Sergeant at Arms - Ian Cairns commenced proceedings this evening calling on Brian Trenery to propose the Invocation/Loyal Toast.

 

President Michael Boyd welcomed all present commencing with Club guests tonight;

 

President Michael continued with Club information;

 

Introduction - Cathy Bligh as our new member to be inducted tonight

Rotarian Anne Adams; President Michael Rotarians and guests, it is my pleasure to introduce Cathy Bligh for induction to our Rotary Club.

 

Cathy is a local, born in Warrnambool and raised at Woodford. She attended school in Warrnambool, Brauer College, prior to completing her secondary education in Geelong.

 

Cathy worked and lived in the UK and Ireland for three years, upon returning spent time living in Melbourne.  On her return to Warrnambool she undertook a Diploma of Community Welfare and spent 9 years working as a Drug and Alcohol counsellor at Western Region Alcohol & Drug Centre, then spent twelve months in Alice Springs working for the Northern Territory Government.  Cathy is currently employed at Centacare Warrnambool working alongside Victims of Crime.

 

Cathy will bring her energy and enthusiasm to this club, she has a sense of humour, a positive outlook on life and she gets things done.  Rotarian Cathy Bligh was welcomed to the Warrnambool Rotary Club.

 

 

Svet; next Tuesday 27^th November is a ‘Greek night’ for our Rotary meeting to be held at the Alan Lane Pavilion. This is a fundraiser for Girl Tok.

 

‘Girl Tok’ program is continuing with a sewing workshop on Saturday November 24^th from 8:30 – 11.30am and the Guide Hall in Manifold Street.  Svet will provide a croissant breakfast. Please bring along your straight sewing machine.  There will be plenty of cutting and turning for the shields in preparation of the sanitary hygiene products.  The packs are being produced for girls who are currently excluded from attending school in PNG during their menstrual cycles.

 

Andrea; Foodshare basically the shelves are empty, down to practically nothing.  Please bring along whatever you have to assist during the Christmas season for disadvantaged families.  Breakfast spreads, i.e. vegemite, cereals and muesli bars for school lunches. 

 

Brian; last weekend went on a trip to Bellarine Peninsula to enjoy fellowship with other Rotarians, various stops on the way, dinner at Little Creatures, visited Sunday farmers market and lunch at Queenscliffe, thoroughly enjoyed by all.  We look to have a trip away every 6 months, looking forward to the next road trip.

 

Judy; Interplast (Aust & New Zealand) … the collection each week we pass around for contributions.

Interplast is a small charitable organisation that was initially started by Rotary District 980 in 1983, in conjunction with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, following an Australian Plastic Surgeon - Mr Leo Rozner volunteering with Interplast USA, which was created in 1969.

 

When Mr Leo Rozner returned to Melbourne after volunteering in South America, he spoke of his experiences to the Rotary Club of Cheltenham, this led to General Practitioner and Rotarian, Dr Gerald Duff instigating discussions which eventually led to the birth of Interplast Australia.

 

Interplast Australia was established to provide voluntary medical teams to carry out plastic and reconstructive surgery in developing countries.  In 2007, Interplast Australia changed its name to Interplast Australia & New Zealand to recognise the collaboration with our New Zealand supporters, volunteers and contributors.  The introduction of an appropriately symbolic tagline, ‘Repairing bodies. Rebuilding lives’ cemented the focus on transforming lives and capacity building.

 

Plastic and reconstructive surgery is incredibly powerful.  It can completely change someone’s future.  However, all over the Asia Pacific, millions of people with treatable conditions are living with disability, and in many cases dying, because they can’t access or afford the care they need.

 

People who have a disability are more vulnerable to poverty than those who don’t.  Children with disabilities are less likely to attend school than non-disabled children.  Adults with trauma to limbs may not be able to work and provide an income for their family.  Reconstructive surgery can change that.

 

Fully qualified Australian and New Zealand volunteer plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied health professionals are sent to 17 countries in the Asia Pacific region for up to 2 weeks, to provide free surgical treatment for patients who would otherwise not be able to afford access to such services.  The treatment is aimed at providing function and mobility for conditions such as cleft lip and palate, or tumours, and burns scar contractures.  Focus is also heavily placed on facilitating medical training and mentoring for in-country medical personnel by building capacity and supporting local health services.  A fundamental component of all Interplast’s activities is to leave a legacy through strengthening, improving, expanding and establishing the abilities of our neighbours’ medical staff.  This is done by guiding and coaching from a distance as well as with regular visits, supporting medical personnel who are often working in remote settings with little peer support and few, if any, specialist services.

