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Rotary Environmental Planting Scheme (REPS)
The Rotary Club on Manningham is sponsoring a tree planting activity on Sunday, 9th August, 2009 at Glenaroua (via Broadford) in the Goulburn Valley about one and a half hours from Melbourne CBD. We are looking for volunteers to join President Philip and PP Gordon for what will be a fun day. The plan is to arrive at 8:30am, tree planting starts around 9am. Morning tea and BBQ lunch is included for those who register, supplied by the Rotary Club of Manningham. Too easy! Wear warm clothes, bring gloves and a raincoat. Everything else needed for planting is supplied! It's going to be a great day. We will work in teams of 3-4 to plant trees, place tree guards and organise the stakes and tube guards. If you able to attend please advise meetings@rotary.to by the Close of Business, Tuesday, 4th August, 2009 so we can advise numbers for catering. You can find out more about the 2007 planting here.
Kids Foundation
DATE: Sunday 23 to Wednesday 26 August 2009 VENUE: Camp Wilkin, 57 Noble Street, Anglesea, VIC 3230.
Camp Phoenix is project of the Burn Survivors Network of the Kids Foundation. The Burn Survivors Network provide services and programs to assist burn survivors and their families to develop a quality of life beyond survival. Camp Phoenix is a weekend of enjoyment and togetherness, inspiration and encouragement. With bush and beach activities in a homely and relaxed atmosphere participants can enjoy awesome games, great food and create new and enjoy old friendships. What a great environment to renew and relax with a revived vigour for life, belief in each other and most importantly self-belief and quiet self-confidence. As part of the D9800 Bushfire Recovery Appeal Fund, the Rotary Club of Southbank is supporting the Kids Foundation's efforts to assist young burns victims of the Black Saturday 7 February 2009 bushfire. Camp Phoenix provide a fantastic opportunity to give real and personal support to burns victims of the bushfire and their families. We are looking for two (2) Rotarians who are prepared to attend Camp Phoenix (Sunday to Wednesday inclusive) and act as buddies for guests of the camp. Volunteers will be briefed on their role and on-going support is provided during and after the camp. For further information and to indicate your interest, please email Bettina or call her on 0416 497 139.
DATE: Monday 24 August 2009 VENUE: Camp Wilkin, 57 Noble Street, Anglesea, VIC 3230. TIME: 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm (please arrive at the Camp around 7pm to help with set up). The Trivia Night will be embedded in a Fun Night with the Theme "Multicultural" where everybody is invited to dress up in traditional or fancy costumes (but do not have to). Attendees will be whole families (from kids to grandparents) and volunteers. (Estimated audience size of approximately 100 - to be confirmed closer to the event). All Rotary volunteers will receive Tea/dinner and are invited to stay for the whole event starting from 7pm until late ..... If you (Rotarians, partners and friends) would like to come along and join in with this event, please let Bettina know by Friday 24/07/09 for roster and catering purposes. With Richard running the show, it will surely be a fantastic night. GSE Team Member for Spain nomination
You can find out more from the documents below: Team member info re GSE 2009-10 Be part of the Regeneration of Kinglake
It is now two months since our year of ‘Making Dreams Real’ but one of the items of unfinished business is to assist in the recovery efforts for those who tragically lost so much on 7th February – ‘Black Saturday’. We
always knew it was going to be a long road to recovery. We also
knew that once the dust had settled and the smoke had cleared, much
of the needed recovery resources would dwindle as we all turned our
attention to more recent events and new Last month an appeal was launched to D9800 Clubs to establish a register of volunteers who would be willing to work in Kinglake as volunteers beside our friends at Global Care. This wonderful organization has been our conduit into Kinglake to identify recovery initiatives we can support. You have already supplied chainsaws, log-splitters, a Bobcat with post driver and post hole digger as well as a 6 tonne truck and trailer for volunteers to clear dangerous trees, supply firewood and remove and rebuild fences.
I invite
you and/or as many members of your club as possible to join me in
Kinglake this Saturday (5th September) for a special
briefing session with Global Care and our D9800 Bushfire Recovery
Chairman Mev Connell and D9800 Community Service Chairman, Ross
Butterworth. I am really hoping we can have at least one representative from each of our clubs in attendance for this 2 hour briefing and tour. (I understand that the clubs of the Goldfields Cluster may not be able to attend). – This may also be an opportunity for you to informally catch up with your fellow Past Presidents. Yours in Rotary Service Kind regards Jim [IPDG Jim Studebaker] ------------ Saturday 5 September 2009 was a cold and damp day and very different to 7 September 2009 - Black Saturday. The mood is also very different. Many cyclists were on the road braving the cold; none were running for their lives. At IPDG's Jim's invitation, RC Southbank attended the briefing on 5 September 2009 with a strong 6-members-plus-a-partner contingent. I was both very excited and very proud. Excited because there are a lot of service opportunities ahead of us, where we can all make a direct contribution to our community. I am very:
The briefing started with an outline by PP Mev Connell on what has been done by the D9800 Bushfire Recovery Fund thus far. The Fund has purchased equipment needed to clear and rebuild Kinglake, including a bobcat, chainsaws and other equipment. The next phase is to support Global Care by providing volunteers for the many projects they were requested to assist the residents of Kinglake and surrounding areas. Russell Wright, Global Care coordinator, and his colleague then outlined the many and varied opportunities for service. Global Care receives 20 new requests every day - so they are not going to run out of things to do. The range of services needed and varying degrees of skills needed to provide those services mean that almost anyone can make an important contribution to the regeneration of Kinglake and surrounding areas. To give you an idea of the diversity, here are some of the work that needs to be done:
After nearly 7 months, some residents have been overstretched and could do with any assistance you can provide, so don't hesitate to put your hand up! There are also opportunities for volunteers to be trained for particular tasks - such as the use of chainsaws or bobcats. Russell said that the idea is for clubs to look after particular jobs so that each club can organise volunteers for the job or jobs it has nominated for.
