceremoniously left some rubbish in the bin!! This is certainly the highest Rotary wheel I have come across!

The view from the point adjacent to the Rotary sign is magnificent; the views of the beautiful North Pacific, Honolulu, Waikiki and Pearl Harbour in the distance are well worth the climb - with rest breaks included.

Chris and Syd Gallagher

Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) 1st & 2nd May 2010

2010-05-07T07:52:00.003+10:00

By Sheila Ward, New Generations Director

Eight enthusiastic RCMM representatives went into Parliament House on Saturday to witness the thrust and parry of seventy-four students from various schools within our District debating global resolutions.

They covered issues like small arms control; the death penalty; genetically modified food etc. - all very weighty international problems indeed.

The students followed parliamentary procedures extremely well and debated topics succinctly and earnestly on behalf of the countries they represented, and there was often a spot of humour thrown in now then to lighten the seriousness.

The costumes were very good and it was a wonderful experience for both the students and the spectators.

RCMM sponsored three teams and although they didn’t win any placings, they performed very well.

Our teams will be invited to attend one of our meetings to tell us all about their weekend in the international arena. The winning country was China, with Syria in second place.

The student’s choice was Sudan and the DG Award went to France.

During the lunch break we wandered down to Mrs Parma’s in Little Bourke Street and participated in a most enjoyable lunch with good food and good fellowship.

Visitors Inspired by Rotary

2010-03-16T07:45:00.002+11:00

Last night we were privileged to have with us visitors from Bentleigh West Primary School. Parents and teachers associated with this primary school, known for its prize winning sustainable and ecological school programs for its students, saw a bit of what Rotary is about.

Rotarians hosted our visitors and presented the variety of local, national and international projects that were conveyed through reports on the 28th Annual District 9810 Rotary Conference. Through the presentation, visitors saw that Rotary extends far and wide than just local areas - that we are a world wide community service club that provides service above self.

The highlight of the night was Yvonne Beadle presenting to the Principal of the School, Jennifer Small, a brochure of the Operation Cleft program. As Bentleigh West Primary School was the first school to participate in the Spellathon (organised by Yvonne), a photo of her students now grace the front cover which will be seen across Australia.

A big thank you to all our parents and teachers for sharing our meeting with us; thank you to those who presented the report conference and a very big thank you to Gary Tishler for the organisation and administration of our accomodation and registration to this annual event.

Moorleigh Moorabbin's Shelterbox Promo

2010-03-15T11:19:00.001+11:00

Here's an article that was in the Leader Newspaper on Rotary's Shelterbox on 10 March 2010...

Are you willing to sponsor a Shelterbox?

2010-03-02T20:05:00.001+11:00

The Shelter Box program was originally devised by Rotariann Tom Henderson a retired navy diver from Cornwall in the UK who became concerned that wherever there was a disaster, people not only lost their homes they also lost their dignity.

Through his local Rotary Club he devised the idea and set up the Shelter Box project in 2000 which over 10 years has delivered 67800 SBs into tsunami, earthquake zones and other disaster areas. Shelter Box Australia is operated as a Trust by the Rotary Club of Endeavour Hills at Dandenong delivering over 7500 boxes to devastated zones since August 2008. 80 Boxes were sent to the bush fire ravaged areas in February 2009.

Worldwide SB centres have delivered just on 8500 boxes along with a further 5000 boxes each containing 2 tents but no equipment to Haiti. Richard Bramston donated a jumbo jet to fly the first consignment to Haiti, such is the support given to this venture. In the last 24 hours boxes for 4480 people have been dispatched to Chile. A city�housing 5000 inhabitants was set up in Labutta, Myanmar (Burma), in 2008. Shelter Box was the first aid agency granted visas to enter Myanmar following the disaster.

A Shelter Box comprises its plastic box in which there is a 10man high quality tent, 10 sleeping bags or thermal blankets, a cooking stove which can use any liquid fuel other than petrol, water purification tablets, water containers, cooking pans, utensils, bowls, mugs and even the wooden stirrer. A tool kit with shovel, axe and saw along with childrens colouring books and pencils is included. These items assist children to return to some form of routine and normality in their often deeply traumatized community lifestyle.

Boxes cost $1200 each and as it is numbered, purchaser are able to track its final destination.

The web site address is www.shelterbox.org where there are numerous photographs, articles and news updates.

