Dear Everyone,
Welcome to the second half of the Rotary year. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas with family and friends, and that 2021 will be a happy, healthy and successful year for us all. Over this half-year, we will continue the great work of 2020 in our areas of service.
It was a pity that we weren’t able to have our Burnt Chop and Car Rally, and it is frustrating and dispiriting to put so much time and effort into organising events only for them to be cancelled. Thank you to the Fundraising Committee and Roy and Ali for the preparations they made for these social events, and hopefully we will have the Car Rally sometime in the future.
After 9 months of meeting on Zoom, we are having our first in-person Club meeting this Tuesday 19th of January, at our traditional venue the Paradise Hotel. A booking for 20 has been made for our usual room; if more than 20 members turn up, I am not sure how they will be catered for. Perhaps some will be seated for their meal in the bistro and maybe there will be seating or standing room for the meeting itself. I spoke to the owner Mark Protheroe on Thursday, who said that we could have the veranda for future meetings should our numbers necessitate this. I guess we are “playing it by ear” for our first meeting. There will not be a set menu for us, we will be ordering “a la carte” and as usual will pay when we order. Please wear a face-mask upon entering.
Our first meeting is a Club Assembly but we will need to discuss the organisation of our second Trash2Treasure Market taking place on the Emerald Primary School Oval (thank you Emma!❤️) on Saturday 6th of February from 8:30am. – 1:30pm. The format will be much the same as our first market, but maybe with a few tweaks. Did someone say “Egg and bacon sandwiches”? We need to discuss the Market at this meeting as we will not be meeting the following week on the Australia Day holiday.
I had reason to correspond with DG Alma just prior to Christmas and in her reply, Alma wrote, “Using a market to recruit new members is a great idea and I know you will make a positive action rather than just hoping people will ask. I saw this in action a week or so ago when I was at the Mount Waverley market. The Membership Chair went around talking to shoppers and stall holders and gathered three lots of contact details in less than an hour! It's amazing what can be done.”
Isn’t that encouraging? Making contact with people and having friendly, “tempered” conversations about Rotary is what the Market is all about (as well as raising some funds). And we know it’s not just the Membership Chair or committee’s responsibility; we can all engage with the patrons and point those who show an interest to the Membership Marquee to have their contact details recorded.
Another item for discussion will be our Sausage Sizzle on Saturday 23rd of January outside Alan’s Butcher Shop from 8:30am. to 1pm. Kris needs volunteers to fill the three shifts. While selling sausages has its pluses, it isn’t the main focus of the barbeque. As with the Market, this is the chance to sell ourselves, figuratively speaking, and why we love being members of the Emerald and District Rotary Club. A key message is that Rotarians are People of Action creating positive change in our communities and in ourselves.
There may be time for committee members to talk to one other, and we hope to be able to hear reports from Committee Chairs.
John and Angela Henderson are representing us and attending Cardinia Shire Council’s Australia Day Awards 2021 next Monday night at the Cardinia Cultural Centre Pakenham, as John nominated the 2019 Kids’ Fun Run With Thomas for Cardinia Shire’s Event of the Year Award. Our event has been shortlisted before, so dare we hope to win it this time? Even if we aren’t successful, our Kids’ Fun Run is an event that we can be truly proud of. Good luck, John!
Next week:
** on 26th of January, we will not be meeting so that you can enjoy your Public Holiday.
The following week:
** on 2nd of February, PP PHF Ian Ash will be doing a presentation of the Strategic Plan for the next 3 to 5 years, that the Strategic Plan Sub-Committee has been working on. It is very important that you attend to learn about the Plan and for the Board and its sub-committee to receive your feedback. Once finalised, this Plan will be guiding the work of the Club and its Committees for the next few years. Thank you very much to Ian for putting the presentation together.
See you at the Pub on Tuesday night, stay safe, and stay Rotary Proud.
Yours in Rotary,
Vicki.
