21st AUGUST

• NEXT MEETING - GUEST SPEAKER

• INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT'S BREAKFAST

• 26TH ANNUAL PAUL HARRIS BREAKFAST

• NGSE PARTICIPANT - RAPHAEL WONG

• MEMBER NEWS - ROY GARRETT

• MEETING REPORT 14th AUGUST

• GALLERY

Anne Fairhall

"Dementia Australia and National Ageing Research Institute"

Anne will speak about her Advocacy work with Dementia Australia, for people living with Dementia & their Carers, how this has influenced decision makers & some of the changes seen. She will also speak about her current role as Chair of NARI (National Ageing Research Institute) PITCH Consumer Advisory Group, a NHMRC (National Health & Medical Research Council) project to research & co-develop improved preparation for Family & Community Home Carers, to help promote independence for those living in the community with Dementia.

Before rearranging her life to become her husband’s full time Home Carer, Anne served on many Boards and Committees, was Managing Director of her own Management Consulting Business and had been a Senior Corporate Executive with National responsibilities.

She originally trained as a Registered Nurse & ran Operating Theatres, before becoming an early adopter of strategic Occupational Health and Safety management.

Her husband developed younger onset Frontal Temporal Lobe Dementia over 25 years ago then aged 51 and is now in residential care, aged 78.

Her personal experience led Anne to become a determined advocate for those impacted by Dementia. She promotes the need for cultural and systemic change both nationally & at local levels, to better support & understand the needs of a person with Dementia, their families & Carers, and ageing more broadly.

She is currently Chair of the National Ageing Research Institute ‘PITCH’ Advisory Group, an Honorary member of Dementia Australia, active at State & National levels on Consumer Advisory Networks; a Member of the Department of Health & Human Services Reference Group on Quality in Public Sector Residential Aged Care.

She is a regular Guest Speaker; talks to media and has many other interests….!

Anne was a 2016 Victorian Senior of the Year finalist and Winner of the 2016 COTA Senior Achiever’s Award.

RC Central Melbourne is supporting the RC North Brighton International President’s Breakfast on August 31. It promises to be an interesting morning with the guest speaker being Ian Risely, the past Rotary International President.

Please register directly through the link:   http://northbrightonrotary.org.au/events/  then email me so that I can arrange the RC Central Melbourne table.

GUEST SPEAKER

Raphael Wong is our outgoing NGSE participant and is pictured here (middle of three male soloists) performing alongside young local soloists in the Bayreuth Young Artist Festival. The annual festival in Bayreuth Germany involved the performances of operas by 19th century composer Richard Wagner. As you can see in the photo, Raphael and his fellow performers deservingly received a standing ovation.    

Roy with two uniformed Laotian teachers	Roy Garrett with Somnuek and RCM past-president Frank O’Brien
An old Laotian school room	A new Laotian school room

Roy Garrett is a Rotary Central Melbourne stalwart getting results year after year thanks to his skills, contacts and persistence.

Roy’s work has created four brick and steel primary schools and one high school extension in remote hills of Laos. This has involved Roy taking parties of Rotarians and friends through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, with a surcharge of $1,000 a head for the projects.

Each Laos primary school is a standard two rooms totaling 14m x 7m plus a 2m veranda, with a colorbond steel roof. Initially the job cost $15,000; today it is $25,000.

“Old-style schools were just bamboo shelters with no windows or doors, a dirt floor and insect intrusion,” he says. “In the wet season it was impossible for kids to keep books, paper and themselves dry and mud-free, so they often stayed home. They love their school now.”

Roy has also leveraged other’s expertise. The original scheme in 2012 was with a family foundation run by Rod Fraser, then principal of Ivanhoe Grammar, and his wife, Sandy, a golfing mate of Roy’s wife Annie. Through Rod Fraser, Roy teamed with a Laotian builder/entrepreneur Somnuek. “He’s 100% reliable,” Roy says. “At first I wondered if our money would survive. But Somnuek knows how to deal with officials there – teachers even wear military uniforms – and to get projects mostly in on time. The climate is the main enemy.”   

