Samantha Pearce, Relationship Executive Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Samantha has 20 years banking experience with the Commonwealth Bank, within both Institutional and Corporate Banking.
She specializes within the Not-for-Profit and Education sectors, working with large corporate sized organisations to understand their strategic priorities and support these with tailored financial solutions, business insights and market leading technology.
She holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with the University of Tasmania, majoring in Accounting and Human Resource Management, and is currently completing a Diploma of Corporate Governance with the Australian Institute of Community Directors.
On Tuesday 9th October club members and guests will be invited to support this year’s Lift the Lid on Mental Illness Fundraiser by either paying $5 for wearing your favourite headgear - hats, beanie and fascinators all welcomed!
Should you choose not to cover your head, you’ll be charged $7!
Our guest speaker Robyn Hunter - CEO Mind Australia will help us focus on the important topic of mental illness.
All funds raised will be donated to Australian Rotary Health’s National annual fundraising day for mental health research.
The Lift the Lid campaign, founded by ARH Vice Chairman Greg Ross, started in 2016 in partnership with Rotary Clubs of Victoria. The event was such a success that it has now been extended to all Rotary Clubs across Australia.
Each year approximately 1-in-5 Australians will experience a mental illness and in order to help future generations of young Australians, we need to look ahead through research and find out how we can prevent this type of illness occurring.
Please consider how you can support this important initiative by participating in a fun Lift the Lid morning on Tuesday 9th October.
Tony Thomas’s new book will be launched on Wednesday 10th October from 6-8pm at Il Gambero’s Restaurant, 166 Lygon St, Carlton.
He’d love to see Rotary friends and partners there. Key speaker is Bill Kininmonth, a former senior executive of the Bureau of Meteorology, and Perth-raised like Tony.
After the launch it’s optional to head downstairs for a light dinner.
Tony says, "When I was reporting for The West Australian in the 1960s pre-boom, I enjoyed doing slice-of-life pieces about unsung people like watch repairers, furniture removers, wood choppers and rubbish dump caretakers. I’d get behind the scenes at events like pop concerts, the speedway, and the theatre. I’d meet colourful characters like anthropologists still travelling the North-West by camel, and the last of the Chinese market gardeners in South Perth. It’s all a colorful miscellany of small city stuff that lived ‘below the radar’. That was my happy-go-lucky era and I hope, fun and curiosity come across in these pages. There’s about 80 of these short pieces.”
The International Team has organised another “working bee” at Rotary’s Donations-in-Kind warehouse for the morning of Saturday 27th October. Please keep this morning free in your diary. This is an ongoing activity and a really "feel good" activity of our club. If you haven't been to DIK before, it is a massive hive of activity and a real eye opener as to Rotary at work for the local and international communities.
Where : Store 39, 400 Somerville Road, West Footscray
As mentioned in email and breakfast meeting announcements, a social event has been organised for friends and partners of Rotary Central Melbourne members. This is a private class for our group called “The Essential Writing Workout”. It will be like a physical workout with a personal trainer but tailored to your ‘brain’. You can read more about Laneway Learning at https://melbourne.lanewaylearning.com.
It is an opportunity to connect this group that supports Rotary Central Melbourne and also support this local Not-For-Profit organisation. This private class will be held in the iconic Nicholas Building in the city of Melbourne. It will be followed by some more social time at a nearby venue, Young & Jacksons Hotel.
Please pass on to your partner or friend who supports your Rotary work and ask them to book no later than Friday 19th October at suzette.taylor5@bigpond.com.
If your partner or friend can’t attend this one but would be interested in future events, please encourage them to reply to me as well with their email and phone contact.
Rotary’s Southern District ‘Shine On’ recognition program is an outstanding annual recognition program acknowledging exceptional service by people with disability to their local and wider community. The Southern Districts covers five districts, which includes 9800.
Do you club know of somebody with a disability?
Do they provide outstanding support to others with disability?
Are they a community leader or involved in a community group?
Do you have a relationship with a local organisation that supports people with disability who may want to nominate somebody for Shine On?
Well it is time to get to it and reach out to your local community and identify people with a disability, who are worthy of Shine On recognition. Let’s make this year better than ever for the selection panel and give them many outstanding nominees to consider.
RI Southern Districts ‘Shine On’ is a multi-district project covering all of Victoria (and small parts of SA and NSW), and acknowledges exceptional service to others by people with disabilities. Clubs may nominate people who meet the criteria and all nominees will receive recognition with a Certificate of Commendation.
To be eligible, nominees should:
Demonstrate the active involvement of the nominee in community service for the benefit of others and have demonstrated a significant level of personal achievement whilst managing a specific medical disorder/disability, and
Be endorsed by a Rotary Club.
