Help Mawien Ariik Build a Health Clinic in South Sudan!
Royce and Jean Abbey Scholarship Builds English Teaching Capacity in Vietnam
Roy Garrett: Some Reflections on Vietnam
Gallery
NEXT MEETING
Rotary Central Melbourne meets at the RACV Club on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
If you would like to visit our meeting, you are welcome to join us at the Theatrette, Chancery Level of the RACV Club. There is no charge for attending the meeting.
If you would like a more general discussion about attending a Rotary meeting, please contact the club secretary at rotaryclubcentralmelbourne@gmail.com
The meeting will commence at 7:40 am and conclude no later than 8:30. Members and guests are invited to stay for coffee or breakfast in the RACV Club Bistro following the meeting.
Patricia Wilson and Warwick Cavell: Community Employment Partnership – making a real difference to people with a disability
Vocational Committee members Warwick Cavell and Patricia Wilson will speak about how they are working together to improve employment outcomes for people with intellectual disability and autism through the Community Employment Partnership (CEP). Emily Raymond secured a job through the connections of a Rotarian at Box Hill Central Rotary club. She will share her story about the difficulties of finding a job through traditional means and how working has made a positive impact on her life.
This is not a project of charity but of community action. Employment is not only important economically and financially, but it builds our competence, skills, confidence and social connections. It is a huge part of our lives and contributes significantly to our sense of belonging and self-esteem.
Ask yourself – what would your life be like without meaningful employment?
We want to meet business needs and assist them to find skilled staff to fill tasks that are not getting done or are being done by others who are not entry level workers. Diverse workplaces improve business morale, workplace culture and can broaden a business’s customer base.
Neville John shared that our Bunnings Port Melbourne and Collingwood Sausage Sizzles had raised $3.7k for our projects and thanked everyone who had volunteered. He also reminded us of our Winter Sleeping Bag Appeal.
Kevin Love shared some of the impacts of the scholarships that we provide to students supported by the Steps Outreach Service. One of the students supported had experienced domestic violence and homelessness. The student was able to complete secondary education and has now started a law degree at university.
Frank O'Brien shared that honorary member Brian Downie recently turned 97 and is going well.
Tom Callander made another call for surplus mobile phones for the DV Safe Phones program.
WINTER SLEEPING BAG APPEAL – SLEEPING BAGS FOR THE HOMELESS
Rotary Central Melbourne supports two local homeless welfare centres, namely Youth Projects (located in Hosier Lane) and St Mary’s House of Welcome (located in Fitzroy). They both provide a wide range of services to homeless people in the CBD and inner suburbs of Fitzroy/Collingwood, including the distribution of over 400 sleeping bags to help those sleeping rough through the approaching cold winter.
This time last year, we provided a large number of sleeping bags to both organisations, which were quickly distributed to their clients and much appreciated. We want to do so again. The need is real as the numbers sleeping rough have escalated and temperatures will soon be dropping. Our objective is to collect or purchase at least 170 sleeping bags and distribute them in April/ May. This should be achievable given a successful Rotary District 9800 Foundation Grant application. This is effectively the return of previously donated funds to The Rotary Foundation, back to clubs to match funding on worthy projects. The Rotary Foundation's matching grant structure is one of many good reasons why we support donations to them - those donations are offered back to clubs to do good in the world.
The Community Service Committee is now seeking your support in any the following ways: 1. Donate any unwanted sleeping bags your family, your friends or you may have (in good condition that are winter grade). 2. Visit your local op shops to see if you can purchase winter grade sleeping bags (in good condition) for modest prices and drop them in to one of the committee members listed below. 3. Donate to Rotary Central Melbourne by depositing funds into RCM’s bank account (details below) before 15 April 2026 – and note as “sleeping bags”. Forty dollars will purchase one bag. If you plan to donate funds, please contact Rebecca John (email below) and let her know how many bags you are donating funds for. We will then purchase bags from a supplier who sell high quality winter grade bags at a very competitive price. 4. If you have sleeping bags you can contact any of the following Community Service committee members either to drop sleeping bags off with them or for pick up from you, by 30 April 2025:
· Tom Callander (East Malvern) tcallander@rigbycooke.com.au · Rebecca John (Eaglemont) beng1@iprimus.com.au · Rohan Williams (St Kilda) rdwrcm@gmail.com · Peter Duras (Southbank) peter.duras@bigpond.com
Sleeping bags should preferably be “zero or minus 4 degrees centigrade” grade, but all will be gratefully accepted.
RCM Banking details are as follows: Bank Westpac BSB - 033000 Account Number – 791085 Please make a note of your name and sleeping bags.
If you have any questions, please contact Tom Callander or Rebecca John.
Nominations for the 2026 Victorian Rotary Emergency Service Community Awards (RESCA) are open now, from March until the end of April.
The Vic RESCA awards cover all recognised emergency service agencies operating in Victoria. There are many deserving people that are worthy of being recognised and Rotarians are ideally placed to know who these people are in their communities. The attached flyer contains all the necessary details for nominations.
Vic RESCA also supports Emergency Service Foundation (ESF) scholarships up to $10k each for 2 ES personnel each year to embark on a study tour with particular relevance in improving the ES sector.
