We are in for a dynamic and vibrant meeting this week!

As you are aware, it’s Vocation Month and we have a great opportunity to share our own first-hand career experiences with two very special groups of young people attending our meeting this coming Tuesday.

The first of these groups will be several young people who participated in the Young Achievers Australia program who will be presenting their ‘learnings’ and sharing their enthusiasm about the importance and success of this program. 

The second will be Emma Broughton, along with several past and current RYLA candidates from our Club who will talk to us about their plans and aspirations. 

I encourage you to spend time with these bright young people, and share with them your experiences as they are about to embark on their own careers. 

We will also be joined this Tuesday by two other Clubs who will be letting us know about their initiatives.

And, finally at this Tuesday’s meeting, President Elect Bettina will be presenting the $25,000 cheque from the LMCF to the Camp Getaway Leadership Group.

Last week, I was very excited to attend the Rotary Club of Huon Valley’s (Tasmania) major fundraising event, The Apple & Salmon Race Day Carnival, held on the beautiful Huon River foreshore.  A special tent was set up at the event to introduce The First Steps Youth Job Search Program to the region.  With the generous support of the local Community Bank® branches of Bendigo Bank, a competition was run with $100 passbook account prizes to six young people who attended the tent and logged onto the program.  It proved a great success.  Southbank will be rolling out this program further over coming weeks with the potential support of major corporate sponsors after initial discussions held earlier this week.  If you haven’t already done so, you can check out the site at:  www.job-first-steps.net 

Also at this event, Southbank’s “Know Your Numbers” campaign proved very popular once again.  Numerous people from the Huon Valley region had their blood pressure taken at the Rotary Club of Southbank’s tent, with a number of these being alerted to a potential risk.

Enjoy your week in Rotary!

Philip Archer
Club President 2009-2010

Last Week's Meeting

Meeting 506 Scribe Notes

This meeting was a club leaders' report of where the club is at with a number of exciting new projects and potential projects as well as updates of current and completed projects.

The board has been very busy behind the scenes and, as always, seeks the support of each member to assist.  There is something you can help with, just let President Philip know what you'd like to do.

For example, the notional profit from the sponsorship by "Skilled" (Balibo film night) will be distributed to the Ryder Cheshire Foundation and the Xanana Vocational Education Trust.

We are supporting Steve Sodomacco, the Geelong coach for the Street Soccer Program for a number of years, in his "Walking Home" Walk - the walk against homelessness.  Steve will walk from Warrnambool to Geelong on 15 November 2009 to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness in the Barwon South West Region.  Southbank is supporting Steve financially.