 

Interplast Australia’s very first programme was conducted in Samoa in 1983 and was fully funded by Rotarians.  Now, in 2018, Interplast is a thriving not-for-profit organisation with a solid reputation for excellence in the care and training they provide, and with the relationships they build with their partners.  35 years of service, in excess of 40,000 patient consultations and 25,000 surgeries are celebrated.  Looking to the future the hope is to help these partner countries build health systems that meet their communities’ needs, eventually there will no longer be any need for Interplast.

 

Until that time, support is still sought from donors, fundraisers and volunteers to change futures through surgery and training across the Asia Pacific region.  Continuing financial support of Rotarians is crucial to enabling the life-changing work of the Interplast volunteer medical teams.

 

Fellow Rotarian, you can help support Interplast each week as our Interplast flask, which has morphed into a jug, passed around the tables at the beginning of each meeting.  Thank you

 

Sergeant at Arms - Ian confirmed Foodshare is very light for supplies at the moment, muesli bars always assist with school lunches.

 

On the couch … A little bit about George (joined at age 29), from Hamilton after arriving back from Harvey Bay (parents Engineers) two younger siblings and one older, newly married.

When George graduated from VCE the family shifted down from Queensland.  George graduated from Melbourne University with an Engineering degree (enjoys the aspect of problem solving using science or other disciplines to work through problems).

 

Family have a favourite joke in describing George ‘the thoroughbred’.  Currently working in a small office of 7, majority of business structural engineering (houses).  A recent client in Melbourne with a house in Port Fairy contracted George to design a huge 4 metre high box to plant four trees in (trees craned in together with soil).  This structure may only be temporary until the trees behind grow to take the space.  Civil Engineering covers many different specialisations. An example of Geotechnical Engineering: George designs structural foundations to deal with the land and environment. Stormwater soak pit designs require estimating the soil drainage rate via percolation test.

 

Hobbies; skiing in Hotham, Dad is a keen skier who joined a ski Club 1975, built the lodge with other members of the Club and the family interest in skiing grew from there.

 

Travel; Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Europe...

 

Member of The Young Scientists of Australia (YSA), a national organisation committed to promoting science and technology and helping young Australians to find the fun in it. George participated in Young Scientists camps Year 10-11 at secondary college, continued to age 25 in a mentoring role.  Camps are for 3 days to introduce young people to different areas of science.

 

George knows all about battery operated cars as his father owns a Tesla. (Teslas are a substantial investment - Tesla ‘S’ model approximately $110k). The car can be plugged in at home and charge overnight.  When travelling long distances, it is a good idea to stick to a supercharger route which will only take 40 minutes to charge. Lifetime costs are very low and it costs approximately $13 to 'fill' the battery at home. Regenerative braking will put some power back into system. George is saving to hopefully buy the cheaper Model 3 next year. 

 

George likes movies, pop culture, he just bought the complete set of Darth Vader comics.  Interested in service organisations such as Rotary.

 

Swindle tonight $99 (ticket # 20) on a redraw the pool was won by David Brown.  David added $1 to total $100 and donated to Foodshare.

 

President Michael thanked George for his interesting conversation ‘on the couch’.

 

Thanked Karina for her contribution as Editor of the Bulletin for three years and for supporting our Club as she prepares to move to Western Australia.

 

Karina responded by thanking members for being interested in her as they volunteered side by side at the show gates, BBQ’s and fellowship.  In Karina’s role as a Minister she reflected on how she is the one interested in everyone else. 

 

Thank you to guests tonight; Chris, Lorraine & Mylann and look forward to you joining us anytime.

 

Next week – ‘Girl Tok’ (Days for Girls) program that our Club is actively supporting.

 

Meeting next week at the Alan Lane Pavilion.

 

Thought for the week: “Time is more valuable than money; you can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”

 

Invocation: Ann Donaldson

Fellowship: Louise Brennan

Attendance: Glenn Brotchie / Keith McLeod

Properties: Graeme War / George McLeod

Fines: Mal Price

Chairman: Svet Lineham

 

An application for membership in the Rotary Club of Warrnambool has been received from Chris Stebbing with the proposed classification of Information Technology. 

If no objections are received within seven days the induction of Chris Stebbing will proceed at a time convenient to all concerned.

 

Sharon Stark,

Secretary

21 November 2018