Member Announcements

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this tribute to Diane. Her sudden death has shocked and saddened the whole Rotary Club. She is someone who will be sadly missed and will leave a big hole in our club.

Diane was a Rotarian since June 2006 but her connection and contribution to the club started well before that date. Peter McGrath joined the club in 1988 and Diane has been connected to the club since that time. She has been very supportive of all club activities and has been an excellent Bulletin Editor. This Rotary year she has taken on the role of Club Secretary. I was so pleased when she said she take on that job because I knew she would do a fantastic job and be a great suppo

We still need volunteers to help with our BBQ at the Stony Creek Music Festival on Saturday 1^st April from 3:00pm to around 7:30pm. It will be a good revenue raiser for the club and ensures that families are able to attend this free event and feed the family on the night for a very reasonable price. Come along and enjoy the festival and If you can help out on the night please me know -Maria

Another busy month of meetings and socialising plus great news about our next President.

Here is a summary with detailed reports later in the Bulletin.

Our first meeting for the month, November 10^th, was the Cluster Meeting with the DG Amanda Wendt held at the Yarraville Club on November 10^th.

On the 17^th November we had a catch-up, “What’s Happening” in four different programs.

Elizabeth Drozd updated us about the Western Region Aged Care Fund.

Suzanne Zammit spoke about the Footscray Art Prize. Applications are now open and the main prize has been increased to $20 000. Our club will again sponsor the prizes for the primary and secondary students.

Jama Farah informed us of a project currently in development. He and I met with a representative from the Austin Hospital to discuss their donation of  six recently superseded dialysis machines which will to be sent to Africa.

Jamie Robertson, who began the Vietnam Dental Project in 1992, visited Vietnam earlier this year to organise the visit for 2023.

There is a lot to report on recent and coming events.Our next meeting on Thursday April 6^th will be preceded by a Western Region Aged Care Meeting at 6:00pm. The purpose of this special meeting is to vote on a name change for WRAC. All Footscray Rotary members are also members of WRAC.

Two names have been proposed:

“Footscray Rotary Aged and Community Services Fund Incorporated”

“Footscray Rotary and Western Region Fund Incorporated”

Please come along to this meeting and have your say on which name you think best represents our club in the local community.

I would like to extend the congratulations of our club to Peter Shepheard who has been appointed as District Governor Nominee for 2025/26. Many people will know Peter from the conferences where he has been involved in the stage management for many years.

The Early Bird price for attend the Rotary International Convention (RICON) here in Melbourne has been extended until the end of March. It’s not too late to book. Full details further in Bulletin.

RICON Cluster Event  -  An Evening with Silvia Paladino. Come along and help make sure that our visiting Rotarians have an enjoyable experience and leave Australia with a favorable impression of Melbournians as being warm and friendly.

“Your recent speaker, Peter Somerville, reminded me of a memory back in the early 1900's when PDG Gordon McKern and his wife Anita made their visit to the Rotary Club of Footscray and the ladies decided to take Anita on a ''cruise" up the Maribyrnong on the Blackbird in order to entertain her for the morning.

All went well until we got about halfway up the river when suddenly the engine stopped. Of course, no-one knew what to do. After taking turns at standing on one side of the boat and then the other we were beginning to wonder what to do next when suddenly someone spotted a person driving a tractor up on a hill overlooking the river.

After some frantic waving of handkerchiefs and scarves we managed to attract his attention and to cut a long story short, we were towed back to the club which happened to meet at the Footscray Rowing Club in those days. Needless to say we missed lunch but we had a great story to tell! " Margaret Atley".

Dear Rotary members,
Since our last update in December, the Regionalisation Pilot Project Team has been working hard behind the scenes on various aspects of the Regionalisation Pilot. 
In particular, our team of around 100 volunteers from throughout Zone 8 has been consulting with District Governors, Elects and Nominees. Through this process, we have been able to determine our next steps and update the pilot timeline.
We have also been creating an in-depth business case to present to the Rotary International Board in April 2023, which is the next critical step as we start to implement the pilot.
As we move into the pilot’s next phase you can expect regular communications from us, so please keep a look out for emails from the team. For more regular updates and to be a part of our reference group, subscribe here.

