Member Announcements

Carol Castano’s Mum turned 100 on Sat 20th April.
The Collingwood Football club invited Ula to the Glasshouse for an exciting day last week.
First she was welcomed along along with Carol and her two daughters and given a cup of coffee.
Then there was a meeting with Peter Moore who sat and chatted to Ula for about 20 minutes, before being presented with a guernsey with her name and '100' on the back.

District Conference
Catherine and I along with Emmanuel and Melissa attended Conference in Bendigo on April 13 and 14. There were about 400 attendees .
Copies of the programme were available at our last meeting.
I was able to bring home our new feather banner bearing the club name and Rotary Logo.
On behalf of the Club I gave a pledge to Grant Hocking [District Foundation Chair] of $3000 to Rotary Foundation for the current year 23-24.
We do of course also make a separate donation of about $1000 to the Polio Plus campaign .

District Assembly
This will be held on Sunday May 19th  at St Francis Catholic College in West Melton and incoming DG Michael Lapina  invites all to attend.

Congratulations to Ron who recently celebrated his 80th birthday with a few close friends, after returning from an overseas trip. Ron put on a brave front as he, and Cazz, we’re still suffering from the effects of catching some "bug" during their overseas trip.

Our club was represented at the Rotary Club of Williamstown’s 75th Anniversary on 17th March with Fred Maddern, President Bob Newman, PDG John Davis and PP Maria Silber in attendance. Footscray was acknowledged during speeches as the sponsoring club.

Joseph's Corner is hosting its Annual High Tea fundraiser on Sunday 21st April from 2pm-5pm at Mount St. Joseph Girls' College, Altona. The event aims to raise much-needed funds to support families affected by addiction, ensuring that Joseph's Corner can continue to provide essential counselling services free of charge to those in need

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Cohealth is holding a function in the vegetable garden at Gaskin Gardens, Gordon Street Footscray, at 11am on Thursday 11 April. To acknowledge the funding and support provided by Footscray Rotary, Nada Stojkovic has invited our members to attend a celebratory morning tea of sandwiches, fruit and refreshments.

President’s report
Great news with regard to succession planning  for our club!
Elizabeth Drozd has accepted the role of President Elect for 2024-25 and will become President in July 2025. She will bring energy and enthusiasm to the job and we can be assured that the club will be in good hands. I shall continue in the Presidents position in 24-25, but will be looking to job share as I shall be away for a few weeks in August – Sept and again in December.
Golf Day Rodney and Elia have plans well advanced for our Gold Day on Friday April 19 at Eynesbury. We now have 10 sponsors and at last count 36 players with max being 72.
Community Project The garden restoration at Gaskin House in Gordon St .Footscray has now been completed with valuable assistance from Fred Maddern and our former member Nada Stojkovic .
Footscray Rotary contributed $1000 towards this project.

The Rotary Club of Williamstown was chartered on 11th March 1949, with the RC Footscray, the sponsor club The first president, George Simcock, was a past president at Footscray.
A warm invitation has been extended to members of Footscray to attend the 75th Anniversary celebratory luncheon.
President Bob Newman will be attending and would welcome other members of our clu to join him.on 17th March.

The Board met on Thursday 15th February and sadly received a letter of resignation from Phillip Caruso due to his work and business commitments. Phillip joined Rotary in 1993 and was President in 2006-07 and  awarded PHF in 2008
In recent years he has been involved with Footscray Community Art Prize and with Suzanne Zammit.organised the successful 2023 fundraising dinner. He was also Chair of Fundraising this year and organised the Christmas raffle supporting the Youth Sailing Challenge - raising $2234.
We thank Phillip for his contribution to the club for the past 30 years and wish him and Suzanne all the best for the future.

The Regionalisation Project has progressed with the replacement of Cluster G and formation of Community Groups within District 9800. Our club will be included in Group 4 along with Essendon, Essendon North, Flemington/Kensington, Keilor, Keilor East, North Melbourne, West Footscray and Yarraville.
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If you would like to know more about how to use ClubRunner here is a great opportunity to learn or refresh what one already knows and encourage the use of this important tool.

Date: Saturday 3rd February

Time: 10am to 11:30am

Where: Online via Zoom - so bring a cuppa

Who:  ClubRunner Product Specialist - Mickey (direct from Canada😀) will take us through the following topics with time for you to ask questions:

• A quick overview of ClubRunner
• Website content - creating stories, using the website designer and the various layout options
• Creating Bulletins/Newsletters, the various templates, and uploading images
• The various access levels 
• Sending emails via ClubRunner
• Maintaining/entering the club executives
• Using the ClubRunner Mobile App
• Q&A

Register online:https://www.trybooking.com/CNSGO

District is offering to provide each club with a Feather Banner that can be used both indoors and outdoors.  

District are keen to know if we want such a banner and also if so whether we want a generic “Rotary” banner or to include “Club of Footscray”. District have advised that from a public image point of view, being known as 'Rotary' is better than 'Rotary Club of …'.