Examples of personal achievement may include:
Leadership and/or mentoring of others with the disability
Membership and/or leadership in community groups
Service to the community and/or a history of community achievement
Other special awards or forms of recognition
Nominations may be made anybody in the community, and are open to people aged over 15 years.
A Rotary club must endorse each Nomination. The nominee must sign a consent form and include a small or passport sized photo, as well as other supporting documentation.
The Shine On Recognition ceremony will take place on Sunday 7 May 2019 at the Italian Sports Club of Werribee, hosted by the Rotary Club of Hoppers Crossing.
Today was the annual graduation of the mentees from the VicPol Leadership Mentor Program (VPLMP), which concludes 11 years of this program, initiated by RC Central Melbourne.
The meeting began with a toast to Rotary International. Phillip Archer DGN proposed the toast, reminding members that vocational services was the cornerstone of the inspiration behind Rotary’s existence. He noted that the VPLMP program is a shining light of what this means; using Rotarians vocations to do good in the world and demonstrating that Rotarians are people of action.
Following breakfast Phillip presented an overview of what the VPLMP is from a Rotary perspective. There are four districts involved in the program now and Rotarians use their vocation and Rotary Experience to develop leadership in the police mentees in the context of community service. He congratulated RCCM on instigating and continuing to support the program.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Glen Weir then gave an address on the program from the perspective of Victoria Police. Firstly, he acknowledged the elders of the first people, past present and future. He then mentioned the immense pride the VicPol has in the program, noting that it is the longest leadership program within the force. He congratulated all the current participants.
What VicPol like about the program is that it gives senior police members an opportunity to reflect on the community they serve. The program give participants the opportunity to make a difference in their communities, which is a key goal of the program. Following his address, he paid respect to John Meehan, recently deceased, for his significant contribution to the program and for his foresight in being part of the steering committee from the outset.
Rotarian Roger Taylor from the Rotary Club of Moe then gave a talk on what it is like to be a Rotary mentor. When he was asked to take on this role, he was hesitant as he was extremely busy but made the very clear point that it was a great opportunity and that people should never turn their back on opportunity. The relationship began by meeting and setting boundaries around trust and confidentiality, and his mentee priorities getting his project underway, which involved engaging with young people. He noted that whenever this program is running the local community is the beneficiary. Roger then said that the program made him very proud to be a Rotary member and the club got the benefit of being updated on how the program and community project was progressing.
Mentee Senior Sergeant Peter Fusinato followed by his reflections of the program from the perspective of a mentee. Peter has been in the force for 33 years; he explained that it a very different environment when you work and live in a smaller community. His priorities have changed as his children have grown. The program has helped him to see forward and set a 5-year career plan, something that he has never done previously. Peter reflected that he achieved significant growth and development through the program and was most grateful for the selection to participate. This program gave him the opportunity to understand what it means to serve others in a voluntary capacity. He praised the work of Rotary for its professionalism and ethos of volunteerism.
Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam and DGN Phillip Archer then presented certificates of completion to all mentors and mentees present.
The raffle draw then followed with five prizewinners. President Neville Taylor announced that the raffle had raised $637 for Police Legacy.
Before the meeting closed, there were two brief announcements about the Head-to-Head walk to raise mental health awareness and the dinner to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Echuca-Moama that night.
The evening of Tuesday 25th September 2018 saw our Club well represented at the 70th Anniversary to the day of our Sister Club, RC Echuca-Moama (RCEM). There were 77 attendees including our very own President Neville Taylor, Alan Seale, Rob Hines, Herb and Leonie Greenwood, Alan Driver, Nick Clift and Frank O’Brien.
Past President Geoff Tighe was MC and gave a very interesting short summary of the history of the Club (It was once simply the Rotary Club of Echuca), President Neville passed on RI’s congratulations and the best wishes of our Club whilst mentioning our growing sister club relationship, Past President and current Assistant District Governor for the Goldfields South Cluster, Cliff Downey interviewed 4 Past Presidents covering many decades of Club activities and District Governor Nominee, Philip Archer, representing District Governor, Bronwyn Stephens, spoke of Rotary’s strong involvement with the National Drought Relief Appeal which has been promoted by Channel 9 over the last couple of months. Over $11m has been donated to date.
Interestingly, RCEM is the 6th oldest Club in our District. It was chartered by RC of Bendigo which had become the second Rotary Club in the District when it was chartered by RC Melbourne in 1925.
One of the many good signs of the night was that President Rob Foran inducted 2 new members.
The “obligatory” fund raising was conducted during the night and over $1400 was raised.
All in all, a very enjoyable night and well worth the trip to continue our relationship with and show our support for RC Echuca-Moama. Thank you to those who represented our Club at this unique event...it’s fair to say that not many of us will be around to attend our Club’s 70th Anniversary celebrations in 2057!!!
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