Chair : Roy Garrett
Reporter : Maureen Jackson
Opening:
Vice-President Neville Taylor opened the meeting, noting that President Elias was still enjoying a well-earned holiday.
Roy proposed a Toast to Rotary International.
Vice-President Neville welcomed members and guests:
- Visitor, Steve Turner
- Guest speaker, Roxan Fabiano from HerSpace.
- Aimee Bailey-Taylor, who works for Beyond Blue and is Neville’s daughter in law.
Announcements:
- Kevin Love provided an update on the Police Mentoring Program. There had been a soft opening and the formal launch of the program would be undertaken on 4 May 2022. Twelve mentors have been matched with police personnel and this program will run until May 2023.
- Rohan Williams reminded members of the work undertaken by RIMERN and potential contributions that can be made by donating goods or volunteering at the warehouse which generally occurs on the last Saturday of every month. Contact Rohan.
Guest Speaker:
Roxan Fabiano, Executive Officer of ‘HerSpace’
“Supporting survivors of modern slavery in Australia on their healing journey.”
Roxan provided an inspiring talk on modern slavery in Australia and her role as the Executive Officer of HerSpace. HerSpace is a not-for-profit that has been developing holistic well-being and mental health recovery services for women and girls impacted by modern slavery in Australia to meet this urgent need.
Modern slavery is happening in Australia and survivors have been struggling to find appropriate mental health recovery support and often fall through the cracks of available care options. She outlined the different forms of exploitation to the club and stated there is no comprehensive data framework of slavery in Australia.
Roxan stated there is an urgent need for a national framework for survivor mental health recovery and HerSpace is a specialised service available only in Victoria. HerSpace is the first and only service of its kind in Australia and provides three key services – HerPathway, HerHealing and HerCircle.
A key barrier to supporting survivors of modern slavery is a lack of awareness by the community. Would you recognise and know how to respond to a case of modern slavery?
Vice-President’s Announcements:
Vice President Neville noted that there was a district request for funding for Donations in Kind to assist in shipping of goods. Frank O’ Brien indicated that the club was supporting DIK in assisting in the rental of the warehouse and volunteer work and a story will be included in the next bulletin on supporting Tonga.
It was resolved that the funding request would be discussed at the International Committee meeting to be held later on Tuesday 12 April. The key topic of the Committee would be a setting of budgets for the following year. The results of the meeting would be passed on the Chair.
The upcoming 2023 Rotary International Convention to be held in Melbourne in May 2023 was mentioned.
Our next club meeting, 19 April will be held via Zoom with guest speaker Karen Cohen providing us with an introduction to the mystery of Blockchain.
