book sale 2024
Stories
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2022 Father of the YearTHE ROTARY CLUB OF WARRNAMBOOL “FATHER OF THE YEAR” PROMOTION The Rotary Club of Warrnambool continues to help better celebrate Father’s Day and recognize local fathers and father figures who are positive role models for their children and community, by again staging the “Father of the Year” promotion in Warrnambool and Moyne. The promotion, now in its 14th year, will again be promoted throughout all Primary Schools in the Warrnambool and Moyne districts. Rotarians will distribute all details, including entry forms and will also make sure that it is promoted heavily throughout the schools. Notification of the promotion will go out to schools in early June asking for the project to be included in the schools’ program/curriculum during term 3. Entry forms and details are available on our Father of the Year page |
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December HighlightsWhat a busy December! We started the month with volunteers spending the day creating and sewing face masks for our Day for Girls project Thanks for the great helping hand volunteers!     Through the month we tested out our new fundraising venture face painting! We attended the Warrnambool Rodeo (and what a turnout!) and the Sheep Shear-a-thon to raise funds for local schools who support children with disabilities We had a great engagement from the community, so this will be a continuation for fundraising in the future. thank you to our volunteers who left the events covered in paint!        To finish off the month we had a fantastic break up party at the local putt putt venue with a high level of competition, even a few holes in one!      Happy Holidays from the Rotary Club of Warrnambool |
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January/February HighlightsWith a cautious start to the year with a peak in COVID-19 cases, our club has fantastically adapted by trying hybrid meetings. Our members could choose to attend in person or online through zoom. In January we had our District Governor John Clue visit us as a guest speaker.    For Valentines Day, we ran a fundraising stall at the local Warrnambool Undercover markets selling baked goods. We also had our member turned resident face painter Brooke on hand for some face painting!  The top highlight of these months was Rotarian Ken Hutt, who is going to jump off the top of Mt Everest and paraglide down to raise funds our Rotary International's charity 'End Polio Now' Gar Newton who is a Polio survivor wrote: Had a wonderful evening in Warrnambool with a swag of fab Rotarians including District 9780 Governor John Clue and Everest paragliding adventurer Ken Hutt from the Rotary Club of Berry, NSW. What this humble farmer is attempting to do to help rid the world of polio - ie climb Mt Everest (8,849 meters at the summit) then fly OFF the mountain is incredible to say the least! Ken's story of daring, planning and passion has absolutely enthralled audiences all around Victoria over the past several days and I feel very fortunate to have spent time with this great bloke and played a sizable part in making it happen in Vic. But the real credit goes to Ken and all those from Rotary & beyond who are supporting him so generously via TRF. Thanks to some awesome involvement by an amazing number of top people last night alone raised over $150,000 for the Rotary Foundation to help End Polio. Too late for us, nevertheless polio survivors all around the world salute your phenomenal effort Ken. Good luck to you mate! We wish every success to you and your team Ken! Follow Ken via: https://www.facebook.com/flyfromeverest/     |
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November 2021 UpdateWhat a busy month we've had this November. We have managed to :- Help raise over half a tonne of Christmas Cheer Our first annual FoodFight with the other Rotary clubs has helped raise over half a tonne of Chrismas foodstuffs for the Warrnambool and District Foodshare.  Sew for Days for Girls November saw another successful sewing day for our Days for Girls Project. Further details on this project can be found on the "Project Sites" menu at the right of this page. Help the Environment The Environment and Sustainability committee has published a number of excellent articles via our bulletin on how everyone can do their bit for the environment.
