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Chair - Kevin Love
Guests
Inspector Cath Wilkins, Victoria Police. [Bernie is Cath’s Mentor]
Elder Zhai and Elder Opiyo of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
George Mills visiting Rotarian from RC Port Macquarie [Past member RCCMS]
Announcements
- Tony Thomas – members are invited to join the nominating committee. The role of the committee is to select a nominee for election as club president for 2016/17. The committee comprises the current president (Roy), president elect (George), three previous presidents nominated by Roy and two other club members nominated by the membership. Anne King volunteered to join the committee, with one spot remaining. Please see Tony if interested. Members may also independently nominate for President.
- Neil Salvano – Community Village will be running again over the 4 weekends immediately prior to Christmas. Please start thinking about your availability to assist.
- Koren Harvey – 14 years after Koren took part in a Rotary Youth Exchange to Germany, her host sister, Julia, has moved to Melbourne for three months with her husband and young son. Julia’s husband has taken up a scholarship at the University of Melbourne.
- Doug Robertson – Brochures are available for the upcoming Garden DesignFest and Paul Harris Breakfast. Members are encouraged to distribute these to anyone who may be interested in attending.
- Anne King – reminder that the vocational visit to the Lost Dogs Home is taking place on 15 October. Names required now.
- Kevin Walklate on behalf of Neville Taylor – The week of 5 – 12 October is national Mental Health Week. Two Rotary events are taking place around this: MAARvellous Millinery Event at ANZ Pavilion, Arts Centre on 2 October. The annual Australian Rotary Health Golf Day is taking place at Royal Melbourne Golf Club on 6 October.
- Kevin Love – please let Kevin know ASAP if you would like to join the club’s table at the Blue Ribbon Foundation ball on 24 October.
Director’s Report
Roger Thornton gave an update on club administration, focusing on make-up opportunities. A variety of events that qualify as a makeup and members are encouraged to report attendance at any of these to the club secretary. For further information on what constitutes a makeup, log in to the club website, view ‘Club Document’s and search for ‘makeup’.
Roger also gave an overview of the Alola Foundation, which the club supports through our speaker gifts. The not-for-profit organisation was founded in 2001 by Kirsty Sword Gusmao, then first lady of East Timor. The aim of the foundation is to nurture women leaders and advocate for the rights of women through a variety of means.
President’s Report
Roy thanked Tom for acting for him at the recent board meeting and announced the AGM has been set for 25 November.
- George is currently considering his leadership team for 2015
- The board approved leave of absence requests for Frank O’Brien, Mary Voice, Kerstin Steiner and Russell Rolls
- The club has donated $800 to a children’s isolation ward in Sierra Leone, currently the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak.
- The board endorsed the Group Study Exchange application by Grant Godino.
- Roy is arranging another group tour to Laos for November next year. Members are welcome - please let Roy or Frank know if you are interested in participating.
Sergeant’s Session
Two club anniversaries were announced – Alan, celebrating 24 years and Yanpu, 3 years.
Tony was fined – twice, once by the club and once by the police – for running a red light on his bike. Bernie very graciously offered all members the opportunity to confess to any recent police-issued fines, prompting a donation from Peter Duras (speeding in France) and Roy Garrett (crime unknown).
Sergeant Bernie then treated us all to a trivia session, beginning with some Rotary knowledge. This session confirmed (because we all knew these answers, surely) that:
-the Rotary theme for October is vocational service, and
-that our club is well represented at District level with Justine serving as Vocational Service Chair and Marjorie as the Community Service Chair.
Other learnings from the session included the office of Alderman was abolished in Melbourne in 1939, with Arthur Calwell the last person to hold this office, 112,0000 punnets of strawberries are consumed at Wimbledon each year (only 100,000 more than Allan Driver estimated), plus there are 60 designated wine regions in Australia and further Jacques Villenueve won 4 grand prixes in his debut F1 season.
Guest Speaker – David Cray, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
David Cray, Director of Public Affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Victoria, gave an overview of the Church, whose members are often referred to by the nickname ‘Mormons’.
The Church began in the United States in 1830 and has grown to over 15 million members worldwide, with 140,000 living in Australia. It is currently the fourth largest Christian church in the United States and experiencing rapid growth in South America and Africa.
David outlined the basic beliefs of the Church as:
- Jesus Christ is the son of God and Saviour of the World
- Families can be forever as part of God’s plan of happiness
- the Restoration of Christ’s original Church as in the Bible.
Church members serve in voluntary part-time roles in their local congregations in addition to their regular employment and are encouraged to be contributing members of their communities. Young adult Church members often travel overseas as missionaries. Elder Opiyo stated that currently there are more female missionaries than male missionaries worldwide. While mission work is often undertaken by youth, David also gave an example of an older Australian couple currently working in Kenya to bring fresh water supplies to a village.
David included in his presentation a video outlining the various roles Church members can participate in and the Church’s focus on strengthening families. The Church has the world’s largest collection of family history records and these may be accessed by members of the public.
The church gives to many international causes, usually via other charitable groups rather than in it’s own name.
David’s interesting presentation concluded with a number of questions from the floor, including one from President Roy about the similarities between the work of the Church and the work of Rotary, with both organisations having an aim of serving others.
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Ms Sherene Hassan
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