Over the last 3 years of the awards we have recognised 37 finalists from across Victoria and all the ES agencies in both a volunteer and paid capacity. Of our 2 winners each year four of the six have also been recognised as winners at the National level highlighting the success of our program. To learn more about these remarkable humans, please head to the website: https://www.vic.rescawards.org.au/
View the latest promotional video on our facebook page and we invite you to follow and share the page and posts.
Please contact Kerrie Hicks if you need any more information or would like to discuss anything related to Vic RESCA. https://www.vic.rescawards.org.au/
Save the date: Saturday 29th August 2026 at the Greenacres Golf Course, Melbourne for the 2026 Vic RESCA Awards Ceremony!
Image: DG Peter Shepheard *addressing the Crowd* including RCM Members with DIK Mgr, Colleen D’Offay on his right.
Image: PDG Denis Shore, Past R I Pres Jennifer Jones, Jim Orchard from Rotary Melbourne, DG Peter Shepheard and PP Nick Krayacich
Reporter : Frank O’Brien
Tuesday 24 March 2026 was the date scheduled by Colleen D’Offay, DIK Manager, for the loading of a 40 foot Container headed for Cambodia, complete with much needed Medical Equipment and Medical Supplies which had been assembled on site at West Footscray over many weeks. The recipient will be the Children’s Surgical Centre in Phnom Penh, a reputable tertiary teaching hospital with more than 100 local staff providing free or low-cost specialised surgery for disadvantaged patients.
Our Club as usual was very well represented by volunteers… (Fleur Maidment, Rob Hines, Roy Garrett, Yanpu, Herb & Leonie Greenwood, John & Raylee Illott, Peter & Sue Duras and Frank & Pauline O’Brien).
Not only did we assist with the loading (a huge job which wasn’t completed until well into the afternoon) but as usual when we are there, we “got stuck into the Clothing Bay” plus other Bays (eg Education) and made a huge difference in sorting and reassembling Boxes ready for despatch to Local and International needy causes.
A highlight of the morning was the Morning Tea, complete with Hot Scones and Cookies, which is not usually the case!!! Coincidentally, Canadian/Ontario based Past RI President Jennifer Jones (JJ) and husband PP Nick Krayacich, inter alia, attended and spoke glowingly of the massive benefits of Donations In Kind. Later that week, they attended the Multi District Conference in Horsham. JJ is the Incoming Chair of Trustees of The Rotary Foundation (2026/2027)….we are in good hands.
“Well done everybody as usual”, as echoed to me by Colleen some time after the Container had left the Building.
Our Club has had a long involvement with our member Mawien Ariik’s South Sudanese Health Matters Incorporated (SSHMI). Recently, SSHMI completed a very successful menstrual hygiene project for 800 girls in remote Lou Ariik Village. The outcome was enhanced school attendance, fewer medical problems and improved attitudes to menstruation.
In recognition that Lou Ariik Village is a very poor village in one for the poorest countries in the world, SSHMI is raising funds to build a small, primary health clinic.
It has just launched an appeal: https://together-we-build.southsudanesehealth.org/.
Maternal health will be a key priority of the clinic’s work.
Please read it and your help will be greatly appreciated.
Image: Scholar Doan Thanh Thu, back row far left, in her CELTA class
Image: VNF Summer Camp a significant beneficiary of the scholarship! Thanh Thu front row third left. Central Melbourne’s Ken Ho-le and Rhys Williams front row fifth and fourth from right. Saigon Charter President Kieu Vuong Nguyen front row sixth from left. Also included are Quoc Hoc HS students are Rotaractors from One Million Lives Rotaract Club.
Through her 2025 scholarship, Vietnamese high school teacher Ms Doan Thanh Thu successfully strengthened her professional capability in modern English as a Second Language (ESL) pedagogy. She is now bringing new energy and impact to her teaching and learning at Quoc Hoc High School for Gifted Students in Hue City and for the Vietnam Foundation.
During her stay, Thanh Thu completed the internationally recognised Cambridge University Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA) course, and extra placement experience at Victoria University and Melbourne Polytechnic. She was sponsored and supported by the Rotary Clubs of Central Melbourne and Saigon.
Thanh Thu said: “I developed new strengths in creating positive rapport with learners using a more interactive and student-centred approach. This is very different to the Vietnamese approach. I have new energy! I will now help my department to adopt what I have learned and improve our impact.’
Central Melbourne and Saigon Rotary Clubs are partners in the Vietnam Foundation’s Build a Future (BAF) Scholarship Program. Quoc Hoc is one of three school partners where 30 students receive scholarship support and an education support program. It includes a weekly hour of online English speaking and listening practice and a three-day academic summer camp. Thanh Thu’s new expertise is already benefiting the program. Read about BAF at: https://vietnamfoundation.org.au/news/. Rhys Williams, Foundation Director at Central Melbourne and VNF Director said: ‘The Royce and Jean Abbey scholarship is a brilliant way of cost-effectively building capability sustainably and enhancing Rotary’s impact. It directly connects Rotarians with impactful projects. I encourage all Clubs to learn more about it.’
