This is a Zoom meeting. Our next face-to-face meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 11 May.

If you would like to visit our meeting, please contact us by email on rotaryclubcentralmelbourne@gmail.com or phone 0455-858-996 and request log-in details.

The meeting will commence at 7:40am and conclude no later than 8:45.

Jeff Shaw and Christina Karvonidis: Give a Care - Your Life.  Your Choice.

One morning in August 2007, 38-year-old Jeff Shaw woke up feeling sick and called an ambulance. Jeff had had a major stroke, which blew up his cerebellum – a small region in the lower part of the brain that plays an important role in fine motor controls. Leaving Jeff with an acquired brain injury.

For over four years, Jeff became increasingly frustrated by disability service providers who wouldn’t listen to what he wanted and instead just offered what they thought he needed.

In 2013, 2 months before the NDIS was announced, Jeff founded social enterprise, Give a Care, to enable him to have real choice and control over the support that he required.  In 2014, work commenced on developing a business model which concentrated on allowing others with disability to have the same support and choice as Jeff insisted on and in 2017, Give a Care opened its doors to the Beaumaris and surrounding community.

Today, Give a Care is one of the fastest growing disability support services in Victoria and the only known support service founded and run by a person with a disability. Jeff continues to steer the direction of Give a Care and in late 2019 he launched The Give a Care Foundation to combat social isolation for people living with disability.

Rotary Central Melbourne has nominated Jeff Shaw for the multi-District Shine On Awards for the work he is doing within the disabled community.

Give a Care General Manager, Cristina Karvonidis has degrees in marketing and business and a post graduate degree in business administration. Cristina’s extensive experience in Australia, United States, UK and Brazil brings broad knowledge and focus to help Jeff manage Give a Care.

Cristina speaks 5 languages and has over 25 years’ experience working in small to large corporations in a variety of industries and most recently in the Aged Care and Disability sectors.

Cristina is passionate about supporting people in the community.  At Give a Care, Cristina’s job is to assist Jeff in building a sustainable company and empowering people with disabilities to live healthier and happier lives.