Meetings are held at 6.30pm on the first and third Thursdays of the month.
Meetings are held at 6.30pm on the first and third Thursdays of the month.
Jama Farah has provided an update regarding the Horn of Africa Medical Equipment, Mobility Aid & Diplomacy Foundation project.
"Our 20th container of essential goods has now been loaded and will depart shortly for its destination of Dilchora Referral Hospital in Dire Dawa City Administration, Ethiopia."
A comprehensive report is avaiable here.
At our meetiing on Novemebr 20, after being in Australia for four months, our exchange student Lenka educated us about her homeland and reflected on her experiences here so far, "From There to Here"
During the August 2 days of Open Day 3600 regular and 400 veggies sausages were sizzled! What a team and thanks to all who helped out.
When travelling through the Outback there is plenty of evidence of Rotary activity. Here's a couple of examples noticed during a recent road trip.
The speaker was Retired Detective Sergeant Peter Bellion - a former crash scene investigator and reconstruction expert from Victoria Police’s Major Collision Investigation Group.
Our speaker on August 23rd was Vivienne Porter. In 1977 Vivienne was a Rotary Exchange Student in South Africa.
Tweddle have acknowledged their appreciation of the $5000 Rotary Club of Footscray Aged Care and Community Fund grant which has the purchase of outdoor furniture and Aboriginal resources for Tweddle staff and families.
"Tweddle’s recent expansion meant we had new outdoor spaces but no furniture. The new tables and chairs have been well utilised by staff, especially over the summer months.......
On Monday 7 July, Carol Castano had her last craft group at Maribyrnong Community Centre. Maria Silber presented Carol with a certificate of thanks and the offer of an honorary membership of the club. It is estimated the group raised $20000 over the life of the group.
Carol has written a report on the groups work over the years -see next page.
Lenka arrived from Czechia/Czech Republic on Sunday 13th and was met by her host family and Rotarians from the District Youth Exchange Committee and her host clubs of Flemington Kensington and Footscray.
She has already had a taste test of Australian snacks and this is how she ranked them in order of preference -see photo below. Interesting to see that Vegemite came out ahead of Twisties.
Members of the club recently participated in a scarf collection, wearing their favourite to our meeting and donating extra scarves to “Reaching Out In The Inner West”, to be distributed to the needy for warmth during winter. The club collection was supplemented by Maria Silber’s friends and her bushwalking group with over 200 scarves passed on for distribution. Western Bulldog scarves dominated the collection!
On Saturday July 27th 10,100 “For a Meal” packs were packed at an event arranged by Jama Farah. A team of 35 included Rotarians, mainly from the RC of Canterbury and members of the Ethiopian Community achieved this feat over a period of a few hours. The packs will be included in a container due for shipment to Ethiopia later the year and is planned to be directed to the Hararian community. A great effort.
For the third year now, the Rotary Club of Footscray has partnered with Mambourin Enterprises Ltd to present Awards to 3 employees at Mambourin in recognition of outstanding service to Mambourin. The Awards were conceived to assist in attracting and retention of quality workers in the particularly challenging workplace market in provision of disability services.
It was a pleasure to be able to present each awardee with a certificate of recognition and an Award of $1,000.00, which is contributed equally by the Rotary Club and Mambourin.
The Evan Phillips Award was presented at our first meeting in May. Ms Gemma Ladgrove, Apprentice and Trainee Manager at WPC, detailed the process leading to Ms Thao Nugyen being selected for the 2024 award. Currently Thoa is in her fourth year as an automotive apprentice. From a young age she always a passion for cars. After school she would tinker with engines and eventually started doing repairs for friends. When she finished high school a friend suggested she get formal qualifications and so applied for an apprenticeship leading to this award. She loves her work!
We were pleased that Thao’s mother was present for the presentation.
Our speaker on April 4th was Katie Hall, Member for Footscray in the Legislative Assembly since 2018.
Katie is proud of her Footscray heritage and was encouraged by her family to become involved in public life.
2025 will be a big year for the local community:
Our speaker was Sasha Kober who gave a very thoughtful and researched, personal reflection on “The state of State Education”.
Sasha has been teaching at Princes Hill High for 20 years and is a passionate advocate of “quality free accessible education”.
Despite its problems, Victorian education delivers the best attendance rates and NAPLAN scores and less difference across private/public divide, in the nation.
Major issues:
The Annual Golf day on April 19th was held at Eynesbury Golf Course this year, due to rising costs at Sanctuary Lakes. We were well supported by Sponsors and Donations from far and wide, as well as from our members too. We had 56 players join in for a fun day and most I spoke to, enjoyed the day of relaxed golf (always better in a cart if you don’t have to walk!) and the food received favourable comments too.
Through the generous support of health services, donations of valuable medical equipment continues.
Jama has recently taken delivery of 40 hospital beds and matresses from a nursing home in Kew and this week Western Health donated XR and anaesthetic machines and more ultrasound equipment. Western Health recently published an article in one of their newsletters featuring the association with the Rotary Club of Footscray and this wonderful project.
At the meeting on May 16th, three awards will be made to staff at Mambourin Enterprises. These awards by our club in partnership with Mambourin. will be made in the following categories:-
1. Outstanding Supported Employee
2. Outstanding Disability Support Worker
3. First Year Disability Support Worker
Valentina Bolados Cornejo and Alice Giang from Audika spoke about hearing issues.
Hearing is fundamental to our connections with others and is the third most common problem over 70 and more common in men and diabetics.
Hearing loss results in:misunderstanding, emotional impacts, stress in relationships, depression/anxiety/social isolation and is associated with dementia.
To minimise impact of hearing loss they advocated regular hearing checks and avoiding noisy environments.
They also briefly discussed the common symptom of tinnitus - ringing in the ears. There are many causes including stress, and although there is no cure, they advocated distraction as the best management.
On July 18th we were pleased to welcome Cindy Richendollar from the Rotary Club of Washburn, Maine. USA. Cindy was visiting family nearby and spoke briefly about her many roles with Rotary and exchanged club banners with President Bob Newman. Cindy sent the following message- “I had a great evening with your club. Wish I could be here longer and get to know you better. Please send my utmost gratitude to the club for their hospitable welcome.” Another highlight of her visit to Melbourne was a visit to the football! It was great to have Cindy with us for the evening.