Donate to Shelterbox today.

Bentleigh Secondary College Visit

2010-03-02T19:56:00.002+11:00

The stimulus that our government recently provided to our primary and secondary schools has not gone unnoticed. All around Australia, schools are being renovated and refurbished. The money going into programs that will benefit the students and their future education.

Last night our Rotary Club held its meeting with parents and staff at the Bentleigh Secondary College which is very near our home. The school is well-known for its exceptional environmental sustainability program as they have created their own wetlands area where students can see first hand the impact of water collection, use and re-use. The wetlands collect water and the overflow is pumped into massive water tanks where the water is then used for various purposes around the school. There is also an underground watering system for their school ovals thus minimising the evaporation and loss of water above ground. The school also has the reputation of having a good musical program and last night, the performing arts group was practicing drama for an upcoming show.

Classrooms are now open plan and free flowing to encourage collaboration. Gone are the days where the teacher is behind his/her desk on a platform above the students and the students at their desk. All year groups have their own 'sections' of a massive building (eg Year 8 section) and they move from one space to another for their lessons. Teachers are on display and effectively, it is a more conducive environment to learning and less confrontational.

The website is on: http://www.bentleighsc.vic.edu.au/

The school staff and parents treated us to a dinner and then we presented what Rotary is about and how we are looking for opportunities to partner with schools in the local area.

28th Annual Rotary District Conference Geelong

2010-02-28T20:59:00.001+11:00

On 26-29 February, over 700 Rotarians from our District attended the annual conference in Geelong.

Photos can be seen on our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rotary-Club-Moorleigh-Moorabbin/185159181051#!/pages/Rotary-Club-Moorleigh-Moorabbin/185159181051?v=wall

Email from our Youth Exchange Student in Norway

2009-12-13T17:20:00.000+11:00

Hello Australia!Yes, I am alive.

I haven't seen sunlight in just under a month and it is between -5 and -15 daily. It has snowed and I am looking forward to my first white christmas. I have just done my finale presentation at my Rotary club, it was in Norwegian. I have just received the date that I will be returning home on and it is quite surreal to read. I go home in a month and four days which is unreal. To think I have been away for eleven months. Eleven months above the arctic circle.

To fill you in on what has been happening for the last few months. I have been helping my host family build a bathroom, this is the second one that I have been apart of. The first was finished a week ago. Now that the snow has come we must clear the paths and driveway nearly everyday, that is not a problem though. I think it's fun.

I have been jamming with some friends every saturday at a studio they have which is great and I have been djing at parties and a little cafe on a weekly basis. I am djing at a christmas party on saturday, there will be around 100 people there so I happy with that. I was at a Rotary meeting in a town called Gjorvik a month ago. It was a district conference, the first I have been to. I met the new Exchange Students and each country did a presentation.

I have been making dinner at least twice a week. I have tried both Swedish and Norwegian Christmas food. Norwegian Julemat consists of salted ribs, fish that has filamented in soda and ginger bread. Swedish is a little different but along the same lines, salted ribs, special fish, ginger bread, an anchovy based potato bake and swedish meatballs.

We are still waiting on more snow before we can start sking/snowboarding downhill but I hope to make one last weekend trip to a mountain before I go. There is also a mountain here in Tromso that I want to hit before I go, it all depends on the snow. I have my last week of school in Norway ever next week and then I have winter holidays up until my reise dato.

I am very excited to be coming home but it will be extremely hard to say goodbye. So many memories, friends and both of my host families are "family" now.

Harrison

Operation Spellathon Mention in Local Paper

2009-08-06T14:12:00.000+10:00

Okay, they made it a 'filler' - but at least it's something. Helen regretted that our club wasn't mentioned. Oh well, something for next time!

Our RYLA Candidate Is Given His 15 Mins of Fame!

2009-08-04T11:09:00.000+10:00

Moorabbin Students Spellbound By Worthy Cause

2009-07-24T13:53:00.001+10:00

To many people spelling sends shivers up the spine but not to the Grade 6 students of Moorabbin Primary School. They were willing participants for the launch of the Operation Cleft Spellathon on Thursday 23 July.

With the assistance from Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin, the school took up the literacy challenge to conduct the Spellathon that would raise money for this worthy cause.
Depending on their grade level, students were given cards with words that they will learn how to spell over the coming two weeks. For every word they spell correctly, family and friends will donate money.

