BULLETIN 23rd November, 2021 (Nov 20, 2021)

WHAT'S IN THIS BULLETIN

'Tis CHRISTMAS, 2021

NEXT MEETING - will be 1st February 2022
FROM THE LAST MEETING - 14th December
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's DAY BREAKFAST - 2022
THE ROTARY TREE OF REMEMBRANCE
CLEVER DITTIES
CLUB FUNDRAISING - HOW YOU CAN HELP
GALLERY

NEXT MEETING

PLEASE NOTE: The next meeting will be 1st February, 2022

Also note - In the previous Bulletin, mention was made of the meeting schedule for 2022. RCM will be having the first Face to Face meeting on Tuesday 1^st February 2022 at the RACV Club at 7:30am. Bookings will continue to be made through TryBooking and advance notice will be provided.

To ensure that members and guest speakers have the opportunity to meet on-line, RCM will be planning Zoom meetings every second Tuesday of each month wherever possible. As such, the first Zoom meeting for February will be planned for Tuesday 8^th February 2022. Taking this approach means that RCM can take the opportunity to continue to obtain quality guest speakers who prefer to meet online as well as maximising engagement with all RCM members.

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FROM THE LAST MEETING - 14th December

Posted by Paul FRASER

Rotary Central Melbourne Breakfast Meeting December 14th, 2021

Chair: Campbell Chambers

Reporter: Paul Fraser

President Elias Lebbos opened the meeting with welcome to country and expressed pleasure in having a large number of members and guests for this face-to-face meeting.

Campbell proposed a Toast to Rotary International.

President Elias welcomed members and special guests:

Assistant District Governor, Murray Anderson

Anne Mitchell, Concern Australia/Steps Ministry

Aimee Dare, Uniting Care

Thyda Pich, Uniting care

Elias congratulated Rebecca John on her marvellous effort in attracting a large number of hamper donations in a difficult time.

Member Milestones

Member milestones were mentioned noting that the large number published cater for January anniversaries since there will not be another face-to-face meeting until 1 February 2022.

Members’ Birthdays

Roger Thornton 28^th December

Lady Pastidio 3^rd January

Rohan Williams 3^rd January

Stella Avramopoulos 5^th January

Cecily Neil 11^th January

Spouses’/Partners’ Birthdays

Ben Kryszon-Offerman, Puja Ganguli’s partner 15^th December

Liz Williams, Rhys William’s partner 19^th December

David Batty, Koren Harvey’s partner 20^th December

Akol Kuei, Ariik Ariik’s partner 1^st January

Anne Fairhall, Hon Member Geoff Fairhall’s partner 16^th January

Pip Thornton, Roger Thornton’s partner 27^th January

Sally Moon, David Jones’ partner 30^th January

Suzette Taylor, Neville Taylor’s partner 31^st January

Anniversaries

Stuart and Jo Ellis 15^th December 1985 36 years

Tom and Ann Callander 18^th December 1969 52 years

Peter and Sue Duras 30^th December 1970 51 years

Allan and Athina Driver 9^th January 1982 40 years

Frank and Pauline O’Brien 10^th January 1970 52 years

Luke Allen and Charity Chen 12^th January 2018 4 years

Roy Garrett and Annie [Deceased] 12^th January 1968 54 years

Paul and Julia Fraser 20^th January 1976 46 years

John and Raylee Ilott 25^th January 1975 47 years

Date Joined Rotary

Roger Thornton 29^th December 1998 23 years

Peter Duras 1^st January 1973 49 years

Paul Fowler 1^st January 2010 12 years

David Jones 1^st January 1991 31 years

Ignacio Inchausti 14^th January 2020 2 years

Trevor Dymond 24^th January 2017 5 years

Hon Member Bruce McBain 25^th January 1993 29 years

Announcements

1. Therese Robinson reminded all who purchased Rotary Christmas cakes that these were ready to collect at the door.

2. Roger Thornton reminded members of the Peninsula barbeque.

3. Past President Therese Robinson presented awards held over from the 2020/2021 Changeover to:

- Anne King – Paul Harris Sapphire

- Mary Voice – recognition of contributions to online meetings and supporting positive spirits during dark times via the "Pocket Positives" movement.

