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Resuming Face to Face Meetings
Type: Story
Published: May 27, 2020
Is there a more relevant question at the moment?Is there a more difficult question to answer? The restrictions have challenged our communities, our Rotary clubs and ourselves.Overall, Australians can feel proud of their response and results in limiting the spread of COVID-19 and Rotary can feel proud of the way we have responded. The rapid transition to video conferencing platforms, and establishing new projects and fundraising activities has been nothing short of amazing. You all deserve a big and hearty congratulations.Although there has recently been a slight easing of the restrictions, there is a real need to proceed with caution in recommencing face to face meetings or public events and activities.I have been asked by many over recent weeks for the District or Rotary to provide some guidance around Rotary clubs resuming meetings and events.So, whilst not wanting to dictate a particular course of action I feel it is prudent to provide some guidanc
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Our Primary Challenge: Finding and Retaining Members!
Type: Story
Published: Jan 15, 2021
By Rowan McCleanLast year, many of our new Rotary club members were asked the reason they joined, and the following responses came to light:Have found they have more timeWanted to give back to the communityRecently retired or cut back on their workWanted to feel more connected with the communityHave been a Friend of Rotary and wanted to convert to membershipHave found that COVID has highlighted the need for connection and communityVarious combinations of these factors. It is likely that other members of the community have similar thoughts and circumstances, but may not be sufficiently aware of Rotary and the full extent of its work. Interestingly, none of the new members mentioned that he or she had joined because of a particular global issue, such as eliminating Polio or malaria, disaster relief, improving lives in lesser-developed communities or for refugees; or for local challenges, such as reducing homelessness, suicide, or family violence.How shou
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Getting to Know the clubs - Rotary Club of Flemington Kensington
Type: Story
Published: Jul 24, 2020
Flemington Racecourse and the Melbourne Cup are permanently woven into the fabric of our city, as is Rotary Club of Flemington Kensington, which was chartered March, 1987 in the Victoria Racing Club committee rooms.The club has maintained a well-deserved reputation for active community involvement. The Flemington Rotary Opportunity Shop is an ongoing highlight of their local activities and it raises significant funds for community projects. President RotaryFlemington Kensington -Anne HayesYouth wellbeing is a focus of the club. An annual scholarship fund supports two local VCE students, disadvantaged children at several local primary schools, and science and sports scholarships. Picture books are also provided for disadvantaged children through maternal and child health nurses in Moonee Valley. Kids in Sri Lanka are the recipients of outdated playground equipment harvested from their local government parks. The Rotary Overseas Recycled Playgrounds proj
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Centenary of Rotary Begins
Type: Story
Published: Jul 17, 2020
The celebration of 100 Years of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand got off to a spectacular start with an event broadcast via YouTube from Government House on 10 July. The signature project for the event Give Every Child a Future was spotlighted during an online event that celebrated Rotary, Rotarians and the wonderful work done over the past 100 years. Leo Sayer kicked off the event with some of his hits culminating in a toe-tapping rendition of You Make Me Feel Like Dancing. Master of Ceremonies David Mann hosted the event remotely - from Melbourne. Rotarians from all around the world joined the 'telecast' to hear His Excellency the Governor General launch the celebrations from Government House Canberra, relating the contribution that Rotary has made and continues to make to the improvement of the world. Although celebrating an incredible contribution over the past 100 years, His Excellency said it is very much about looking forward, not looking
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The Malvern Story
Type: Story
Published: Jun 19, 2021
