Stories

Supporting kids exploring STEM

Science and Engineering Challenges Galore

We recently combined with Ballarat West & Wendouree Breakfast Rotarians to organise the Ballarat Regional Science & Engineering Challenge Day.

Student from seven schools puzzled, designed, crafted and trialed solutions to a range of STEM challenges. Volunteers ran activities provided by the University of Newcastle and the event was hosted by Federation University.

Congratulations to all of the students who participated and thank you to our amazing sponsors:

Service Stream, Nicholson Construction, Rotary Op Shop, The Canberra Hotel, Plinius Engineering, Central Highlands Water, Integra, McCain, Wendouree Breakfast Rotary, Bartlett Manufacturing and Gestalt Engineering.

All of our volunteers had a great time seeing the students tackle each challenge with enthusiasm and persistence.

Mothers' Day High Tea

Tree planting

School Planting Project

Our members have been having a ball helping local School children to beautify their schoolgrounds with the plants we have provided through our school tree project. Thanks to a grant from Acciona Waubra Wind Farm we were able to purchase two thousand seven hundred seedlings - a mixture of grasses, ground covers, flowers, shrubs and trees, indigenous to our area and distribute them to Lucas, Sienna, Pleasant St, Wendouree, St Mary's, Our Lady Help of Christians and Newington Primary Schools and Yuille Campus Flexible Learning Centre.

Acciona Support

Acciona Community Support

We were very pleased to be successful candidates for an Acciona Energia Waubra Wind Farm Small Grant. This will allow us to purchase plants for several local Primary Schools, thus enhancing the environment of our local area and increasing environmental awareness among students and families.

The photo shows Robyn receiving our certificate from Acciona staff members, Erin and Sarah.

Vanuatu Hospital Project

Painting the Children's Outpatients Clinic, Port Vila Hospital

A group of Alfredton Rotary members, family and friends (including Michael from RC Ballarat South) headed to Vanuatu to paint the Children's Outpatients clinic. On arrival they saw a brightly coloured mural that was unfortunately the worse for wear and a jaw-dropping array of bright colours throughout the hallway and examination rooms. Thanks to generous donations of equipment from Express Paint Rollers Australia, paint from Dulux and the expertise of Gary Sinclair, they were equipped for the task!

From then on, a little skill and a lot of enthusiasm, cooperation and hard work got the job done.

It was lovely to welcome some Ni-Vanuatu volunteers and Port Vila RC members who helped with the project.

Welcome Night

A Welcome Night

Members, friends and family enjoyed a relaxed, informative evening as project leads spoke about the various projects of Alfredton Rotary. Local, national and international projects were presented, exemplifying the wide-ranging benefits that can be generated by a small number of people working together. It was lovely to see familiar faces as we welcomed past Rotarians back to the fold.

Vanuatu Container

Off to Vanuatu

For the past few months Jill has been sourcing health and educational equipment to support the people of Vanuatu, after requests from community members there. These items have been generously donated by a wide array of groups, individuals, businesses and schools and for the past month or so Jill has been packing them into a 40ft container ably assisted by Alfie members, other Rotarians and community volunteers. What an amazing, coordinated, cooperative project!

A group of 20 Rotarians, family and friends will travel to Vanuatu at the end of April, to work on a service project and hopefully see these items arrived and distributed.

Congratulations to Jill for leading this life-changing project.

Welcome back Art Show

A big Welcome Back to the Ballarat Art Show!

We brought back the previously long-running and well-loved Art Show for the Begonia Festival weekend.

It was a lot of work to organise at short notice; contacting artists, arranging the venue and all the permissions, not to mention lifting and shifting the heavy display frames, but with a lot of teamwork and some very welcome assistance from APEX, other Rotarians and our friends and family it became a reality.

It was so lovely hear the pleasure and gratitude from artists and public alike, that we had brought it back.

Now we are looking forward to 2026!

Art Show Opening Night 2025

Art Show Opening Night

The Art Show has officially opened!

Congratulations to Michelle and Jill who have been the inspiration and driving forces behind getting the event up and running.

Thank you to all who came to celebrate the opening, to all of the amazing artists who have generously shared their work with us, to APEX members who provided the display boards (and the muscle to put them up) and to the other Rotary members and community members who have assisted in a myriad of ways.

We look forward to seeing hoards of people come through to see the artworks over the Begonia Festival Weekend.

Stephen Induction

Late last month we welcomed Stephen Andrew to the Alfredton gang.

