Speakers

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.

Mawien Ariik (known as Ariik) was born in 1989 in the village of Lou Ariik, South Sudan. At the age of 8, Ariik learned that his father (Ariik Dut) had died in the South Sudan war along with millions of others, while fighting for the freedom of his people. This sad loss sank deep into Ariik’s mind and he found himself asking what he could do to continue to help the people who were freed through his father’s efforts, and to ensure they were not in vain.

Ariik was raised by his mother Abuk Tong with his other siblings (1 brother and 3 sisters). When war broke out, young males were a target so Ariik spent most of his time with his father during that time. When his father died, Ariik was looked after by his father’s friends, who took him to Uganda resulting in his being separated from his mother. He ended up in a refugee camp there and later transferred to Kenya where he lived for six years.

In 2005 Ariik he made his way to Melbourne, Australia under an Australian Government Humanitarian visa. Ariik is currently a Business Banker with CBA at Highpoint.

In 2019, Ariik became a member of Rotary Central Melbourne and he will share with us how his journey has shaped plans to assist the people of Lou Ariik.

This promises to be an interesting and entertaining program.  Ariik will tell his story through an interview with Brett Jones.

Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group creates science-based educational materials that explain what nutritional food is, why human bodies need it and how to grow and use it. These materials are designed to empower people, mainly women, so that they can knowledgeably choose what plants to grow and eat to nutritiously feed themselves and their families.  The group is centred in Tasmania.

Volunteer agronomists use Food Plants International data base, created by Bruce French OAM who has been working on this for over 40 years, to identify information on what we consider could be potentially important plants for a country.  The database houses over 32,000 plants from all countries.

Programs are currently underway in approximately 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Caribbean, Western Pacific, South America and Central America.  The most important component in each program is a local partner. They have the local knowledge, networks, resources and they are invested in its outcomes.

Examples of the materials and current operations are on the group’s website www.foodplantsolutions.org

PDG Una Hobday OAM was the first female president of a Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Hollywood Western Australia. She was also the first female District Governor in the southern hemisphere being elected DG District 9540, 1999 – 2000.

Una is Chair of Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group.

She has held many Rotary District roles in Western Australia and Tasmania, having moved to the Island State in 2001, and she is currently a member of Rotary Club of Hobart.  Her working life commenced as a General Nurse at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.  In latter years she has fulfilled administrative roles in health such as a District Health appointment, Manager Alcohol and Drug Service and State Manager for Adoption Services.

Una and her late husband have four adult children.

Ian will profile insights on the origins of Reconciliation and his thoughts as to how Rotary can further a commitment to Reconciliation with Australia’s First Peoples.

A Yorta Yorta man, Ian has extensive government and community sector experience, particularly at executive and governance levels. Ian has overseen major policy and strategic reforms for government and community organisations. He works with people from a vast array of backgrounds, managing complex and sensitive relationships to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

Ian was CEO of a major Aboriginal community organisation from January to August 2018. Ian is involved in a number of Boards including Yarra Valley Water, Holmesglen TAFE, Australia Red Cross, Inclusive Australia and is Chair of Koorie Heritage Trust and First Nations Foundation. He is also the President of Community Broadcasting Foundation.

Ian is now devoting himself to improving the representation of Aboriginal people on boards and other high-level governance, through strategic action, advocacy and mentoring.

Ian is a member of Melbourne Rotary and was the 2021 host of the Women In Rotary International Women’s Day virtual event.