This week President Andrew reports on decisions made at last week’s Board meeting and reminds us of the events the Club has lined up between now and the end of this Rotary year, starting with next week’s special Anzac Day lunch.
With an election looming his ‘Thoughts of the Week’ over the coming weeks will focus on democracy, its strengths and vulnerabilities.
He apologises for the fact there is no Lingua File this week. He could have blamed an errant Easter bunny for eating the draft but, conscious of Rotary’s 4-Way Test, he confesses to chocolate-induced indolence.
I hope you have all been enjoying a relaxing Easter break with family and friends.
Several of us are off to Albury this coming weekend for the District Conference. This is a great opportunity to meet Rotarians from many of the 67 clubs in District 9800 and to learn about new and innovative Rotary projects that will be showcased at the conference. The District has prepared a video featuring some standout projects, including the Mental Health Units Care Pack and Clothing consortium project at the Alfred and Box Hill hospitals for which we are the lead club.
Board meeting
The Board held its monthly meeting last week and dealt with the following items of special business.
Club awards
The Awards Committee’s recommendations for recognition of members for services to the Club in 2021/22 were considered by the Board and the awards will be presented at the Changeover Dinner on 25 June.
Rotary Safe Families
As the host club for RSF, we will be named on the RSF website (https://rotarysafefamilies.org.au/) and applications for funding for RSF will be made in our name. RSF does not depend on its host club for funding but secures its own funding through Rotary and philanthropic grants.
Dorothy will continue to direct RSF and give presentations on the program to clubs and organisations. She is supported by RSF ambassadors and champions in over 85 Rotary Clubs, Districts, and community organisations that endorse the program. Dorothy will welcome the assistance of Club members interested in the work of RSF in promoting this important new addition to our Community Service projects.
Membership and Communications strategy
Delphine Genin, our Strategic Development & Communications Director, led the Board in discussion of ways we might attract new members. We considered which groups in the community we should focus on in our recruitment efforts. These might include the recently retired, people transitioning to retirement, and younger people in the later stages of vocational study, or in early or mid-career. Delphine stressed the importance of discovering what these groups would be looking for the Club to provide for them, and in the case of younger cohorts what sort of projects would be of sufficient interest to encourage their participation in a volunteer capacity. It was agreed that this discussion should continue over the coming months and that the development of the strategy should be led by a member of the Board. This is why we are creating a vacancy on next year’s Board for a Membership & Communications Director.
I hope those strategic thinkers among you (and I’m sure we have many in the Club) will consider taking on this role. Please call me if you are interested.
What’s on at the Club
Here is a list of Club meetings and other events that will be held between now and the end of June.
- Tuesday 26 April Anzac Day lunch at Kooyong
- Tuesday 3 May Club lunch at Kooyong
- Monday 9 May Fixers meeting by Zoom
- Tuesday 10 May Tour of Burwood Brickworks Shopping Complex
- Saturday 14 May Who’s Coming to Dinner? home hosting event
- Tuesday 17 May Club lunch at Kooyong
- Tuesday 24 May Club meeting by Zoom
- Tuesday 24 May Club lunch at Kooyong
- Tuesday 31 May Club lunch at Kooyong
- Tuesday 7 June Club lunch at Kooyong
- Monday 13 June Bookworms meeting by Zoom
- Tuesday 14 Jun Tour of the Disaster Control Centre and Australian Gardens
- Saturday 25 June Changeover Dinner
- Tuesday 28 June Club meeting by Zoom
Anzac Day lunch 26 April
I hope to see as many members and friends as possible at next week’s Anzac Day lunch. This is an opportunity for the Club to commemorate those Australians who served, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice, in all the wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations in which Australia has been involved. Learn from our guest speakers about the work of the Victorian Vietnam Veteran’s Association and inspect their display of memorabilia.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the Easter week and stay safe and well.
President Andrew
Thought for the Week
Since we will soon exer
cise our democratic right and duty to vote in the Federal Election, I thought over the coming weeks I’d feature some reflections on the strengths and vulnerabilities of democracy.
cise our democratic right and duty to vote in the Federal Election, I thought over the coming weeks I’d feature some reflections on the strengths and vulnerabilities of democracy.First a little about ‘democracy’. The word has its origins in the Greek language and combines two words, demos meaning whole citizen living within a particular city-state, and kratos meaning power or rule.
It is generally agreed that modern liberal democracies are based on four main principles.
1. A belief in the individual.
2. A belief in reason and progress.
3. A belief in a society that is consensual.
4. A belief in shared power.
A liberal democracy (that is, one that champions the development and well-being of the individual) is organised in such a way as to define and limit power so as to promote legitimate government within a framework of justice and freedom. There are four critical elements to the framework:
· legitimacy – having the appropriate mandate or authority to rule;
· justice – treating all citizens equally and according them fairness, dignity, and respect;
· freedom – autonomy to act and make decisions within the law while respecting the rights and interests of others, and
· power – defined by constitutional rules and norms exercised within limits imposed by the separation of powers and other checks and balances.
We’ll start with a reflection from ancient Greece that holds true for the proper functioning of democracy today.
For if liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. - Aristotle, bk. 4
Sources: https://www.civiced.org/quotations-about-democracy, https://www.oxfordreference.com moadoph.gov.au/democracy/defining-democracy/