Operation Cleft is an international Rotary program focused on helping young people with cleft lips and palates in Bangladesh. Since its inception in 2005, it has funded over 4,000 cleft operations. The cleft palates are the two plates of the skull that form the roof of the mouth and in some cases these are not joined. The palate clefts can occur as complete or incomplete and result in a hole in the roof of the mouth that connects directly to the nasal cavity. This condition causes difficulty in speaking, eating and possible deafness.

In Australia, such a deformity would be repaired at or shortly after birth but in Bangladesh, the condition is not considered life threatening and is not covered under their public health system.
“This is an excellent opportunity for our whole school to get involved with a worthy cause. Through our community partnership with Rotary, our students will assist the Bangladesh children have a better chance of leading a happy, healthy and productive life,” said Mark Berry, School Principal.

The Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin conducts fundraising Spellathons for any primary school in the local area and is now looking for schools interested to participate.
For more information on Operation Cleft or how your school can participate in a Spellathon Program contact Yvonne Beadle at moorleighmoorabbin@yahoo.com.au or call 0419 322 084.

Draw a Child's Smile

2009-07-20T10:27:00.000+10:00

In my year as DG, my wife Carol’s special project was ‘Draw A Child’s Smile’. She wanted to collect pencils, crayons and chalk for the school children of Zimbabwe. The response from Clubs was truly remarkable. We received items from clubs and schools in our District and, with Vic Super also coming on board, donations were received state wide.

A container with over 800 boxes was shipped to Johannesburg in December 2007, but the situation in Zimbabwe delayed the final transport to Bulawayo.

Great news - we have today received the following from PDG Charles Kandarira in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

“The consignment arrived yesterday at the end of the day and we have off loaded the truck and stored the goods in the store room at my work place. On behalf of the Rotary of Belmont we are so thankful for the work done to get this stuff here it has taken a long time but it is here now.

The club will be communicating the program put together for the distribution to deserving schools - I am sure there will be a lot of publicity.”

We are absolutely thrilled!

PDG Charles will now take over the project and ensure the pencils and crayons reach those most in need. Hopefully, it won’t be long until we receive feedback from Bulawayo, showing the Children’s smiling faces.

We always knew this was going to take a long time and patience was required, but we also knew that the need wouldn’t go away.

A huge thank you to everyone for making it possible.

With huge smiles on our faces!

Philip & Carol Hedley

Interview with RYLA applicant James F

2009-07-15T10:59:00.003+10:00

Below is the interview that James F gave to the local Leader newspaper and this will be published in the near future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tell me about RYLA

RYLA is an international award which began in Australia in 1959, RYLA Rotary Youth Leadership Award, 9810 District, is an annual week long camp which builds strong leaders and lifelong friends. The 6 day residential seminar is for 18-26 year olds who are active volunteers, have demonstrated or have potential leadership qualities.

Your role in the community?

Youth Services recommend me for RYLA after having successfully complete a term on the City of Glen Eira’ Youth Consultative Group YCG 08-09 where youth organize and run events for youth. We ran Glen Eira’s first Battle of the Bands which was a huge success and also an Art exposition during National Youth Week.

I am currently working towards a Duke Of Edinburgh Award as an independent participant which has challenged me to dedicate some time to community service like volunteer lifesaving, fundraising through Young set for the Royal Children’s Hospital, technical volunteering at the RAAF museum and I was a volunteer for this years international Airshow at Avalon.

What did you learn?

Topics presented included
relationships in business and leadership
Rules and Values
Planning for the biggest event of your life/ Goal setting
Decision making
Public speaking
Career planning
Servant leadership
Overcoming obstacles
Leadership/ management and systems engineering
Problem solving and conflict management
Rotary: covering their purpose and service to the community.
Psychology of Leadership

The emphasis was on learning by applying. This was achieved through moving presentations and activities, fun group challenge exercises and tool box meetings were we effectively discussed and applied the critical aspects of these topics.

What did you find the most challenging?

Apart form being away from family with a large group of strangers, the greatest challenge for me was meal times. I now miss this part of RYLA the most and not just because of the plentiful food. We were encouraged to gain confidence in public speaking by presenting a 60 second passion speech or an impromptu talk linking in random topics out of the ‘grab box’. For example talk for no more than 60 seconds about the Queen, Africa and strawberries.

