Dear Everyone,
At last Tuesday’s meeting, we were delighted to have the company of District Governor Alma Reynolds, her husband Greg King and Assistant Governor Brian Hodgson. In her address, Alma canvassed a range of issues which Editor Kris notes below, but I would like to mention a few of Alma’s points: firstly, make a plan - use the suspension of our normal activities to examine our entire programme, to determine what is needed now and what can be delayed.
Make every project we do a Rotary project and label it as such.
Where there are “hands-on” opportunities, wear our Rotary polo shirts, caps and windcheaters and put photos on Facebook and the Website, and send stories to Open Doors and to the Rotary Down Under magazine. Doing these things supports the claim we make about ourselves that we are “People of Action”.
We should select our members very carefully, and find those with a Rotary passion, which I think we do.
And finally, engage with Rotary outside of our Club, Rotary is an amazing network.
As you know, through AG Brian, our cluster of clubs has applied for a District 9810 Grant for a Youth Wellbeing Project for Yarra Ranges Cardinia A cluster. Youth Chair Tina has reported on this at our meetings and many of us attended a forum on a Wednesday night in September. For your information, these are the Objectives of the project:
“This is a joint project by Yarra Ranges Cardinia A. The project 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 organisations like RUOK, and provision of counselling via a youth drop-in centre or mental health hub. Funds will be raised through the conduct of a virtual music concert, donations and eventually a face-to-face concert. Input and participation will be encouraged from local youth and Rotaract clubs.”
We have now entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with SALT – Sport and Life Training - which will prove very advantageous.
Former Club member Peter Brock, who is now a member of the Singapore Rotary Club, asked us to send him one of our Club’s pennants.
It appears to be the last one that we have, so I will not send it to him just yet. The company that produced the pennants for us no longer exists, so what do we do next? At the very least, in its next incarnation, we need to have the correct logo on the pennant and also, is that the best graphic of Puffing Billy? Or would we like new artwork? We need to have a discussion about this so please email me any feedback.
In last week’s Sparkle, I mentioned the seven characteristics the Strategic Plan Sub-Committee suggested our Club should aim to have within three to five years.
I list them here again for your perusal and to ask if they meet your expectations.
1. Vibrancy: have an active and engaging program of club meetings and events from a variety of disciplines.
2. Member retention high and new membership increasing.
3. A representative mix of members from our local community.
4. A strong mentoring program for new members and development of members, via training opportunities, encouraged.
5. Strong two-way communication with members, receptiveness to and acting upon member feedback.
6. Flexibility and innovation, use of technology to reach a wider audience, attract and keep members.
7. Be well-known and have our brand and impact better understood by our Community, with consistency in marketing across all events.
You are welcome to give feedback on these characteristics.
The Sub-Committee’s next step is to develop plans to achieve these outcomes.
One of the suggestions from the Member Satisfaction Survey was that members be able to view our Rotary Program Master Sheet for the year. All members with an email address should now have access to view our program. We would like to have a Rotary topic once a month, because after all we are a Rotary Club, and also to increase our knowledge and understanding. We are also interested to have speakers from our local traders and businesses to understand their needs better and to strengthen our ties with them.
The Membership Committee is looking into this possibility.
- Do you have an idea for a topic or for a Guest Speaker? If so, kindly email Russell Marnock or me.
A reminder about the new Ritchies Card replacing the dog-tag one that many of us have. When you register, if you click to support the Rotary Club of Emerald, the donations will go to Wheelchairs For Kids and according to the Website, almost $25,000 has been donated to this wonderful cause.
And now for something completely different, our Christmas Break-up Party. Yay, it’s approaching that time of the year again! 🤶🎄🎅 🍺🍷🥂🍗
And we have had the most amazing offer, our outstandingly wonderful Tina has offered to host a long Christmas Lunch at her house on either Sunday the 6th or 13th of December.
Tina did that for us with some helpers a few years back, and we had the best time.
Her front yard is very large so that tables can be placed in a COVID Safe manner.
Tina will be the organiser, but her thoughts are that two teams produce the entrées and desserts and Tina handle the main course. And we’ll have fun, fun, fun!!! We just need to decide on the date. Thank you so much Tina for your most generous offer ❤️❤️❤️
Next week:
On the 3rd of November, what a night our fabulous Fundraising Committee have planned for us on Melbourne Cup Night, a Melbourne Cup Posh Picnic by ZOOM!
Can’t wait to see what delicious goodies the team will have packed for us.
Thank you Shalini, Kelly, Kris and Emma and your helpers – you da best!
Don’t forget - sartorial splendour expected for “Fashions on the Field”.
The following week:
On the 10th of November, we have Guest Speaker Pat Armstrong talking about Rotary’s new Area of Focus, “Sustainability and the Environment”. There are lots of things our Club can do and Pat will give us the impetus to get started.
President of Friends of Emerald Lake Park (FELP) Sheila Hampson and some friends will be joining us and hopefully some beekeepers too.
Our “Know Your Rotarian” is another Club Champion, our longest-serving member Russ Nielsen. It will be very interesting to learn more about Russ.
Stay safe, have a wonderful long weekend - and stay Rotary Proud!
Yours in Rotary,
Vicki.
