RI International President 24/25 – Stephanie Urchick
District Governor 9815 – Colin Byron
Regional Community Group Four Leader – Gus Rozycki
President
Paul Martin
President Elect & Club Service
Peter Johnson
Vice President
Alan Henderson
Secretary
Ben Vallence
Treasurer
Ray Barrett
Attendance
Ray Barrett
Membership
Paul Martin, Peter Johnson
Program
Brian Hodgson
On to Conference
Alan Henderson
Youth Protection
Ben Vallence
Club Bulletin
Tim Manders tmanders@y7mail.com
Photography
Garry Byrne
Fellowship
Cliff Riseborough Max McWilliam
Board Members
Youth: Peter Johnson (Chair)
Vocation Anita Wood (Chair)
International Gavan McIntyre (Chair)
Community
Car Show Brian Hodgson (Chair), Ray Barrett, Peter Johnson, Garry Byrne, Alan Henderson, Paul Martin, John Hasan
Appointed as Life Members: Alan Sharp, Peter Manders
THIS WEEK
A Man behind the Badge.
HUB 6-6:30 start.
BYO drinks, food from Wandin Pizza Bar.
**Coming Up **
Wednesday the 19th of February, Custom Car & Bike Show.
Wandin Custom Car & Bike Show
**SPONSER OF THE WEEK**
President's Message
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Last Sunday on Jan 26th we celebrated Australia Day. It offers us a unique opportunity to celebrate our shared values and the many differing cultures and history we come from to forge this country of ours. It is a day to honor the very many achievements of our nation, our people, and our traditions. Our Australian of the Year Neale Daniher has turned his own personal adversity into a journey whereby he has been the focus of a massive fundraising program to aid research into Motor Neurone Disease.
In the spirit of service, by conducting our Australia Day breakfast we have helped foster connections among people from all walks of life within our community. We recognised three outstanding Community Award winners namely Jake Buckland, Callum Ludwig and Jackie Butler. All have demonstrated contributions to our community. Our Guest Speaker Prof Arnold Dix was outstanding and his generosity in speaking to all who approached him after the event was concluded, meant he was one of the very last to leave. Thank you, Arnold.
Last Friday I collected and delivered the frozen meals from the Mt Evelyn IGA that our club purchased and donated to the food bank conducted at the Senior Citizens Hall. I was impressed with the worthwhile contribution they made to the food produce being provided to those in need.
This week we will hear from A Man Behind the Badge. The meeting will be at the Hub as usual at 6.00pm. However, as we are aware we do not currently have a caterer and so will have a selection available from our local Wandin Pizza.
As we move forward in the year, let us take the spirit of Australia Day with us in our Rotary endeavors. Thank you to each and every one who volunteered their help and those who donated the breakfast ingredients especially Brian and his kitchen helpers Sue, Maree and Tracey. To Garry and Cliff for the donated apples and cherries. To John for the berries and each of those who prepared the frittatas. And of course, Tony Igpen from Mt Evelyn IGA who provided the rest.
I am proud of what we have achieved as a club over 40 years and look forward to continuing our work for the betterment of our community and beyond.
Yours in Rotary, Paul
Bridget Vallence MP, Member for Evelyn, with the welcome speech.
Aaron Violi MP, Federal Member for Casey, addressing the room.
Guest of Honour, Prof Arnold Dix
Behind the scenes, it was all smiles!!
The production line in full swing, Brian at the helm!
The BBQ tripod. Great work guys. Cooking up a storm!!!
A full house!!
What a great turnout!!
Jake Buckland, receiving his community service award.
Well done Jake!
Callum Ludwig receiving his Community Service Award.
Well done Callum!
Jackie Butler receiving her Community Service Award.
Well done Jackie.
Alan Henderson receiving his Paul Harris Fellow Award.
Well done Alan, for your contribution to Rotary and for your commitment to putting service above self.
Peter Manders receiving his Paul Harris Fellow award. Pictured alongside son (Tim). Thanks for the photo, Cliff!
Serah Harry is now 14 years old. She lives in a remote village on Tanna Island, Vanuatu, which has caused many problems in trying to get her to Melbourne for treatment of her deformed knee.
Despite ROMAC accepting her case, the surgeon and hospital agreeing to treat her, and our club offering to sponsor and host her - sadly it seems that there is yet another delay. This is despite the passports finally being issued and passed on to ROMAC.
The next and hopefully final hoop to be jumped through, is getting visas for travel to Australia. Apparently, there are more forms to be filled in, and this can take ages due to their remoteness. And then they have to have biometrics taken - this involves travel from the village to the port, to catch a ferry to the capital, to attend an office which has limited opening hours, to have the data recorded. Then they have to travel home, wait for the visa to be issued, then travel to Port Vila again to fly to Australia.
We can only imagine how daunting this is for subsistence farmers in a remote village!
We can only cross our fingers and hope that one day Serah might get her knee fixed.