Global Care's Kinglake "headquarters" behind the police station
The D9800 bobcat purchased by the Fund and used for a variety of tasks
Accessories to the bobcat
IPDG Jim Studebaker in front of the D9800 bobcat, with PP Mev Connell (right) addressing the Rotarians
Making firewood the modern way. The lady on the right operates the machine that chops the wood.
felled trees on the right, firewood on the left - easy
Black Saturday has made its mark on the land but there are some signs of recovery
The vast extent of the devastation can be seen here
New life is reclaiming the landscape but your help could assist the recovery of the residents of Kinglake and surrounding areas - join the D9800 volunteers to Make Dreams Real!
(By Catherine Morales) Name of camp: Camp Tango Date occurred: 9-12th Oct 09 Organisation of the camp: Kids Foundation My role: Volunteer - assist with attending needs of young participants I headed to Ballarat straight from work on 9/10 - Friday night ... got there about 9 pm. So the brief outline goes like this ... The camp was based in Creswick and Log Cabin and was designed to have a nice chilled, fun and adventurous weekend for the participants. Activities on Saturday involved soccer, bushwalk, trampolining karate, flying fox and harley drive. We also had a presentation from a guest speaker re becoming more aware of our state of mind and things we can do to get on the positive side. Of the evening, we attended a presentation at the Ballarat Regent Theatre for the upcoming Jayco Herald Sun Cycling Tour. This involved speeches from Jacinta Allen (Public Rep for Provincial Victoria) and the big wigs at Ballarat. Kids Foundation attended this presentation because this foundation is the charity of choice for Jayco. One of our young participants presented her story and promoted Kids Foundation at the Theatre. Then the cyclists were introduced one by one. On a Sunday, we had breaky at Wendouree; then set up the Kids Foundation stall at the town of Ballarat alongside the stalls of Cycle Tour Sponsors. The day included selling raffle tickets, selling Kids Foundation goodies, face painting and media interviews. Kids Foundation was also proud to have one of the young participants to cycle the 70 km track. The team I was with was lucky to have spotted her while she was cycling so we turned the van around and stopped ahead and cheered her on as she passed us. This was one of the highlights of the camp, among many other highlights. The young participants also had to fill in a questionnaire which will become part of a research, to understand the needs of the young participants, if the camp structure is getting the best outcome or should they implement something to make the camp more effective - and also for other events that they bring about. Of a Sunday evening there was a Chinese Mining Tour and meet the farm animals. To close of the fabulous camp, we had a camp fire where we cooked our damper. Then a few of us stayed out on a trampolin just jibereshing and watched the constellations. Monday morning, 12/10, I took the train from Ballarat and straight to work.
On 2 December a few club members were fortunate enough to be present at The Haven in Wonga Park to participate in the RYLA Dinner. I use the word participate very deliberately here as this was definitely not the sort of dinner you just go along to attend. It was an enthusiastic and energetic evening listening to the words of the young leaders and those of the participants. The premise is a very simple one: that by providing some skills training and by building networks Rotary can help the young people of today and the leaders of tomorrow, but there seems to be a lot more gained that just that by participants and onlookers alike. It was great having a chance to chat to some of the participants over dinner, listening to their stories and hearing what they felt they had gained so far over the week. Even those apparently more reserved seemed to burst forth with interesting and inspiring stories at the first sign of a gap in the conversation. The night was capped off with a performance by the young people as a demonstration of the kinds of learning that they would be taking away with them from the week. It was most definitely an inspiring presentation and even managed to get some of our own Southbank Rotarians involved, but I'll leave it to the participants to come back and fill in some more of the details here. The night ended in a circle with every person expected to contribute one or two words about the way that they had been feeling after the evening. Like most people I was left feeling energised and with a more positive outlook on everything. If you are having a hard day, then this is definitely the way to cap it off and I'd encourage all club members to attend next year, especially as we will be hosting! (By Stuart Cardell - thanks for these great notes!)
RC Southbank RYLA candidate Gareth Ralfe with Michael Fingereth
Michael Fingereth and RC Sothbank RYLA candidate Christina Joseph: "smile for the camera!" Stuart Cardell: "Is anyone going to eat that? If not ..."
