Don't forget today is Stress Down Day – why not think about a way you can help raise funds for Lifeline, they do such a good job helping those at a most critical time.
The Club was delighted to induct Peter Brock as a Paul Harris Fellow with 2 Sapphires - and here he is looking relaxed and warm in sunny Singapore!
PP PHF Catherine Elfick had a good homemade idea for a mask with a hairband and a file insert - yes the Presidency went to her head (sorry folks!!)
Interact Club of Berwick Report
by Jessica Elfick
(and very well articulated too!! Great to see young people getting involved and coming up with ideas for their club.
- Interact having a good time
- 31 members so far
- Meet every Thursday lunch – Zoom meeting – please join
- Official cert on 27 May
- Penpal letters to old folks Fiddlers Green next to the school and kept writing letters
- Building 1000 paper cranes you get a wish – selling for $1 a crane everyone with a name on crane gets a wish – getting others coming in to make cranes
PP PHF DGN Ken Miller reported that at the DG Nominees Meeting
9820 was very lavish in praise for Interact – they are the most active club in their district – well done Jess!!!
Committee Reports
Community - PP PHF Martin Buoncristiani
Connections with community social organizations are important because they provide our link to those in need. No increase in connections (Food Store from St. Luke’s in Cockatoo, St. Mark’s and the Community House in Emerald. We are still open to find more.
Two elements of Food Supply –
1) We will try to continue the donations of food to the Cockatoo Food Store begun by Youth. Initiating distribution of eggs to ECH . Egg supply is due to John Ritchie.
2) We have been requested to help with food preparation – a more difficult issue. Food certification for cooks has been resolved but we are thinking through additional risks to the Club. For example, provenance of the food. We need a careful risk assessment.
Our main effort is developing a Voucher system – Russ has outlined a plan and are working through it.
Organizing a group from CS, YS and VS to coordinate our efforts oversee the process.
Our committee see the COVID situation as an historic moment 0f urgency and we are trying to rise to the level of effort the Club managed after the Ash Wednesday Fires.
International - PP PHF Ian Ash
Personally been reworking budgets so that we could accommodate Community Service request for additional funding to support those affected by COVID in our community as well as expected reduced income from events.
Deposited A$1500 into Polio Plus on Friday (17/7) and all being well, that makes us one of the first 10 Clubs in D9810 and hence eligible to achieve additional matched grants taking our total Club contribution to Polio Plus to in excess of A$10,000.
Budgets for all other projects established but back-end loaded (i.e. to be paid in 2021) in case we are unable to raise sufficient funds in which case some may be dropped except for Tenderfoot school for which we plan to spend $1,000 to aid their COVID impact in August.
Vocational Service - PP PHF Ian Wakefield
The Vocational Service team has agreed to put its full weight behind the Community Service Committee proposal as tabled by Martin Buoncristiani. That is to support the local community during the current pandemic.
MacLeod Murphy Scholarship.
Seek applications from local students in the medical or allied fields.
Plan to facilitate a scholarship to about $1,000 per year ( possibly for 2 years ) for 1 or 2 students.
The presentation of the Scholarship, this year, may be part of the Vocational Services award night or may be an on line event … TBA
Emerald and District Trades & Service Directory.
Initial investigative works are underway. The idea is to have a small booklet, possibly DL brochure size, that provides the main contact details for doctors, ambulance, banks, solicitors, libraries, community organisations etc. It is envisaged, if we get this off the ground, that it is updated annually and that it becomes self-funding through sponsorship and advertising over time. ( hopefully from year 1 )
It envisaged that the booklet becomes part of a ‘ Welcome to Emerald / Gembrook/ Cockatoo etc. pack that is presented to all new home owners in the district.
Pride of Workmanship Awards
Sangeeta is preparing for POW awards to a shovel ready stage.
We hope to run the event within 2 months of being given approval by the Club and D9810 insurers. This year we will include the category of Apprentice / Trainee of the year award.
Know your Rotarian
We are investigating the setup of a Know Your Rotarian 5 minute session to be run during each weekly meeting during the current on line meetings.
The benefit of this would be to have everyone in the club better understand the strengths that we have and hopefully pass these strengths on to other people that they associate with.
The idea is that each Rotarian, in turn, will have 5 minutes ( one each week ) to brief the club on their Business, likes, dislikes , strengths, weaknesses etc. anything that they feel that the club members can benefit from a better understanding their position. This over time may also include Rotarians from other clubs and possibly D9810.
Club promotion to businesses.
Placement of the brochures and cards will be supported by Vocational Service.
Youth Committee - Tina McInerney
This year we have already had passed by the board the usual awards for the Youth of the District – they are presented over the months of October, November and December – and they are
The Youth Arts Award – Emerald Secondary College Citizens award – The Les Smith Awards – the Marie Ranger Citizenship award – and Citizenship awards for Macclesfield, Gembrook and Cockatoo Primary Schools. We have also included this year a Music Award for Emerald Secondary College.
In conjunction with Belgrave, Monbulk and supported by AG Brian Hodgson - we have submitted a proposal for a Grant for a project that will focus on developing welfare support for Youth in the cluster area.
A strategic plan will be developed to include distribution of information aimed at reducing risk of youth suicide via organizations like RUOK and provision of counselling via youth drop-in centre or mental health hub.