I stepped up to present a passion talk about something important to me; the “power of goal setting”, how one needs to search their heart for the answers and turn dreams into achievable goals, something I learnt when I took up the Kokoda trail Youth Challenge in 2007 through Bentleigh RSL sponsorship. I admit it is not easy, you are standing there in front of every one and it doesn’t feel right. This feeling was something we learnt called nervous energy in the Public Speaking presentation given by David Forster, the Rotary District 9810 Governor. Nervous energy actually turns out to be good for you but needs to be harnessed for best results. Among other things he discussed with us about public speaking included delivery, body language and speaking aids.

How will RYLA help you in the future?

We have established an ongoing support network and great friendships. We have the opportunity to come back as a RYLA leader.

I have greater awareness and understand of how I and others approach leadership, which areas I need to improve and how to improve them. What tools I need to further refine these skills backed by my RYLA experience.

Continue to apply and develop these new skills by joining a Rotarct Club open to 18-30 year olds. Rotaract focus on developing networks, friendships, volunteering, changing lives and new skills.

Overall thoughts?

I struck gold. It was the perfect free weekend away, rolling hills like in the movie ‘The Sound of Music’. The venue Lake Dewar in Myrniong Victoria is spectacular. I meet some great people; have made some excellent friends who will continue to support each other and have gained valuable life and leadership tools to guarantee success in the future. I had so much fun that I wanted to stay at the end.

On behalf of all the 2009 RYLA participants, we are very much appreciative of all that the leaders, coordinators, guest speakers and sponsoring Rotary clubs have done for us. We are especially thankful for the RYLA young leaders who sacrificed and endured so much for us and for the courage and mateship they have shown to us. Thank you all so very much we are truly grateful.

Advice to others who want to become leaders in their community

Take up every challenge with both hands open. It is important to not waste time believing you can’t. Believe in yourself. Find someone who will support and encourage you like a mentor; someone experienced in your area of interest, someone you trust. Follow your dreams by goal setting. Leave no great opportunity unturned that presents itself. Talk to as many people as possible about your interests to build networks and relationships.

You need a positive attitude which is set by behaviors, thoughts and feelings. You can change your attitude by changing one of the three but behavior and thoughts are easier to change than feelings.

My favorite quote from the seminar is from the presentation on Attitude presented by a past RYLA participant now a young RYLA leader:

“I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been trusted to take the game winning shot…and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life and that’s precisely why I succeed”
Michael Jordan, one of NBA’s greatest

How can I to get involved:
I encourage anyone 18 to 26 years old interested in the 2010 RYLA Rotary Youth Leadership Award in July at Lake Dewar to contact Rotary.

Applications (by June 2010)
http://www.rotary9810.org/content/90/RYLA.html
Don Kerley District Chair
Email: dkerley@bigpond.net.au
Contact 1300 4ROTARY

RYLA

2009-07-15T10:51:00.002+10:00

RYLA is Rotary's Youth Leadership camp for 18-24 year olds and is conducted globally.

Applicants are selected through demonstration of their community service, leadership and communication skills and they go through an intensive 6 day course where they are put through experiential learning and practice of communication, leadership, ethics and values and teamwork.

This year, Helen is the Vocational Services Director of our Club so finding RYLA applicants was one of her roles. She really struggled to find applicants which is crazy as the course is over $500 but the sponsoring Rotary club pays all the fees so what the applicant gets is a course really worth $5000, an all expenses paid trip where they learn about themselves, how to work with others and go away after one week with a whole network of new friends.

The camp this year was at Lake Dewar Lodge at Myrniong so she drove out there to see the set up and it was actually quite good and she was impressed! The staff out there were professional and dedicated to teaching the youth of today.

RYLA was also taught by a select group of team leaders who were all ex-RYLArians themselves so there was the youth teaching the youth and the level of their presentation and leadership skills were exceptional.

These were the leaders of tomorrow who had enthusiasm, passion and motivation to be part of a better world.

It took her a while to find a suitable candidate. After emailing family and friends and Rotarians to see if there was anyone they knew of this age group, she came up with nothing. She didn't understand why anyone would NOT want to be part of this excellent personal development course. So one day, through a lead from fellow Club Member Graeme, she contacted the local council which had a Youth Services section as she thought they may have a whole network of youth in our area to advertise and promote it to. And sure enough, they were happy and delighted that she had contacted them and now want her to let them know of other Rotary leadership programs.