Despite the sadness of Diane’s death there is good news to report and congratulations are due to our Rotarians in the news.

Elizabeth Drozd. Congratulations to Elizabeth  on being awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours for services to Polish and multicultural communities of Victoria. 

Gus Del Rio. Gus, a former member and a current friend and supporter of the Rotary Club of Footscray has won the 2022 Geelong Business Excellence Awards’ (GBEAs) Regional Business Award.

Ted Logan.Ted was featured in the January edition of The Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay Star Weekly on the release of his fourth book of poetry “Poetry Potpourri 4: A final variety of verse”.

SAVE THE DATE

The club's fundraising Golf DAy will be on April 28th

Come and join us for a wonderful afternoon of live, musical theatre on Sunday 21^st May 2023.

Based on the 2002 hit film of the same name starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hanks, the adventure romp  Catch Me If You Can captures the astonishing story of Frank Abignale Jr, a world-class con artist who passes himself off as a multitude of identities, including a doctor, a lawyer, and a jet pilot - all before the age of 21. When Frank’s antics catch the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty, the story becomes a study of two sparring partners hot footing it across the globe yet connected by a secret mutual admiration.

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to all our members, family and friends for a very happy and fulfilling year in 2023.

Although we don’t have any meetings in January, and it might feel as though Rotary is on holiday there has been a lot happening at the start of 2023.

Jama Farah has acquired more medical equipment to support the Horn of Africa project. In addition to the dialysis machines from Austin late last year there has been a large donation of equipment from Western Health. See separate article later in Bulletin.

On the 19^th December the first shipment of stationery supplies that we sent to Timor Leste arrived in Dili and were collected but as yet not reached the schools which are very remote. Roads are currently impassable because of floods during the wet season. As soon as the roads are open the supplies will be delivered to the schools.

Our Rotary Club has now been in operation for 86 years. The club was chartered on the 17^th May 1937.  During that time we have truly made a difference in our local community as well as internationally with projects ranging from countries in Africa, Pakistan, Vanuatu, Samoa Timor Leste, Vietnam to Papua New Guinea. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of past members and current member of our club who have worked to improve the lives of people for 87 years.

The two meetings held in May celebrated young people in the workplace, with the awarding of the Evan Phillips Award and the Mambourin Awards.

The Rotary International Convention in Melbourne begins this week. On Friday 26^th May you can take part in the End Polio Now Walk from Federation Square to Rotary Peace Park from 2:00 to 4:00pm

There is a lot to report and I will mention each matter briefly with more detail in individual items in the Bulletin.

Meeting December 1^st:

Our Speaker was Claire Jones who is a practising lawyer. Her topic was “Mediation the Harvard Way”. Claire had just been to the Cambridge Massachusetts with her husband and baby daughter. She took part in a course on mediation at Harvard University.,

The Rotary Club of Footscray Foundation Scholarship was presented to Sophia a Year 10 student at Footscray High School. The scholarship spans the two VCE years with $1000 to be used for costs involved in Year 11 and another $1000 for the costs involved in Year 12.

Donation from McGraw-Hill

District Governor Amanda Wendt recently met with Jama Farah at DIK to view a donation of more than 1000 medical text-books donated by publisher McGraw-Hill. These books will find homes in universities, hospitals and medical practices in African Countries. This generous donation will improve the health outcomes for many people.

Timor Leste Project

Kensington Primary School held a fundraising drive to purchase stationery supplies for two small, remote schools.The boxes of pencils, books, rulers etc. are now at DIK waiting for the next shipment to Timor Leste which will be early in 2023

DIK needs help

Stationery supplies are low and your help is needed to replenish their stock for the beginning of the school year.

Looking forward to our Christmas meeting at The Plough on Thursday 15^th.

I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and I hope that 2023 will bring good health and contentment to all our members and friends. Maria

On Sunday 5th February we ventured to Mt Martha to join Vince, Carol, their daughter Michelle and grandchildren. The whole family worked together to welcome everyone and to provide a wonderful BBQ with Italian style sausages, steak and chicken. The accompanying salads were absolutely delicious and then the decadent desserts followed. It was a great opportunity for everyone to have time to catch up and talk in a more relaxed atmosphere outside of the regular Rotary meetings.