Stephen has already been involved in various Alfie projects including BBQing and volunteering throughout the Art Show.

Welcome aboard Stephen!

In our Community

How many bread rolls??

You want How Many Rolls??

2,700??

No Problem!

We recently combined with the Rotary Club of Ballarat West to cater for Victorian Scouts heading to the Australian Jamboree in Queensland and then repeated the process for their homeward trip.

A couple of hundred meals catering to dietary needs were included in the task.

All reports received from the Scouts and Scout Leaders expressed gratitude and hearty satisfaction for the lunches provided.

It was a great opportunity to work with other Rotarians and a local business - shout out to Bake and Grind, Delacombe - to provide a service for Scouts and to raise some funds for our projects at the same time.

Food for hungry kids

More Food for Hungry Kids

Our Volunteers are keen to restart our Eatup program for 2025.

Eatup Australia is a national not-for-profit providing free sandwiches to schools, so they can be frozen and supplied as needed to kids without lunches. Our members initiated running the Eatup program in Ballarat in 2017 and since then have supplied over 56,000 sandwiches and currently deliver to 36 local primary schools.

The school staff freeze the sandwiches, which can then be provided as toasties to kids without lunch.

This wonderful program runs with the support of some fabulous partners, particularly Ballarat Grammar students and staff who volunteer their time after school to make the sandwiches and Eatup Australia.

We also have support from local businesses and organisations - Nature's Cargo, Community Bank Buninyong and this year we are thrilled to welcome Davies Bakery as our bread sponsor.

Thank you to all these people and our volunteer coordinators and deliverers - we couldn't do it without you!

Rotary’s Response to the 1918 Flu Pandemic

An estimated 500 million people worldwide became infected. Many cities closed theaters and cinemas, and placed restrictions on public gatherings. Rotary clubs adjusted their activities while also helping the sick.

This is how Rotary responded to the influenza pandemic that began in 1918 and came in three waves, lasting more than a year.

The Rotary Club of Berkeley, California, USA, meets in John Hinkel Park during the 1918 flu pandemic.

Photo by Edwin J. McCullagh, 1931-32 club president. Courtesy of the Rotary Club of Berkeley.

Rotary at the Start of the United Nations

Rotary and the United Nations have a shared history of working toward peace and addressing humanitarian issues around the world.

During World War II, Rotary informed and educated members about the formation of the United Nations and the importance of planning for peace. Materials such as the booklet “From Here On!” and articles in The Rotarian helped members understand the UN before it was formally established and follow its work after its charter.

Many countries were fighting the war when the term “United Nations” was first used officially in the 1942 “Declaration by United Nations.” The 26 nations that signed it pledged to uphold the ideals expressed by the United States and the United Kingdom the previous year of the common principles “on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.”

History of Women in Rotary

Women are active participants in Rotary, serving their communities in increasing numbers and serving in leadership positions in Rotary. The 1989 Council on Legislation vote to admit women into Rotary clubs worldwide remains a watershed moment in the history of Rotary.

“My fellow delegates, I would like to remind you that the world of 1989 is very different to the world of 1905. I sincerely believe that Rotary has to adapt itself to a changing world,” said Frank J. Devlyn, who would go on to become RI president in 2000-01.

The vote followed the decades-long efforts of men and women from all over the Rotary world to allow the admission of women into Rotary clubs, and several close votes at previous Council meetings.

Young Inventor Eco-Friendly Bricks Come Full Circle

Every hero has an origin story. “I was 10 years old when the entire journey started,” explains Binish Desai. It began with a cartoon called Captain Planet, an animated TV series from the 1990s about an environmentalist with superpowers. Desai can still recite the show’s refrain: Captain Planet, he’s our hero / Gonna take pollution down to zero! “That tagline stuck in my mind,” he says. “I wanted to do something to help Captain Planet.”

First Club in Philippines Opens Door to Rotary in Asia

In early 1919, Rotarian Roger Pinneo of Seattle, Washington, USA, traveled to the Philippines to try to organize a Rotary club in Manila. Leon J. Lambert, a Manila business leader helped Pinneo establish the club. Several months later, on 1 June 1919, the Rotary Club of Manila was chartered and became the first Rotary club in Asia.

The club would be the only one in the country for more than 12 years. Eventually, Manila club members organized Rotary clubs in the Philippine cities of Cebu (1932) and Iloilo (1933). Iloilo club members then started a club in Bacolod (1937), and Rotary continued to expand across the country.