They found for us an applicant, James and she quickly organised the Rotary Club to give him the cheque and did up his application forms and he was in.

He is a second year aerospace engineering student at Monash University and is an extremely busy young man. When he's not studying, he's put himself through an extra TAFE courses in welding and CAD design so he can learn the practicalities. He has done a few lessons for a pilot's course and hopes to have a career in aviation somehow. He's fascinated by planes and all things aeronautical and vying for a scholarship through the Royal Aeronautical Club to learn how to fly. And also he wants to join the Reserves or the full-time Defence Force.

Overall, he has ambition and the world is his oyster. Indeed all the youth at RYLA had the same ideals and they were motivated and enthusiastic about the program that they've been through and want to promote it to others.

One of the girls there, presented that they would like to continue the impetus and create a Rotaract Club of Monash Clayton from those people there. So it looks like we will now have a Rotaract Club (Rotary Club for 18 to 30 year olds) that will be started up from this group (and I'm sure others) will want to join.

So now, for next year's RYLA, our club has some ideas of how to get some more applicants and that's to use the RYLArians to promote it and also go to Monash University and promote it there to the students.

We should all encourage anyone who has kids or teens or knows young adults to get involved in the community leadership programs like Rotary.

Apologies for not sending regular updates

2009-06-26T19:03:00.002+10:00

Hello again everyone

I feel bad for not sending regular updates but I've had technology problems throughout the UK so even emails to family and friends weren't getting through.

Sitting here at Heathrow now getting ready to go home, it's with a tinge of sadness that we are leaving. A part of me would like to hop on the tour bus and continue the journey through the lovely countryside. The stint at Birmingham, in particularly the quaint countryside of Warwick and Rugby just made me want to stay here.

However the plan is to come back at 2013 and do a leisurely tour of the UK and Ireland.

The convention (at least the first couple of days was good). Admittedly I did enjoy the presentation from Mia Farrow and from Dr Alex Buchanan who talked about his protein biscuits he developed at CSIRO. Unfortunately, I had food poisoning on the last day and missed out on Dr Jane Goodall's presentation which I was also looking forward to. I found the presentations compared to last year's a bit 'light on' and found it tiring to have standing ovations for people in the RI Boards and the like because at times it did feel as if we were giving 'pats on backs' for people simply in the positions they are in. Overall, meeting people from all over the world and sharing the connection, there was a sense of community - more so with the English who were more than welcoming. I cannot say this enough - their hospitality was welcomed. Of course, we cannot say that for some other countries however where we were gobsmacked by the rudeness.

So despite not seeing the last day and spending the day hugging the toilet, I loved the London experience and enjoyed the HOC events around Birmingham such as the Treorchy Male choir, the home hosting at Rugby (we got to do a behind the scenes tour of Rugby School - home of rugby and also where Lewis Carroll and the place where Tom Brown's School Days was about) and of course, the spectacular Warwick Castle.

I am sure that Philip and Bill would have more to share about the last day of the convention and we look forward to presenting to the club on our experience.

And no, I'm not going to Montreal next year. I think I will lay off the conventions for a while until they are closer to home. Now, if they were back in the UK again....that's a different story.

Second Day at the Convention

2009-06-22T18:05:00.004+10:00

Well it was certainly a rush to get to the computers this morning.

Yesterday it hit me that I didn't want to be here. At the convention that is. Don't get me wrong, but looking out of the Warwick Castle window, I saw the beautiful green lush countryside and thought that there's where I need to be - not inside an auditorium!

Having said that, the Warwick Castle experience was fabulous after a day of presentations. We were piled into buses and treated to shows of jousting, falconry, archery and a trebuchet. We also had an opportunity to climb the towers and take photos of the lush countryside.

The experience was marred however by the disorganisation of the buses to take us home. Over 8000 people tried to cram into the bus car park, with no signage, no HOC marshalls and traffic marshallers who had no idea what bus was going where. After an hour of waiting, panic ensued and thousands started walking across the road in an effort to find transport back to the city. The marshallers were yelling out to people to stay back behind the barriers but with no communication, people were doing their own thing. There was lots of pushing and shoving and after three and a half hours, the final bus loads were just taking everyone back into the city. They dropped us off in a quiet part of town at 1am, we didn't know where we were, to find our own hotels. It was mayhem and I do hope they acknowledge and apologise for this today.

