Causes We Support

BOROONDARA FARMERS MARKET

Fresh Produce, Fresh Air and Friendly Stallholders at the Boroondara Farmers Market

The Boroondara Farmers' Market was established in partnership with the City of Boroondara, and is operated by the club on behalf of the City. On the first, third and when there is a fifth Saturday of every month between 50 and 70 stall holders and 1,500 customers come to Patterson Reserve in Auburn Road, Hawthorn, to buy a great range of fruit and vegetables, meats and prepared foods in support of our farmers and other producers. Club members and other volunteers set up and pull down as well as "man" the two entry gates. Established in 2003, this project is now the Club’s major fundraiser and was voted the best farmers market in Victoria. Funds raised from the Farmers Market go to a variety of causes and projects benefiting communities locally, throughout Australia and internationally.
CHANCES Scholarship Program

Help for Education - CHANCES for Students

 
The Rotary Club of Glenferrie is a major funder of the Education CHANCES Scholarship Program, set up by the combined Boroondara Rotary clubs.
 

The CHANCES Scholarship program aims to:

  • Identify talented and motivated students who need our support
  • Provide them with financial support to facilitate their studies and school experience
  • Provide them with a sense of achievement, which elevates their self-esteem and inspires them to maximise their skills. (CHANCES is a “Hand Up , not a Hand out)
More than 100 scholarships are awarded annually to deserving secondary students in the city, and members of the club sit on the board of Boroondara Cares.
 
Rotary Overseas Recycled Playgrounds Program

Recycling Children's Playgrounds Bringing Big Smiles to Little Faces

In partnership with the City of Boroondara and the Rotary Overseas Recycled Playground program, Glenferrie Rotarians 'harvest' playgrounds scheduled for replacement and send them via Rotary Donations in Kind to Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, the Philippines, Cambodia and other developing nations, were they are repaired and restored by Rotarians and re-erected, to the joy of children in far away places.
 
SUMBA EYE PROGRAM

Restoring site for the people of Sumba, Indonesia

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Sumba Eye Program, established in 2007 with the assistance of The Rotary Club of Glenferrie, is a partnership between the club, the Sumba Foundation, the Rotary Club of Kew and, originally, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. FORESIGHT Australia has since repalced the College in the consortium of partners. The program is targeted at delivering eye care services to the people of Sumba and building the capacity of the local and regional health staff to provide effective eye care for the community in Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. Rotarians lead the program, help in delivering medical services and raise funds for the program.
 
 
Boroondara Family Network

Helping young families in Boroondara

 
The Rotary Club of Glenferrie founded the Boroondara Family Network in 2000 and remains a major source of funding. A number of club members continue to sit on the board. The Boroondara Family Network provides assistance to young families in the City, particularly where young mothers do not have family support. Providing support for families newly experiencing the joy and challenges of a newborn is valuable in helping to ensure successful family transition to parenthood.
SALVATION ARMY CAMBERWELL

Delivering bread where it's needed

Every week Rotarians, partners and friends collect unsold fresh bread from the Camberwell Bakers Delight store and deliver it to the Salvation Army Camberwell, where it is served with breakfast for those in need.

Thank you Bakers Delight Camberwell for your generosity of spirit.

Club members also run monthly cooking classes for Salvation Army clients, providing basic cooking skills in a fun and friendly environment.

Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network

The club is one of a consortium of clubs supporting the Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network (RIMERN). RIMERN accepts donations of unwanted household furniture and homewares, and repurposes them to people who need a hand. Pre-loved homewares are collected from donors all over Melbourne and stored at the RIMERN warehouse in Brunswick East, where they are then redistributed to clients referred by established welfare agencies. Glenferrie Rotarians support with funds, and with volunteer roles at the warehouse.

WASH Project in Sierra Leone

Club members applied their fundraising, project management, engineeering design and networking skills to build two Ventilated Improved Pit latrines and provide fresh rainwater tanks for the children at the Aladura Primary School in Buedu, eastern Sierra Leone. The project included the design and establishment of a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) training program for the children, delivered with the assistance of a District Grant from The Rotary Foundation. In 2025 the club has launched a project to instal a solar powered pump and water storage tower at the school, supported by a grant from the Australian Government (DFAT).  The opening of the new toilet blocks in late 2024 was received by the villagers of Buedue with much fanfare and joy.

 

PARKINSON`S VICTORIA WALK IN THE PARK

Raising funds for Parkinson's Victoria is a Walk in the Park

Parkinson’s Victoria raises awareness and funds for services and research to improve the quality of life for 27,000 people living with Parkinson’s in Victoria. The Rotary Club of Glenferrie has operated the fundraising community barbecue at Federation Square Melbourne during the annual Parkinson's Victoria Walk in the Park Event. More than 3,000 walkers return hungry and the aroma of sausages and onions cooking away is simply irresistible!
 
SERVANTS COMMUNITY HOUSING

Respect, dignity, hope. Help for the homeless

Servants Community Housing has been operating affordable accommodation and safe housing for those on low incomes for over thirty years in Hawthorn, and more recently in Kew. Residents may have been homeless, they may have left a psychiatric ward for the first time, experienced a relationship breakdown, loss of employment, substance issues. The Rotary Club of Glenferrie is a major donor to Servants Community Housing, contributing funds, working bees and completing projects including Packs for the Homeless and helping to equip the new Women's Only Shelter opened in August 2019.
CAMCARE

Helping people facing personal hardship or difficult life circumstances.

 
The Rotary Club of Glenferrie is a regular contributor towards the costs of running Camcare, a not-for-profit, community based organisation, assisting people from Boroondara and neighbouring areas who are facing personal hardship or difficult life circumstances. Camcare provides services to people in the Boroondara community who have low incomes, are experiencing social disadvantage or personal adversity. Promoting self reliance through our work is a core guiding principle. Glenferrie Rotarians also help out once a month with providing a healthy barbecue lunch for clients of Camcare.
HAWTHORN MENS SHED

Friendship, mentoring and work for willing hands

In partnership with Uniting AgeWell and with grants from The Rotary Foundation and the Victorian Government, the Rotary Club of Glenferrie established the Hawthorn Men's Shed in Elgin Street Hawthorn. The Men's Shed provides friendship, skills mentoring, and a fully equipped workshop where men can gather and work on favourite projects.
AND A HOST OF OTHER PROGRAMS AS WELL ......

Rotary Programs and Projects Supported by the Rotary Club of Glenferrie

 
Rotary Club of Glenferrie - The Movie
Movie prepared for the Australia Day Celebrations at Victoria Park Kew January 2021.
 
End Polio Now

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 30 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.

As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.

We've helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. So far, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide.

Today, wild polio is found only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.

Explore the history of Rotary and polio eradication

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