Ian Cairns welcomed all Rotarians present and our four guests - guest speaker Dedy Friebe, and visiting guests Natasha Grigory, Geraldine Delaney and Graham Thompson. Ian then welcomed Acting President Judy Ross. Judy thanked everyone who attended last week’s meeting at Pippi’s and commented on what a great night it was.
An application for membership in the Rotary Club of Warrnambool has been received from Geraldine Delaney with the proposed classification of Community Services. Geraldine works in as a Supervisor, Community Residential Unit, for the Department of Health and Human Service. She has also been involved with the Leprosy Mission Australia.
If no objections are received within seven days the induction of Geraldine Delaney will proceed at a time convenient to all concerned.
An application for membership in the Rotary Club of Warrnambool has been received from Paul Forbes with the proposed classification of Automotive Services. Paul works trainer at South West Institute of TAFE.
If no objections are received within seven days the induction of Paul Forbes will proceed at a time convenient to all concerned.
Keith McLeod provided an update on the health of Eric Williams who is currently in hospital and has now been moved to Rehab. Eric is progressing well with his recovery.
The East Warrnambool Rotary Club Art Exhibition is being opened this coming Friday night 23 September and entry fee is $20.
The Port Fairy Open Gardens fund raiser which is on again on 20 November adding it is an event which is always a treat to attend.
Richard Hawker provided information and sought support for the International DIK (Donations in Kind) District 9780 Appeal. Donations in Kind is a successful District Project which in the past 12 months has shipped 4 x 40ft containers, 16 x 20ft containers, spent $96,000 on shipping and road freight costs and which is supported by 30 plus volunteers on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. It is run out of Geelong and its chairman is Anton Van Doornik. Countries supported so far by the DIK Appeal are Sri Lanka, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, West Kenya and Uganda. Donations are received from Rotary clubs as far away as Mt Gambier, Echuca and Albury, local charities, individual people and church groups who contribute goods or financial donations) Wish list goods in the past have included clothing, a piano, generators, potatoes, primary and secondary school books, desks, chairs, pencils, rulers, erasers, sporting equipment, medical equipment including an x-ray and mammogram machines, baby incubators, linen and gowns, vehicles, water tanks, solar panels and a complete dental laboratory.
Our club is considering a financial donation and Richard asked if anyone knew of a suitable building which could be used as a permanent depot to store donated goods. Rotarians please ask around to see if a local suitable place could be made available to store goods collected.
Following the meeting, Board discussed DIK's request for assistance and has agreed to provide $1,000 in support of this project.
Tony Austin advised Rotarians that last week our club was asked if we could provide food for the flood relief workers on Friday evening and Sunday lunch time. Tony gladly agreed to help and a BBQ was set up in the Allansford CFA shed. Tony thanked Anne Adams, Sharon Stark, Michael Boyd, Judy Ross, Joan Austin and Robbie Blackmore for their help last weekend. The club thanks Tony for all his hard work.
Andrea Sampson advised Rotarians that Julia (a past Brazillian exchange student who was pre Fabio) has fulfilled her dream of becoming a sports journalist. After returning from her year away in Warrnambool, Julia went on to gain her degree and is now working as a sports journalist. She recently interviewed Australian athletes in Brazil, some of whom thought she was Australian because of she has retained her Aussie accent. Andrea said she felt very proud of the part our club has played in Julia’s success.
Rotaract is meeting at Andrea’s home on 21 Septembert at 6pm and now has 10 enthusiastic members.
The Quilt Show is on again in January 2017 and Brian Trenery and Andrea Sampson will be attending a quilt show meeting in November to discuss our Club's involvement. Andrea and Brian have been advised that our Club can have the proceeds of the raffle but the quilt show committee would like the money to go towards a local health related cause. Andrea and Brian are keen to establish which local health related cause this will be and that way it can be printed on the raffle tickets and people will know who they are supporting when they purchase a ticket. Andrea is keen to start selling raffle tickets in the middle of October as we have a three month window to sell tickets in the lead up to the Quilt Show in January.
Show Gates Roster for 28, 29 and 30 October 2016
Please email Doug Maclean if you are NOT able to help at the showgates. Otherwise you will be placed on the roster. His email is: maclles126@gmail.com
Coonawarra Trip - 8-9 October: Still some vacant seats available, so now open to bring along friends – please see Judy.
The Working with Children Act 2005 requires that people who work or volunteer in certain child related work, apply for and pass, a WWC Check. It aims to strike a balance between protecting children under 18 years of age, promoting volunteering and safeguarding the rights of individuals. All volunteers who work with children must apply for a Victorian Government 'Working with Children Check' which is an obligation under the Working with Children Act 2005.