Andrew has had enough and has decided that he will do his own thing as with this and the mayhem at the train station yesterday morning where once again, thousands of people were pushing and shoving to get on the few trains going out at the NEC, it wasn't a good sight. Some people take it in good spirits - we did and we had a luagh with some people - but when you have thousands of people just wanting informaiton on what is going on, and needing assistance (there were many elderly and those in wheelchairs).

Today, I will spend time in the plenary sessions and workshops and we have the home hosting tonight which we are looking forward to but hope the transport issues are sorted out quickly. This convention is very much for the +60s and not many younger people around (as the LA one was) where RYLA, Interact, Rotaract have been relegated to one far corner away from everywhere else and hidden. I believe they should be in the heart with the other stalls.

I'm making this convention out negatively unfortunately as I'm comparing it to the one in LA which was lively and much younger and always something going on with entertainment. The Brummies here are superb and very helpful and always chatty so for customer service they are top notch. Luckily, our hotel is quite good and the people there are very helpful so it helps. I think though I much prefer to be touring the countryside...

First Day at the Convention

2009-06-22T18:05:00.001+10:00

Hello everyone

After some 8 days in London, we are now in Brimingham (along with half of America). We arrived yesterday afternoon, settled into our hotel in the city and registered. Last night, we decided to walk around town and observed some **interesting ** Birmingham characters out in the streets.

Birmingham is an industrial city (or was - it was known as part of the Black County during the Industrial Revolution which had many cities around it enveloped in black smog). Today it is filled with retail stores, and a massive convention centre. But I wouldn't want to live here if you're getting that impression...

So far, with the opening ceremony and the theme East Meets West was enjoyable. I don't know how many people there are but compared to last year's one in LA, this one is a little sedate and laid back. Maybe RI Presidents really do set the theme at each convention.

We've met many Americans who are always up for a chat. Mainly from North Carolina, Washington State and California. Although the ones from Texas stand a mile away with thier big hats.

I saw Barbara and Bill Chapman from our Rotary Club at the Yachting Fellowship stand yesterday and haven't met any other Australians yet although there was a loud cheer at the opening flag ceremony when the Aussie flag was displayed.

We had a major hiccup with the public transport this morning which meant that thousands of Rotarians were stranded at the city train station trying to get out to the convention centre. Luckily, the train system being the way it is (ie better than ours), a wait of ten minutes was more than acceptable for us. Soon we were all along our way and the throng of the crowds hit the arena in one swoop and we settled in quickly to listen to the presentations and to watch the entertainment. They had world reknown opera singers, dance troupes, midland highland dancers, tae kwondo displays.

If I don't write as often into this blog is that there are long queues for the internet cafe here.

Tonight the buses will take us to Warwick Castle for a medieval hog roast banquet, jousting and trebuchet display and all round revelry. Now, off to look around the exhibitors and see what we can do about some food....

Albin's Swedish Dinner at the Kennys

2009-05-22T15:48:00.003+10:00

Charity Golf Day at Kingston Heath on 24 April 2009

2009-05-13T13:22:00.003+10:00

Message from Harrison in Norway 2

2009-04-20T12:04:00.002+10:00

Everything is going great, my visa has gone through, i have my personal number and have opened a bank acount. My host family has been so amazing, we haven't had any problems and they have been extremely helpful in teaching me Norwegian.

My first major travel was in the winter holidays when my host family took me to Finland with them.

It was a five day trip to a mountain called Yillas. we spent four of the days on Yillas me snowboarding while the rest of the family skied and one day in Levi, another mountain about 45 minutes drive from where we were staying.

We stayed in a ski in ski out cabin at the base of the mountain which was a five minute trip to the closest piste. Tromso is a great city with beautiful suroundings and a nice downtown area I regularly go snowboarding at Kroken, the local alpine center or I go on Top Turs, this is where you climb a mountain have a brake on top with a mug of cocoa and mat pak, packed lunch.

I went to Oslo with one of my host sisters a couple of weeks back to see a dj which was great and I plan to go back to Oslo on the 29th of May. The Euro tour is coming up which I am looking forward too.

For the easter break we went to my host family's cabin in the mountains for a five day trip of cross country skiing, snowboarding, is fishing(I caught 3 fish). It was exhausting to say the least.

