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.
A message from DIK Manager Colleen d’Offay with details of how Rotarians can assist in providing aid to those devasted by the bush fires.
As we are all well aware, the past two weeks in Victoria have been devastating, with fires impacting communities across the state.
Many of us are keen to help by providing assistance and donating items. However, it is critical that any support offered aligns with what affected communities can realistically manage and genuinely need. These needs will also change over time.
Captain Paul Trotter, Salvation Army Officer at Altona, was our speaker and discussed the challenges of managing homeless people.including the lack of housing, the cost of living crisis and the need to re-create a sense of community.
Our last and featured a special meal, a Christmas trivia quiz and the AGM of the club fund.
The quiz was won by the “wizard of quiz”, Jamie Robertson.
Thanks to Rodney for coming up with some interesting and probing questions about Christmas.
It was appropriate that Fred attended a recent community event “Game On” event in Maddern Square, in the heart of Footscray.
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"
This award commemorates the dedicated work of Evan Phillips for the Rotary Club of Footscray. For some years, in conjunction with WPC Group, a not-for-profit group training organisation specialising in the employment and training of apprentices and trainees, the Rotary Club of Footscray make an award to an apprentice from the Western Suburbs.
From a large field of applicants, three candidates were shortlisted and interviewed. Zak Duque-Weikel, an apprentice motor mechanic at the Porche Centre was selected as the recipient for 2025. Nico Leopanao CEO of WPC Group spoke of the qualities Zak demonstrated in the selection process leading to this award. Zak spoke very well in accepting the award and demonstrated passion for his career path.
Also present were Angelo Villamarzo, Zak's supervisor at the Porch Centre and Amelia, Zak's partner.
Thanks to Emanuel Tumino for his leadership in the organising of this award.
The club is supporting a short term exchange with D9790. This is a family to family exchange where the hosting and schooling is organised by the host family.
Marketa Rysova (left) arrived from Czech Republic on June 21st and is staying with Gemma Boyd’s (right) family in Newport and will lattend Albert Park College.
In late October Gemma will go Czechia for three months and stay with Marketa’s family.
Marketa left her home in Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic expecting to land in Melbourne on Friday evening. However that was not to be with the flight diverted to Denpasar Airport due to engine troubles and another plane and crew plane being sent from Singapore it was Saturday evewning before she finally arrived..
We are hoping to meet Marketa and Gemma on the 17th August.
The speaker at our meeting on April 24 was David J Dobney -Rotary Ambassador to School of St. Jude in Tanzania
The School motto 'Fighting poverty through education' is an ongoing Rotary Australia program incorporating International Service and Youth and Community development.
Catriona Robertson was our guest speaker and spoke about her recent trip to the Antarctic with 117 other female STEM professionals. The trip to the Antarctic was the culmination of an online professional development program for women in science. Homeward Bound is an organisation based in Australia that aims to increase the representation of women in leadership roles in science fields. The program focused on the topic of “Climate Change”.
Our club is taking part in a short term exchange. District 9800 only supports long term exchanges, but Gemma who lives in Newport applied to District 9790 to go on a short term exchange. As she lives so close to us we agreed to be her sponsor club.
A message from DGE regarding the District Governor 2027-28
It is with great pleasure that I announce the formal appointment of Claire Davison as District Governor for Rotary District 9800 in 2027-2028. Claire’s passion for service, strategic mindset, and dedication to making a lasting impact—both locally and globally—make her an outstanding choice for this role.
Congratulations to Vince on his 2025 Enterprise Maribrynong Award for his contribution to the business community.
The award citation (copy attached) recognises his time as a councillor and mayor, his service to Rotary and “actively contributing to the growth and success of Footscray’s business community”.
At our meeting on March 6th the speakers were Mark Stevens and Edward Irving from Octopus Investments, specialists in investing in renewal energy infrastructure.
Lucy Collins who our club sponsored to the January National Youth Science Forum in Brisbane was our speaker on march 20th.
Elizabeth Drozd organised a Clean Up Australia event along the Maribyrnong on behalf of the Rotary Club of Footscray on March 2nd.
A willing group of five volunteers, three adults and two children helped Elizabeth and they collected about 8 kilos of rubbish in just over an hour. It was a good event and Elizabeth says “we all felt good to have this an opportunity to make the Maribyrnong River cleaner.” Well done to the team.
At our meeting on March 6th President Bob Newman presented a Paul Harris Fellow Award to Ron Burgoine of Kincrome Tools for his support of the club and particularly the Community Bike Hub. For many years Ron has supported our club Golf Day with sponsorship and prizes. With the establishment of the Bike Shed, now Community Bike Hub, Ron provided the tools used in the workshop.
The Chairman of Community Bike Hub Andy Moutray-Read spoke of the impact of Ron’s support to this community enterprise.
Jama Farah has provided a comprehensive Horn of Africa Project report including details of the the 18th container of essential goods having reached it's destination in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia.
Full report here.
At our meeting on Feb 6th recently returned Exchange Student Anita Pflug spoke about her year in Sardinia
She had two Rotary host families during her stay. During her stay with the first family she formed astray bond with twin sisters who are of similar age. The second family loved the outdoors, hunting travel hiking and her host mum loved cooking.
She had a busy social life attending various festivals, parades, dancing and eating.
Her special activities coordinated by Rotary included:
- attending a “model” UN
- a weekend where Exchange Students prepared food from their home country. She and a girl from WA cooked kangaroo!
- “Italia tour” to Milan, Pisa, Sienna, Naples, Rome and Pompei. This was a bit rushed with a day in each city
- “Euro tour” to Geneva, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna and Budapest.
There also managed to attend school and enjoyed being in a class of 30 students.
The host clubs were small and meetings were over long lunches.
Anita, is extremely grateful for the experience and over the year gained gained confidence and learnt not to take things too seriously.
Following her presentation Anita presented a banner from the host club to President Bob
At the February the 6th meeting Jama Farah presented certificates of appreciation to President Bob Newman, Frank Dri, manager of Donations in Kind,and in absentia, Laurie Fisher who recently retired as manager of DIK for their support of the Horn of Africa Project.
The citation was as follows :
Join in a Clean Up Australia event on Sunday March 2nd. Elizabeth Drozd has arranged this event on the banks of the Maribyrnong. Meet at the Footscray Canoe Club and walk along the river and pick up rubbish from !0.00am to 11.30am. Full details here.
On Sunday 23rd March members participated in the WalkWest fundraiser conducted by Western Health Foundation along the Maribyrnong River. With donations from members and friends the club raised $1000
DIK is needing more volunteers and is currently asking Rotary members, friends of Rotary and any interested volunteers to assist at the warehouse with unpacking donated goods. There is currently a backlog of boxes waiting to be unpacked, sorted and prepared to be donated locally or for overseas projects.
Jama, Ron, Maria and Elizabeth helped last week and will volunteer at DIK as much as they can over the coming weeks. We welcome other Club members to join us. Everyone is welcome including your friends and family members.
On April 10th His Excellceny Anwar Muktar Mohammed, Ethiopian Ambassador to Canberra and Consul Genersal, Yalet Getachew Ashenafi visited Donations in Kind to see first hand the donations of equipment to be transported in the 19th container to be shipped to the Horn of Africa. PE Elizabeth Drozd, Jama Farah (Project Coordinator) and Ron Hunt were present representing the club.