More photos can be viewed in Gallery on club website.

With the conclusion of the 2022 Council on Resolutions (COR), the Report of Action has been distributed.  In this report, you will find:
•    Resolutions that were adopted
•    Vote tallies for the adopted items

DIK Needs Your Help

Stationery supplies are low and your help is needed to replenish their stock.

From now until the end of January is a great time to be buying school supplies.

Leadership Program

The new Leadership Fundamentals program can help Rotary and Rotaryact members build the skills they will need to take on leadership roles. This online program presents key leadership skills and is available through Rotary’s learning Centre only for members.

In this program, members will learn to......

The year has gone very quickly and there is always more that you wish that could have been accomplished. However I think we can look back on our achievements and know that we have made a difference in the lives of many people especially in the areas of education and health.

It has been a year touched with sadness with the passing of PDG Lawrence Atley and Sika Kerry. The death of Diane McGrath was an enormous shock to all in the club and she is sadly missed at our meetings. Our thoughts are still with Peter as he learns to live without his Diane.

May I start by paying tribute to Maria Silber for the sterling job she has done over the last year as Club President  and also as Club Secretary over the past few months after the tragic loss of Dianne Mc Grath.  She has also agreed to carry on as Secretary in the new Rotary year.

The team is in place for the new year with no new faces, as yet we do not have a President Elect  for 2024 -25 which is a major concern for the ongoing viability of the club.

Suzanne Zammit and Phillip Caruso have done a power of work to organise this event as part of the Footscray Art Prize (FAP).

The club is a partner in the biennial FAP which is gaining prestige in the art world and has become culturally relevant to our community. Fund raised on the night will support the club’s community projects.

We are honoured that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Maribyrnong and leading District 9800 office bearers will be in attendance.

If you haven’t booked do so today! See details elsewhere in Bulletin.

On July 15 at Footscray Community Arts Centre on behalf of the Club I was able to present prizes to the winners of the Primary School and Secondary School sections of the Footscray Art Prize awards. We were joined at this event by the other sponsors Vic Uni and Maribyrnong City Council. Our contribution was $ 500 for each of the prizes.

On 17 th July I attended the Annual District Foundation Grants seminar which now allows us to apply to District for Global and Local Grants in 2023 -24.

The major event for the Club this month has been the Footscray Art Prize Dinner /Dance held at Croatia House on Saturday August 5. The success of this event was due to a big effort by the organisers Phillip Caruso and Suzanne Zammit with valuable assistance from Maria Silber, Stephen Palmer [MC] and Angus Scott – Walker [Auctioneer]. Although financials are still to be finalised we expect the event to be a successful fund raiser for the Club.

Jama Farah [International Committee chair] remains active in acquiring preloved medical equipment for shipment to Ethiopia as part of the Horn of Africa Project. A further container has been loaded in the past couple of weeks for shipment. This project will be the flagship project for our club in this Rotary Year.

On Sunday 6th August Fred Maddern celebrated the 60th Anniversary of being member of the Footscray Park Bowling Club.
An afternoon tea was attended by friends and fellow club members to mark the occasion. Fred was presented with a blazer to acknowledge his great contribution of 40 years on the committee and 12 years as president. He is a life member and has a bowling green named after him.

This has been a period full of remarkable efforts and great achievements. We have worked tirelessly to bring to fruition our goal of improving the lives of those in need around the world. In this recent period, the Horn of Africa project has been a major vehicle in delivering our successful results.

"Absentee" President Report for Sept 2023!

May I firstly give thanks to Maria and Jamie for steering the ship during my absence in September.

Catherine and I have spent a few weeks on annual and conference leave in Europe since late August.

I did attend briefly a Cardiology conference in Amsterdam but more importantly we were able to visit our daughter Clare in Den Haag .

Clare with her partner Sarah and two young sons have recently relocated to The Hague where Sarah an AFP Officer has just been posted to The International Criminal Court [ICC] for two years.

We were joined by Roger and Margaret Batrouney and Sarah was able to arrange for Roger to appear before the ICC for a photo opportunity.