I hope everything is well at the club and that the rehabilitaion from the devastating fires is well underway.

From Harrison

Albin Raises Money for Charity in World's Greatest Shave

2009-03-18T10:05:00.002+11:00

Kararrok Park Working Bees for the Bird Hide

2009-02-10T07:56:00.001+11:00

My Health Organiser Meeting - Dr Daniel Lewis

2009-02-10T07:55:00.003+11:00

Order your My Health Organisers through www.moorleighmoorabbin.websyte.com.au

Bentleigh West Spelling Bee Fund Raiser

2009-02-10T07:53:00.001+11:00

Congratulations to Bentleigh West Primary - Spellathon

2009-02-10T07:50:00.003+11:00

The primary school took part in the Spellathon (courtesy of Yvonne Beadle who came up with this excellent fundraiser idea). Here is President Gary presenting a cheque for $1300 to the Operation Cleft cause.

Kararrook Park Barbeque - First Meeting for 2009

2009-02-10T07:47:00.001+11:00

Message from Harrison

2009-02-03T08:46:00.002+11:00

Hello from cold, cold Norway. it was an unusually cold day the day I arrived sitting around -10 and over the last week the weather has gotten gradually warmer.

Yesterday it was +5 but i am not sure on how the weather will be today.

I am settling in fine and my host family are great. the plan ride was long and tiring.

Tromsø is an amazing city I haven't had time to explore it al yet but from what I have seen it is very different to Melbourne. I have attached the photos that I have from the last Rotary meeting and hope they come in handy.

Harrison

Junior Mayor City of Kingston - Mon 24 Nov 2008

2008-11-27T08:18:00.003+11:00

On Monday 24 November, Rotary Club Moorleigh Moorabbin had their youngest guest speaker. Tahryn Mant, 11, a Year 6 student from the Dingley Village School gave us her presentation on 'The Journey so Far as the Junior Mayor of the City of Kingston'.

Tahryn talked about the process of the Junior Mayor competition and how she was selected out of 24 other local primary school students for a two minute speech she gave on saving water, saving the environment and the need of an active sports program for schools to combat child obesity.

Aust medical team conducting diabetes awareness in B’ville

2008-11-22T13:39:00.001+11:00

SMALL medical team from Australia, headed by a doctor from Royal Melbourne Hospital Dr Janine Rowse and medical nurse Becky Houghton, are in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville campaigning and educating people on the dangers of diabetes.

Dr Rowse said diabetes was an illness that could pose a severe threat to the people of Bougainville if nothing was done to prevent it. She was in Bougainville early this year and saw many diabetes patients having their legs amputated at the Buka hospital and decided to do something about it.When she returned to Australia, Dr Rowse decided to make a trip to Bougainville to carry out awareness campaigns on how best people could improve their health.

“Before we came to Bougainville, we did a small survey and found out that one out of every 10 adults is suffering from diabetes and that is alarming,” she said.

She added 97% of the population did not know much about the illness.

She said their purpose was to educate and inform the people about the disease.

Dr Rowse said the major contributing factor to diabetes was unhealthy diet such as eating and drinking too much processed food like sweet biscuits and carbonated drinks that contained a high level of sugar.

The team has been in the region for two weeks now and is mainly conducting awareness among school children, public servants and those in the private sector.

Ms Houghton, who is a registered nurse with a masters degree at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said people living in urban areas and cities had a high risk of contracting diabetes.

She said there were other complications that diabetes could cause by affecting other organs.Ms Houghton added the only way to prevent it was to have a balanced diet and regular physical exercise.

Yusi Liu, Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar

2008-11-18T10:56:00.006+11:00

We had the pleasure of hearing Yusi Liu's presentation on Monday 16th November. You can read more about Yusi on: http://www.rotary9810.org/content/161/Scholars---Yusi-Liu.html

Go Kart Racing on Monday 10 November 2008

2008-11-14T09:09:00.004+11:00

Spellathon

2008-11-10T11:24:00.002+11:00

Congratulations to Yvonne Beadle who was the inspiration and the co-ordinator behind the Spellathon for the Bentleigh West Primary School.

PP BOB BURY:23rd February 1942 – 6th October 2008

2008-10-22T12:46:00.002+11:00

It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to our friend and fellow Rotarian, Bob Bury. In February, Bob was diagnosed with having malignant brain tumours, which resulted in him losing his fight for life a few months later and he will be greatly missed by us all.