Having a WWC would be necessary for some of our Rotarians, but not all, especially those not involved in hosting an exchange student. If you do have a WWC, it would be most appreciated if you could bring along a copy of this and hand to Sharon at the next meeting.
If you would like to get a WWC, as a volunteer, it is totally free and you can start the process by accessing the link below. Thanks for your help in keeping our records up to date.
We are currently undertaking an audit of the key register and in particular would like to note the six keys Rotary has been assigned for the Alan Lane Pavilion. If you have any Rotary keys, would you please bring it/them with you to the next meeting so Tony Austin or Michael Boyd can update the register.
Richard Hawker introduced Dedy Friebe who provided a snapshot of the service provided by the local Warrnambool and District Food Share project which is now in its third year of operation and growing to meet local needs. Dedy explained that there are 92 service organisations registered with food share - they range from non-Government organisations to hospitals, churches, mental health agencies, Emma House, DHHS and schools and kinders.
Hampers
Food Hampers are made up daily (an average of 18 hampers per day). So far this year 2336 hampers have been made up which averages out to 400 hampers per month. Each hamper is around three boxes of food, and some 530 plus boxes are used per week.
In 2014 a total of 2700 hampers were distributed.
In 2015 this figure grew to 3389 hampers.
And so far this year- with three months to go - the figures is up 30% with 2804 hampers given out to date in 2016.
Over 7,200 people have received hampers so for in 2016 (an increase of + 33%)
An average of 56 people per day (1000 per month) and some 173 families per month for far this year 1389 families have received hampers (and increase of + 34%)
534 groups have accessed our food (schools, church groups, soup kitchens, before and after school programs etc)
HALF THE HAMPER RECIPIENTS ARE CHILDREN who need feeding.
Food Share has 94 registered agencies averaging 60 agencies per month who use Food Share.
The top three agencies accessing help from Food Share are Hamilton Uniting Church (bulk food), St Vincent De Paul and Brophy Family Services.
In 2014 Food Share helped 6500 people
In 2015 Food Share helped 8831 people
In 2016 Food Share has a + 33% increase and has helped 7,200 thus far.
Total Amounts of Food Distributed
Over 102,000 kgs of food was distributed in 2014
111,509 kgs of food was distributed in 2015 (an increase of 9%)
So far in 2016, 88,300kgs (+ 20%) or 13 tonnes of food per month which equals 500kg per day has been distributed.
Destinations for the food regularly include Warrnambool, Allansford, Camperdown, Cobden, Derrinallum, Hamilton, Heywood, Koroit, Mortlake, Penshurst, Port Fairy, Portland, Purnim and Terang.
Food rescued
Food is collected daily from all the supermarkets around town and Aldi is the most generous of all the supermarkets. In 2015 over 62,700 kgs of food was donated by our 9 supermarkets.
56 Tonnes of food rescued or donated so far this year.
38 Tonnes from Foodbank - Foodbank in Melbourne provides about 66,000 kgs of food to Food Share per year.
Farm Food
Nothing is wasted. Food which is not used in hampers goes out to farmers as animal fodder.
About 20000kg of food is directed to pig and chook farmers per year (up to 2 tonnes per month)
Volunteer Service
Food Share relies heavily on its Volunteer work force who contribute over 3,500 hours of service each year (300 hours per month).
Donations
Dedy explained that Food Share welcomes donations of fresh food - lemons, seasonal fresh fruit of any type, adding that eggs are gold to them!
Richard Hawker thanked Dedy for the wonderfully informative presentation and Judy Ross presented Dedy with a cheque for $1,600.
Last Friday morning our Club was contacted by the Incident Control Centre in Heywood asking if we could help out with providing meals for the SES and other volunteers helping out in Allansford that night and over the weekend. With little notice all was organised and we provided burgers to rival any other in the SW to hungry workers. A huge thank you to Tony Austin for making all the arrangements, including purchasing food, delivering the BBQ, cooking and arranging volunteers. Thanks also to Michael Boyd, Sharon Stark, Judy Ross, Robbie Blackmore, Anne Adams, Richard Hawker and Joan Austin for spending time over the weekend for this worthy cause.
Richard Hawker introduced Dedy Friebe who provided a snapshot of the service provided by the local Warrnambool and District Food Share project which is now in its third year of operation and growing to meet local needs. Dedy explained that there are 92 service organisations registered with food share - they range from non-Government organisations to hospitals, churches, mental health agencies, Emma House, DHHS and schools and kinders.
