When a Rotarian says, “Service Above Self”, what does it mean to you? It is the principal motto of Rotary. To me, it means you strongly believe in unselfish voluntary service. To quote Mahatma Gandhi, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.’ Over my years in Rotary, I have experienced countless inspiring examples of “Service Above Self” from my fellow Rotarians. Glenferrie Rotarians continue to contribute their time, skills and experience, no matter how small or big, to deliver the five avenues of service to make a better world.
Welcome to our first meeting of the Rotary Year 2022-2023. As your President for this year, I am humbled and very honoured to have the opportunity to be of service to my beloved club. I congratulate and thank past president Mark Ellis and his outstanding Board for two extraordinarily successful years. With Mark’s exemplary leadership and all the club members’ enthusiastic engagement, Rotary Glenferrie is as strong as its culture and will continue to blossom.
On Friday 1st of July, the Rotary Community Service Radio Team broadcast on 94.1 FM 3WBC a special interview with the new District Governor 9800 Amanda Wendt. For those who were not able to attend the District Changeover, our listeners had the opportunity to hear Amanda's plans for the upcoming year, and also the Rotary International Convention that is being held in Melbourne in 2023.
Also, that night, Past President Charles Tran hosted his first show as presenter in the studio. Charles Tran and Ian Salek have some great ideas to get the Rotary Community Radio listeners involved, and to expand the Radio’s presence in the wider community. Stay tuned for more updates in the future.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022 began the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. More than 7.7 million refugees left the Country. Additionally, about 8 million people have been displaced in Ukraine as their houses have been destroyed or have become too dangerous to live in. Approximately 35% of the country’s 44 million population have been forced to leave their homes. 90% of Ukrainian refugees are women and children as men of ages 18-60 are banned from leaving Ukraine in order to fight the Russian invaders.
The vast majority of refugees are directly entering neighbouring countries to the west of Ukraine.
All of us are in this together when it comes to making our Rotary club a vibrant, productive and interesting place to be. No one person is responsible, we each of us share collective responsibility. So how are we going? Are we on the right track? Are we doing too much, too little? Am I engaged or am I disengaged? What more can we, I, do? What, if anything, should we do differently? At the Club Forum on July 19th, time is set aside for each of us as members to have our say. To help guide the discussion so that we have a productive review, every Active and Honorary member has been sent a link to the Membership Survey form. Responses are anonymous and the survey, which is online, takes only a few minutes to complete. Please be sure to submit your survey responses by Friday July 15th at the latest to allow for tabulation of the results. Your voice is important, so please complete your survey if you can. There are no silent partners in Rotary.
Ps. The survey was sent out from the club email address, rotaryglenferrie@gmail.com. If you would like another copy of the survey link, please email the webmaster: Click here
Past District Governor Dale Hoy (2021-22) was a regular and popular visitor to RC Glenferrie during his year at the helm, participating in many of the club's signature events during the year. In his final message to the District, featured in the most recent edition of The Networker, PDG Dale outlines some of the impressive projects undertaken by clubs in District 9800 during the past year. The list is both educational and inspiring and, yes, RC Glenferrie gets a guernsey. Thank you PDG Dale and Maureen for an exceptional year of achievement, and for your friendship in Rotary.
PDG Dale Hoy (RC Brighton) and Maureen were regular visitors to RC Glenferrie throughout 2021-22
Every year the Rotary Club of Glenferrie and club members donate to The Rotary Foundation, through which grant assistance is provided to clubs and districts for Rotary projects. As part of the qualification process for grants, Rotary districts are required to report regularly to members on the activities of the District Foundation Committee during the year and how funds raised are being utilised. This latest report from the retiring Chair of the District Foundation Committee, PDG Dr Murray Verso, paints an inspiring picture of how clubs in this District are making a real difference, locally and globally, with imaginative and creative projects.
Click on the image to read the latest report.
The June 2022 Edition of Foundation News paints an inspiring picture of the project activities on clubs in our District
As many members will know we have supported the North Balwyn RC initiative to provide household goods, clothes, toys and books to the recently arrived Afghan citizens and families who were hurriedly evacuated to Australia earlier this year. Rowan McClean was one of the prime movers in this project and he forwarded an email of thanks from Bassir Qadiri. Further contributions are welcome and Helena Wimpole will be able to coordinate donations.
Renovations will be happening at the Camberwell Salvation Army Headquarters. From 30th June 2022 the following arrangements will apply:
1. Arrive at Camberwell Bakers Delight at 5.55pm. I have finally met the new franchisee, Michelle, and that is her instruction. Bring sturdy 70-80 litre plastic bags and disposable gloves. Ideally, 5-6 bags of bread are required and this can be topped up with rolls if supplies of bread are insufficient.
2. Enter the Salvation Army car-park as usual off Athelstan Road, and collect the key from the key safe(code 2418). which will be in its usual place.
3. Deposit the bags in the hallway of 4 Athelstan Road. The driveway to this white weatherboard house is 20 metres south of the entrance to the carpark and on the same side of the street.
4. Return the key to the key safe and make sure that it is locked.
Many thanks to all the members who continue to volunteer for the bread run. The Community Service Committee in its wisdom has made the quaint, if old-fashioned suggestion that the bread run team be mixed gender until the end of September if at all possible!
According to his LinkedIn profile, Domenic Saporito's professional role is: "helping students and career changers get job ready through internships, mentoring, starting their own business and technology". Importantly, Dominic is playing a key role in Mentor Match, a partnership between Outcome.Life, Rotary Districts of Victoria and Study Melbourne with a sole purpose: to build confidence in Victoria's 200,000+ international students.
Strongly supported by Rotary District 9800, Mentor Match promises to be a major new Vocational Service project for the club. Dominic's address will explain how we can help.
Click here for more information about the Rotary International Convention 2023
