It was during the long lockdown that Rotarian Elisabeth Dumonic came up with a creative way of raising money for Australian Rotary Health’s Lift the Lid on Mental Health during Mental Illness Awareness week. It was a ZOOM presentation of selfies taken of people wearing funny hats. A $5 minimum donation was required to have a selfie in the presentation.

A music-backed PowerPoint presentation was put together and a regular Rotary evening set aside for a ZOOM meeting to raise awareness and donations. Along with the presentation, Club member, Mithzay Pomenta, who is a Clinical Sociologist and Registered Counsellor, gave a detailed informative talk on mental health. It was a great social success with prizes for best hat and best comical hat. Many people from outside of Rotary joined in, particularly from the Federation of Chinese Community.  

The event demonstrated the Club’s members’ ability to think beyond the norm and to take advantage of technology. It advertised the Club and engaged the community as well, as all Club members. It also provided the therapy of a fun night during COVID isolation, not to mention achieving a sizeable contribution of $4,630 for Australian Rotary Health.

Well done Rotary Glenferrie on this very successful initiative.