By Henry DruryYou barely need to scratch the surface of an Australian locality to find the involvement of a pub. Malvern is no different. In 1853, English barrister Charles Skinner bought and sub-divided 84 acres of land on Glenferrie Road, south of Gardiners Creek and advertised this sub-division as the Malvern Hill Estate. It was named after the Malvern Hills spa country in England where his forbears had lived, but apparently no one really noticed. Not at least until he built a pub on the northwest corner of the present-day Glenferrie and Malvern Roads, naming it the Malvern Hill Hotel, cementing for evermore the hotel name as the title for the area. Like Kew at the northern end of Glenferrie Road, Malvern at the southern end by the 1880s became the site for “fine residences on generous allotments”. These residences included such mansions as Stonnington, originally the home of John Wagner (founding partner of Cobb and Co) and later to be the Victoria
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“Lifting the Lid” on Mental Health
Type: Story
Published: Nov 15, 2023
On World Mental Health Day 10th October, Rotary Yarraville members were joined by Rotarians from Port Phillip, Altona, and Port Gellibrand to raise funds and awareness of mental health in the community. The evening raised $450.00 for the Australian Rotary Health Foundation. It was a remarkable evening beginning with a heartfelt toast to Rotary International delivered by district governor nominee, Peter Shepheard. A number of inspirational speakers followed. The first speaker was State MP for Footscray Katie Hall who shed light on the State Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. She spoke passionately about the new 52-bed mental health facility recently opened at the Sunshine Hospital, emphasizing the importance of providing additional support for people experiencing mental illness who require immediate treatment. Following Katie's powerful words, Dr. Suresh Macardan, the District 9800 chair of t
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Rotary Woodend School Buildings for Vanuatu
Type: Story
Published: May 03, 2023
Posted by Allan Cann on May 03, 2023 After several years of setbacks, the small rural village of Mwast, on the island of Espiritu Santo, 25 km north of the city of Luganville, has two new school classrooms and an office. The project began in 2017, at the suggestion of Woodend Rotarians Allan and Shirley Cann, who have volunteered business mentoring for many years in Vanuatu. ‘We noticed that many primary school-age children were not attending school and were told by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) that many parents could not afford to send children to school, and many schools were so overcrowded, that new children were turned away’ The Rotary Club of Woodend undertook to raise the funds to build new classrooms. A budget of $100,000 was allocated, and the project was made possible by a grant from the Rotary Foundation; the commitment of
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International Grants
Type: Site Page Story
Published: Aug 19, 2022
District and Global Grants Overview Stewardship What is Sustainability
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Speaker Rob McGuirk
Type: Page
Published: Aug 13, 2018
Speaker Rob McGuirk End Trachoma 2020 Rob McGuirk from Rotary Melbourne spoke at Rotary Hawthorn recently regarding the 'End Trachoma 2020' project. Rob gave an excellent and interesting address. Rotary’s 2017-18 International President, Australia’s Ian Riseley, wants a trachoma-free Australia by 2021, Rotary’s 100th year in Australia. Australia is the world's only developed country with trachoma, an infectious eye disease that can be prevented with good hygiene practices. Contact: Rob McGuirk or Kerry Kornhauser 0418 390 334 What is Trachoma? We used to call trachoma sandy blight (the eyes feel gritty, as if full of sand). Evidently the world’s prime cause of infectious blindness, it is due to the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. We heard from guest speaker Robert McGuirk that it leads to eyel
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Long Serving Rotarian: John Wells—Prescription for success
Type: Story
Published: Sep 03, 2020
I’m a pharmacist with a family vocation tradition of pharmacists, my son being a pharmacist and my two children having married pharmacists. One could say prescriptions are in the family!My father was Charter President of Kyneton Rotary and suggested I join when returning from boarding school and University. I looked at other service clubs, but Rotary was my choice and I was inducted in October 1968. I have been club Secretary for three years and am a committee member of the Probus Club. I have great respect for “Mr. Bendigo”, Gordon McKern, a wonderful Rotarian who has been invaluable to us. One club project that was particularly memorable to me was a ‘music hall’, inspired by a retired musician, who would move around tables at our meetings and choose singers to become the chorus. Even the new Principal of the local secondary college with a love of art and drama got involved. With wives, daughters and community members also active, it lasted eight ye