It was an eclectic group of about 300-400 people who gathered together with the Bury family at St Paul’s Church in Jasper Road, Bentleigh, at 11.30 am on Monday 13th October to remember and celebrate the life of our friend Bob. Friends and colleagues were there from all walks of life and representing the many organizations in which Bob was involved, including Rotary, Inner Wheel, Marriott Support Services, the Banking and Golfing Fraternity and the Freemasonry. The flag was flying at half mast at the Glen Eira City Town Hall and we’d like to think that was in recognition of Bob’s service to the community in his role of Mayor in 2003-2004.

Father Michael Sierajowski officiated and what a lovely, caring and friendly man of the church he was. He was able to get the Bury family to rise above their grief and laugh together prior to the commencement of the Mass and he stood beside Marney with a smile and words of support as she bravely welcomed everybody. Father Michael then led us all through the happy and sad moments of the service in a warm, personal and compassionate manner.

The five grandchildren each lit a memorial candle and friends and family placed symbols on Bob’s coffin representing aspects of his life, including a photo of him looking resplendent in his Mayoral robes, his Essendon footy scarf, and I was honoured to place Bob’s well worn Rotary cap and his Paul Harris ‘gong’, together with some chocolate to take with him to the pearly gates. Fellow RCMM Rotarian Sven Johansen was one of the stalwart and stoic pallbearers.

Bob’s eldest Granddaugher, Jacinta, read aloud a letter she had written to her Pop and there wasn’t a dry eye in the church when she had finished. Eulogies were given by Bob’s daughter Caroline, Barry Roberts, Ken Dowling, and Peter Lewis and a letter that his son Michel had composed was read on his behalf. Prayers for the Faithful were said by other family members and then a photo presentation was made which reflected on the life and times of Bob, especially with his soul mate Marney and his beloved family.

Bob had been a Rotarian for 24 years which began in June 1984, when he was a Charter Member of the original Rotary Club of Moorleigh and was President in 1989-1990. He was again elected to this office for the Rotary year of 2007-2008 but due to his ill health, was unable to continue actively in this role in the second six months. A Paul Harris Fellow was awarded to Bob in the Rotary year of 1993-1994 and at Change Over this year, the Club presented Bob with a PHF sapphire.

Bob’s membership in the world-wide fellowship of Rotary was one that he cherished and was committed to serving for and with. He was an active Club member and over the years took on many Committee responsibilities and participated in a great number of the events and happenings. Bob’s Rotary Identification number will always be 892240.

Bobs final resting place is now in the Cheltenham Cemetery and before we said our final goodbye, red and black balloons were released by the children to the cheer of Go Bombers! Bob would have liked that. Marney had about 100 people back at her house later and it made a happy closing to a very emotional day for us all.

Rest in peace, dear friend.

PP Sheila Ward

Philip in Denmark

2008-10-22T12:43:00.001+11:00

A photo of Philip with former exchange student Anne, her sister Louise andparents Jørgen & Annette.

The Petersen family have changed their name back to Løvendahl which is an old family name.

Philip spent a most enjoyable weekend with them in September.

The Return of the Ardissone Family

2008-09-23T13:14:00.001+10:00

The Ardissone family returned home on Monday night after spending a few days with the Hedleys.

On Saturday night, we had dinner here for Bastien's host parents.(RC MBE hosted Bastien from France in 1999-2000).

We had a most enjoyable evening, and Michel, Colette, Bastien and MathieuArdissone were thrilled to meet up with Graeme & Margaret Amoore, Vic &Lorraine Cocks, Drew & Joan Kitson - and the Hedleys of course!

It was a great night and we sang along with Michel until the early hours and had a great time!

From Carol Hedley.

Albin Experience the Gold Rush

2008-09-15T08:07:00.002+10:00

We received the attached photo from Ned and Julia who are currently hosting Albin. What a great photo.

As you can see they also took Aiko from RC Noble Park and the photo was taken at Sovereign Hill.

We hope that they found some gold in 'dem dar hills!'

Albin visits Mount Buller

2008-08-27T08:59:00.003+10:00

Albin took some time out from his heavy school workload to sample the ski fields in our own Mt Buller. Not exactly the Swedish alps but close enough.

The question we ask is: "are there signs in Sweden that advertise black ski runs as "Blooody Hell?"

We don't think so.