In 2012 Roy’s party found a small boy Nonh crying on the step of his Ban Heu Yen home, with his disfigured face and nose. All the other kids had gone off to play. Our club raised $4000 at a single meeting. By working with Pnomh Penh Rotary, Cambodia, and medical volunteers, Roy arranged two operations for Nonh with good results.

“Our reward is knowing that education is Laos kids’ pass to the future,” Roy says.

Chair: Rob Soros

Visitors Welcomed:

• Sergeant Liz Toffoletti (guest speaker)

• Dr David Broderick

• Greg Harber (helping with Docklands interest group)

Announcements:

• Russell Rolls sought support for the President’s Breakfast 31 August 2018 at MCG (booking online).

• Kevin Love announced Rotary Club of Melbourne’s Thomas Baker Oration at Hotel Windsor ballroom lunch Wednesday 29 August 2018, 12.30pm, $50.00, special guest speaker Fiona Woods.

• Herb Greenwood made a pre-announcement about our 18 September 2018 Special Breakfast - speaker the Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

• Rob Soros mentioned the Duty Roster now in an online format and also a thank you for Club Members support for Social EnterPrize gifts/bottles.

Report of Membership Strategy - Neville John

• Things just don’t happen - we need to have a plan (which we now have).

• 45 members two and a half years ago has now grown to 62 members.

• The plan has utilised accessibility through our website and social media (15 of our last 24 new members came through the website).

• The plan focuses on new members finding a friendly vibrant club, interesting projects, with relevant and interesting articles to read.

• Vibrant clubs provide opportunity to participate and of doing good for others.

• Neville informed us of the decision to recreate a Rotary presence at Docklands particularly with the assistance of George Mackey, Frank O’Brien, Daniel Lim and Greg Harber and also help from Rob Soros and Warwick Cavill. Docklands Rotary will be started this month as a branch of Central Melbourne with opportunities for Wednesday morning meetings and (every third Wednesday) early evening meetings. All our members welcome at them.

Guest Speaker  - Sergeant Liz Tofoletti

• Liz was introduced by Rob Soros - see her bio in last week’s bulletin.

• Liz is our Silk Miller Scholarship awardee from five years ago when she commenced undertaking her Masters Degree (having earlier completed the Graduate Diploma degree at her own volition). She graduated a few weeks ago.

• She noted that this week is the 20th anniversary of the deaths of Silk and Miller (16 August).

• After leaving school Liz had joined the Army Reserve, went to the Sydney Olympics and in year 2000 applied to join the Victoria Police, effectively straight out of high school.

• After 10 years of general policing duties she applied for the role of Youth Resource Officer, a proactive role in the Community, dealing with young people.

• She had applied for the Silk Miller Scholarship to do the Graduate Diploma course, didn’t get the scholarship but did the course anyway and found it most useful with her policing activities.

• In 2012 she married and then, through the President of Box Hill Rotary, became a GSE team member to Texas USA.

• She applied to do the Masters Degree in 2014 and launched herself into the course with enthusiasm but then had setbacks with parental family issues (and the birth of her first child). She nevertheless pushed along, having been seconded to the Drug and Alcohol Strategy Unit. With a great deal of help from her husband and mother-in-law, Liz completed the course this year, culminating with a three hour graduation ceremony.

• She now applies her Master’s Degree skills in her current role particularly with policy research and liaising with colleagues. Where programs are raised, the issues are often how should police respond and how proposals may affect various interest groups.

• Liz capably answered many questions from members not only about her policing work and role but also her time as a GSE team member.

• President Neville also asked Dr David Broderick to describe his work at VicPol as the “Community Portfolio Manager - Young People”, which David capably addressed.

• Liz drew the Enterprize raffle winning tickets.