Christina and her father Joseph
The Yellow Group - including Christina
The "RYLY" Choir
Purple Group - including Gareth
Steven Aquilina, Gareth and others attending the dinner (Photos taken by President Elect Bettina) Yarra Glen Community Fire Relief Centre
People who have been affected frequently spend many hours there trying to sort out their needs and often this means that their accompanying children have a lot of time on their hands. Rotary Club of Southbank
President Philip Archer met one of the volunteer co-ordinators of
the Relief Centre, Leslie Wood, at a recent Lord Mayor’s Charitable In conjunction with the Rotary Clubs of Hampton and Huon Valley, which are partnering us with funds and/or labour, we have committed to provide a facility in which children sit in “trees” that have been sewn together encompassing sound systems that play individual stories to the listeners. These have been specifically designed to be relocatable so that at the end of the life of the community relief centre they can be redeployed to another worthy recipient. The facility is being located in a discrete area of the centre away from the day to day business but within view of parents.
For further details, please
contact President Philip or PP
Rhys Maggs. President Philip's message: All Southbank Rotarians (and partners) are requested to participate in a service project to help many of the fire victims from the Black Saturday fires. As you would recall from past advice, the Yarra Glen Community Relief Centre is the focal point, one-stop-shop for a huge number of people adversely affected by these disastrous fires. The Centre is located on Bell St at Yarra Glen, Melway 275 A1/B1. On a Saturday it will be about 1 1/4 hours’ drive from Southbank.
All of this is due to come
together on Saturday, Dec 12th, when the Centre is holding a
Christmas party for their clients with live music and a carnival
atmosphere. On that day RC Southbank will hand over the play area,
conduct a barbecue for those attending the party and also help wrap
presents The party will start at 10.00 am and conclude at about 2.00 pm. Throughout that time the BBQ will be operating and we expect up to 2500 people will stop by for a sausage or hamburger. That’s a lot of cooking and serving, not to mention all the present wrapping, so this is a request for everybody to participate. There is also a need for three members to be available from 8.00 am to clean up around the play area, stack shelves and so on.
Rhys and I hope to see you all there with partners and friends, as there will be plenty to do and a lot of fellowship to be shared. (See also: http://www.yarraglencommunityfirerelief.org.au/) (For more Yarra Glen Christmas Party photos, click here)
RC Southbank has long supported Hanover House by providing volunteers (both members and friends) to their weekly Friday and Sunday BBQs - which were established by the Maslow Group. Hanover House is now seeking more volunteers for their new intake in the NEW Year (2010). They are seeking new volunteers (or ones who have not been to the BBQ for a while) for a minimum commitment of 6 months and they are looking for at least a commitment for 2 BBQ per month either Fridays or Sundays. If anyone is interested to find out more, please contact Carol Martyn on 9695 8369. Hanover needs your help to assist those who are experiencing homelessness. (See: https://www.hanover.org.au/) |
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The
members and friends of District 9800 Rotary Clubs, are invited to
attend a Seminar to
WHAT:
Burn Survivors Network -
Don't
forget to nominate anyone you think would make a good
GSE team member to Spain!
For further information, please contact
initiatives. However, there is still a real need for us to be
involved in helping the communities of Kinglake and Marysville
rebuild and recover.
We
now require volunteer teams of Rotarians (and family& friends) to
take on a myriad of tasks in Kinglake over the coming months.
Kinglake is only a little over a one hour drive from Metro
Melbourne. – What a wonderful Community Service Project for every
club!!
The Yarra Glen Community
Fire Relief Centre has become the focal point for the delivery of
both government and non-government services to a large number of
those affected by the February bush fires. Its catchment area of
clients covers a significant number of communities and residents who
suffered losses this year.
Foundation function and asked what Southbank Rotary could do to
help. She proposed a play area for the children of clients visiting
the centre and so another Southbank project has emerged, with a
planned launch date of Sunday 13th Dec at 12.30 pm.
Much of the work is being
undertaken by local personnel, but we need the input of Rotarians
early on the Sunday morning to do a final clear up of the area,
possible painting touch ups (to be confirmed), stacking books onto
shelves and preparation of the BBQ, amongst other things. It is
some time since our club has had a service activity where everybody
is given the opportunity to be involved and get their hands dirty.
Please, everybody, make an effort to be there and see our efforts
transferred into a much needed community facility.
The Rotary Club of
Southbank has been helping the Centre in a number of ways,
principally by providing shipping containers to enable those
rebuilding their homes to safely store tools and building materials,
and by organizing and paying for a children’s play area within the
centre to occupy the children whilst their parents are discussing
their needs with the various government and non-government agencies.
for those who are unable to attend physically. For many of
those affected by the fires this may be their first realisation of
Christmas without loved ones/homes/pets and friends, so don’t be
surprised if there is a lot of emotion displayed. 
Will everybody please
confirm their availability or otherwise, to Rhys on rhys.maggs@rotary.to,
especially if you are available for the 8.00 am start. Please,
please try and make the effort to be there.