Membership Committee - Roy Bowyer
The committee discussed the need to review all aspects of membership recruitment and induction together with an ongoing review of member satisfaction as critical to ensuring the retention of new members. Also, a more consistent learning process for new members was considered.
The issue of WWC may be considered as a prerequisite of membership in future.
We understand that the current Zoom technology falls far short of a “normal” meeting and this could influence the level of satisfaction of all members. Options to raise the involvement of members and increase the fun component will be researched which may include such ideas as dynamic surveys during a meeting. If any member wants to share a new idea regarding our meetings program, this would be welcome.
The Pop-Up shop concept was consider as having a multi committee involvement, however the Membership committee has been asked to drive the project initially and will scope the objectives of this activity and prepare a descriptive report to the board. A time and location cannot be determined given the current pandemic situation.
Funding the Membership program, Pop-Up concept and street signage has been discussed and an estimate of the costs will require a modest budget.
Our objective is to retain all current members and increase the net total club membership by 3 and in doing this, raise the community’s awareness of their local Rotary Club.
Marketing and Public Image - Ros Weadman
The Marketing and Public Image Committee is taking a strategic approach in 2020/21 to the promotion of the club and its various activities. We will consolidate a calendar of events and campaigns of the various committees (once these are confirmed) and plan our promotional activities around this calendar for the coming 12 months. At this stage, there is no budget for marketing activities so our activities will focus on leveraging opportunities that do not cost money such as increasing our publicity in the local media, using local newsletters and other channels where available, as well as keeping our social media and website up to date with fresh content.
Our marketing message this year will be in line with the Rotary theme of “Rotary Opens Opportunities” and we encourage all members to use this theme when speaking about our club to others. We also seek the support of all members to support our club’s promotional activities by liking, commenting on, and sharing our Facebook posts.
Fundraising pp phf Kristine Ash
Looking at a few ideas at the moment, nothing solidified yet but thank you to all members for their input at Club Assembly. Top ideas at the moment are:
- Online Breakfast with a celebrity
- Working with the Centenial Banner Run to raise funds
- Round It Up for COVID – will approach local businesses with the concept to see if it can fly
- All American photo competition, we may need to pick Don’s brains once he is out of hospital and on the mend.
- We will explore the jail break and Lakes development ideas (thank you Peter and Roy).
Deb Ball Report - shalini penny
Due to the latest Government restrictions the 13th June 2020 Deb Ball, which was re scheduled to 11thOctober is being rescheduled again to Sunday 28th March 2021. Based on these restrictions the maximum number attending the event is 250. Originally 23 couples registered however we are down to 15 and have a request for another refund which will drop the total to 14 couples. The profitability of the event will be severely impacted and we may only generate $2000. At this point in time every effort is being made to keep the pupils involved and enthused and hopefully when we close off registrations on 15th January the numbers increase. A second event is scheduled for 2021 to take place on 12th June for the Year 11’s . It is too soon to be able to make any further decisions. Going forward I will be passing this event onto Lyn Beckwith but not before she has a fair chance of learning the ropes.
Shalini Penny
Centennial Project and Sub Committee - shalini penny
At Changeover we watched a video of Alma Reynolds who requested that all Clubs come up with a project to celebrate 100 years of Rotary in 2021. As a club we have the task of coming up with a cost effective, high profile project with the aim for it to be a sustainable legacy, remembered long term and involving the Community. A committee is to be formed to investigate and recommend a project. All members are invited to be involved and Ros Weadman has already put her hand up. If you are interested in joining the committee please contact either Vicki or myself.
Baton Relay – Ken Miller PP PHF DGN
- Baton April May period
- 4 Batons from each corner of the compass everyone meet at a designated point – potentially Monash or Box Hill.
- Would like club support
Other stuff
Foodbank Cockatoo have recognized the impact we are making in a small way.
Centennial Project – Ros Weadman wlll be on the committee volunteers needed to join Ros and to kick it off.
Letter from the Glades
Just touching base to say Hello and fill you in on how we are all doing at Emerald Glades.
The residents have been busy with all their favourite activities each day. Many have had window visits or video calls with their loved ones.
Emerald Rotary Club generously donated many goodies to the residents and local school children have been busy writing letters for the residents to enjoy.
I know you all would be missing your interaction and time with the residents and we cannot wait till we can see you all again you are very missed. Should anyone like to do a virtual group i.e. Liz call bingo over video calling or just to have a chat and a cuppa with your activity group on either Zoom , Skype or FaceTime please feel free to give me a call and we can arrange something that is suitable to yourself and the residents.
Remember you can keep up to date and see all the beautiful smiling faces of the residents of The Glades on our Facebook page.
I will endeavour to keep you up to date with news on any changes allowing volunteers back into the home. Until then I am only and email or phone call away.
Clare Robinson - Social Support Coordinator
Pres. Vicki closed the meeting – she was thrilled with quality of the meeting this week and thanked everyone for all the work and many wonderful ideas.
Thank you PP PHF Ian Ash for reworking of the Budget and getting the $1000 in for Polio Plus to increase our contribution to $7000.
PP PHF Ian Ash presenting interview skills to Rotaracts next Saturday.
Thank you to PP PHF Martin Buoncristiani and PP PHF Russ Marnock for their work on a District Grant.
Thank you Sangeeta Bajaj for the help with Zoom.