Christmas Hampers

Adele le Roux, Community Service, thanked Rebecca John, Michelle Crawford, and Rohan Williams for attracting the many hampers that were held at the front of the room, commenting that she stopped counting at 98 with more coming. She welcomed our guests from the recipient organisations and invited them to speak.

Anne Mitchell, Concern Australia/Steps, acknowledged the work of the late Bernie Gerlinger and that she was pleased that the Hope for the Future Scholarships are named in recognition of his contributions. Anne gave some stories of the use of the scholarships, such as the teenager assisted in studying for a helping profession contrary to the addicted direction of her parents. Another was purchasing a phone for a boy to join online schooling as he had not had access to the internet.

Anne presented President Elias with a certificate of thanks to the club.

Aimee Dare, Uniting Care, acknowledged their small team of workers and the volunteers who had found ways to help and support those seeking asylum. During the shutdowns, many of those seeking asylum had lost their jobs and were isolated without the technology to get online. Uniting helped them achieve social connection online and feedback from those supported was thanking them for not forgetting about them.

Socialising

Breakfast, a trivia quiz, and a comedy video provided an enjoyable end-of-year meeting, with much socialising.

President’s Recap

President Elias highlighted some achievements of the Club in a time when most work was done from behind a screen rather than in person. This included:

1. RCM donation of $1,700 and Peter and Sue Duras’ donation of $1,000 to “Youth Projects” to fund the purchase of a vaccine fridge, enabling YP to provide COVID vaccines to Melbourne’s homeless.

2. Funding of Oxygen concentrators for our sister club in Kolkata, with particular thanks to Rob Hines for arranging it and raising the substantial funds required.

3. Contributing to the start-up of Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network (RIMERN) warehouse, which through the collective efforts of 14 Rotary Clubs helps individuals/families to establish secure accommodation.

4. Our international student mentoring programme successfully assisting students to “acclimatise” to Melbourne and to Australian life.

5. The great success of the online Paul Harris Breakfast that raised some $10,000 for the Rotary Foundation, with special thanks to Therese Robinson for organising the event.

6. The great job done by our fundraising team.

Elias thanked all club members for their efforts as well as member partners who have contributed directly or indirectly by freeing up members to do their work for Rotary. He acknowledged members who had left, mostly due to relocation, and recognised two new members, Maureen Jackson and Sonia Dhillon.

He thanked Anne, Aimee and Thyda for the work they do, emphasising that the club is so pleased to contribute to these causes.

He closed the meeting wishing everyone an enjoyable and safe festive season.

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL - MEMBER SURVEY

Dear Rotary member,

As part of our commitment to provide you with the best membership experience possible, we invite you to participate in the 2021 Rotary All-Member Survey. Your responses will help us learn what you like about being a Rotary member and how we can make your membership experience even better.

To begin the survey, click the link below. It will take 15 to 20 minutes to complete and will be open until 10 December 2021.

https://rotary.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5C3Nsmp9vID6ijQ?Q_DL=EQhlOTkbTd6QJDq_5C3Nsmp9vID6ijQ_CGC_QM48kbRmk4x3d68&Q_CHL=email

Only one survey can be submitted using the link, so please do not forward or share this email. If you any have questions, contact us at surveys@rotary.org.

Sincerely,

Shekhar Mehta

RI President, 2021 - 2022

ROTARY CHRISTMAS HAMPER 2021 APPEAL

Posted by Rebecca JOHN

CHRISTMAS HAMPER 2021 APPEAL

To assist Rotary Central Melbourne to mark the Festive Season, we ask members and friends to make up Christmas Hampers for the less fortunate people in our community. We will be providing hampers for two groups of disadvantaged people:

the homeless and youth through Steps Outreach Service and
refugee families through Lentara Uniting Asylum Seeker Project

FROM THE LAST MEETING - 14th December

Meeting Responsibilities