Our preference will be discussed at our meeting on Feb 1^st.

We have now passed the half way mark in this Rotary year and as yet we do not have a President Elect for the 2024 -25 year. Although I have approached several members including a couple of Past Presidents about taking on the role, at this stage I have not had an affirmative response.

The incoming District leadership team for 24-25 is keen for our club to fill this position as President Elect training sessions [PETS] commence in February and March.

The medical equipment shipped as part of the Horn of Africa Project has been delivered and officially handed over to the Jig Jiga and Jugel hospitals.

The recent crowd funding appeal for Ayder hospital has successfully reached its target, allowing a further container of equipment ot be shipped.

We welcome Elwyn and look forward to his involvement in our club. Here is a brief profile of his professional and community experience.
Elwyn arrived in Australia in 1986 to start work at Footscray Hospital after a nursing recruitment drive from UK. Since that time he has worked almost entirely between Footscray and Royal Melbourne Hospitals. He describes himself as “semi” retired and lives in Footscray with wife Leanne.

Clubs are invited to apply  to display their projects at District Conference. Booths 3x3.5 m are available and include a table and a chair and the facility to display posters. For further information and make a booking for a spot, go to: https://www.trybooking.com/CNLEA

Our last meeting for the year was held on Thursday December 21 with a Christmas theme arranged by Maria.
Drawing of the Christmas  raffle was held with proceeds going to fund our Youth Programme which is supervised by Suzanne Zammit.

Jama Farah has provided the following report on the Horn of Africa Project which provides a summary of the most recent shipments to Berbera. Subsequent to writing the report the first container has arrived. The attached photos show a recently despatched container with FORaMeal cartons and hospital equipment and the arrival of the first container at Berbera.

"We are very pleased to provide an update on the Horn of Africa project. Through our service and goodwill, we have achieved significant success in our goal of changing the lives of those in need in the Horn of Africa region.
 
The Horn of Africa project was commissioned by the Rotary Club of Footscray, as part of Rotary District 9800, and Donations in Kind, to provide those living in the Horn of Africa region with the resources and inspiration to make a positive impact in their lives. (cont'd)

During the DG's visit he inducted Elwyn Davies to the club.

Elwyn has prviously been a member of the club and has been involved in healthcare since migrating from the UK. His work has involved nursing, teaching and also administrative roles both at Western and Melbourne Health. Elwyn will work with Fred Maddern on Community Service

Two weeks later President Bob Newman inducted Susan Palmer and Angpal Singh.

Susan has been a regular attendee with husband Stephen and will join Suzanne Zammit on Youth Committee.

Angphal, introduced to the club by fellow lawyer Vince Verducci, is looking to see where he might be best suited before joining a committee.
                

November, Foundation Month, has been a busy one for the Club and we have been pleased to induct three new members: On November 2, DG  Ron Payne inducted Elwyn Davies and on November 16, Susan Palmer and Angphal  Singh were inducted. More details in separate article.
              
The club has also been successful in our application for another Year 11 – 12 student scholarship for 2024 -25  from District Foundation Grants. Footscray High School has again been asked to select a suitable candidate for this scholarship.

The medical equipment sent to Africa is very much appreciated by the communities receiving the donations.  Jama Farah and Maria Silber recently met over lunch with DG Ron Paine and his wife Deb to discuss the possibility of inviting leaders from the recipient communities in Ethiopia to District Conference in 2024. It is hoped that clan leaders, Garaad Kulmiye Dool, from the Somali Regional State and Sultan Mohammed Hassen, from Harari Regional State will be able to be in Bendigo and give first-hand accounts of the benefit of the project.

The 2024 Gathering on the Goldfields conference will be at Bendigo from 12-14th April 2024.

Book now at: www.trybooking.com/CMCUD

The following are tributes from club members: Ron Hunt, Emanuel Tumino, Elizabeth Drozd and Bob Newman:

“Diane was a valued member of Rotary Club of Footscray and esteemed Bulletin Editor for

many years.

Diane’s passions were her time as a Teacher, her horses and many beloved dogs,

gardening and travel, also as a partner to Peter in life and business.

Dianne had a great sense of humour, and could engage on many different topics, she always showed a caring and compassionate side to all she met. Dianne will be sadly missed.”  Ron Hunt                                      

Membership Fees:An invoice will soon arrive in your inbox for the second half of the year. You will have already paid one invoice which was for the first half year. We are considering going back to one invoice a year as the two invoices seem to be causing some confusion.Please let me know if you have a preference for an invoice once a year where you pay the full amount or two invoices where you pay half the fees each time.

Money raised our upcoming Bunnings BBQ will go to the Turkey/Syria Earthquake Appeal. We will donate the money to Rotary Australia World  Community Service (RAWCS) knowing that it will be used within the Rotary network to provide aid. Individuals can also donate to RAWCS and you can receive a tax deduction for your donation.