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What's on for DecemberAfter a busy November, we're planning a number of things for December Rodeo and Shear-a-thon We will be raising funds for our many varied projects by offering face-painting at the Rodeo on the 4th, and the Shearathon on the 10th & 11th. Environment and Sustainability After our last working bee was cancelled due to inclement weather, we are hoping to reschedule. Stand by for further details. Continue working on our PNG water project We received some exciting news recently regarding a major funding boost for our PNG water projects which will allow an increase in our participation in this project. |
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Foodfight Raises half a tonne of Christmas CheerFor some, sitting down to that special meal on Christmas day is beyond reach. So, the Rotary Club of Warrnambool challenged all 4 Rotary Clubs to donate the Christmas luxuries that many of us take for granted. The result is just on a half a tonne of Christmas related foodstuffs to the Warrnambool and District Foodshare. The Rotary Club of Warrnambool East won the inaugural event, with our club running a gallant 2nd a mere 20Kgs behind. Despite running 2nd, our club is very happy with the efforts of all clubs who participated, with those less fortunate being the big winners. |
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Club funds local student to attend National Youth Science ForumThe Rotary Club of Warrnambool is proud to announce that O'Brien has been selected to attend the National Youth Science Forum in January.  Full details can be found in the following article on The Standard's website. |
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October 2021 UpdateWhat a busy month we've had this October Despite the Covid19 Restrictions, we've managed to :- Sew for Days for Girls On Sunday 10th a group of Rotarians gathered in a Covid safe manner to sew for our PNG Days for Girls project. You can read more about the Days for Girls project here.  Deliver on our R100 Project It's exciting times for the local Coast Guard as our club, with the assistance of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool East, Rotary District 9780, The Ray & Joyce Uebergang and Gwen & Edna Jones Foundations, and members of the local community, saw the delivery of two Personal Watercraft for use in close in shore rescues. These are a first for the South West region and will make our waterways much safer. This was a major fundraising effort with $35,000 raised toward this project.  Had fun at a BBQ at Lake Pertobe With the relaxing of some restrictions our Club was finally able to have a social gathering outdoors at Lake Pertobe. A fun night was had by all. Continued working on our PNG water project Although the Covid pandemic has meant that our members haven't been able to travel to PNG to continue our work there, that hasn't meant that the project has ground to a halt. There are still major things happening with the project and we're privileged to be able to work with such an incredible team and deliver real change to the area. You can read more about their situation in the post titled "An Appeal for Water" further down this page.  Checkout the work being done at the PNG Projects Group facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pngprojectsgroup |
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What's on for NovemberAfter a busy October we're planning a number of things for November. Food Fight for Food Share the Rotary Club of Warrnambool has challenged the other local clubs to raise much needed Christmas foods for the Warrnambool and District Food Share. All members of the local community are welcome to help out. Please purchase Christmas related foods and drop them off to Food Share in the week of Nov 22 to 26, between 8am and Noon. When dropping off produce, please tell them you're donating on behalf of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool. The Environment and Sustainability Committee is on the Move Sewing Bee for Days for Girls. |
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An Appeal for WaterLetter of Appeal Project: Provission of Clean Water. 50 Pumps For 50 Villages. I am Elijah Sarigari Chairman of the Oro Coomunity Services Foundation from Oro Province in Papua New Guinea. We are not a properly registerd group as we do not have enough resources to do these things. We are concerned people who try to help our communitys have better lives. We have been working with Roatry for many years and have a strong relationship. Oro Province is rated high as a natural disaster prone area in PNG. The province experiences cyclone, volcanoe, droughts, king tides and terestal flooding every year. As these happens, most water sources are badly affected and many people mostly women and children and people with special needs suffere badly from not having clean water. The already poorly estabilished government and church run facilities can not cope with the growing needs for clean water in most communities. The water born diseases are common in PNG and people of Oro in particular have lived with this delima for centuries. Many children and women live in fear of eaten by crocoddiles in an attempt to get water from the rivers. They get bad water from open creeks, swampy and still waters in the water logged areas. Pregnent mothers, young children, ageing and people with special needs are most vulnerable and disadvantaged by walking long distances carrying water. Provissions of aceesable clean water is a big issues. Here in Oro we are trying to addressing this. A few locals have initiated the project many years ago by contacted a Australian Rotary Club and a team of Rotary Volunteers have come and helped one community (Sariri Village community). This Roatry group has now better organised and stronger and spread the services to many communities. Roatry team lives and works with us when they are here and has taught us many things and we can now do many things we did not know before. We are working with them to find clean water in remote villages for 50 pumps for 50 villages. We hope to partner with other stake holders, Government line agencies, NGOs and charity groups such as Rotary clubs to provide accesable and clean waters to more people. Together with the team of local and Rotary volunteers who have given their lives to travel to very remote villages Sariri, Kongoho, Embogo, Embessa, Karaisa, Emo, Foru, Sarawassa, Bobo, Oro fishing community and have already put down 11 bores 4 wells in villages and filtration system in a school. From this we have given clean water to thousands of villagers for the first time. Rotry has provided us with money tools equpments and pumps with no cost. All these were done by Roatry and us work together with very basic hand held boring equipment. There has been a lot of challenges trying to do the job properly with very basic equipment. It is very hard work. The soil in this region is mainly rocky sand in the hinterland and mostly deep muddy soil in the swampy and water log areas especially villages along the sea line. We can not dig deep enough to get a lot of water with our hand digging methods. With the better stronger equipment we can dig faster and go futher down and get more good water. In our effort to provide water to one of our urban Schools (Popondetta Secondary School) the current project we dug with our hand tools for 2 weeks but we encountered a problem with our well is not deep enough although we have dug down 13 meters. Therefore we urgently need better equipment to do the job properly and served the communities so we kindly appeal for better equipments for digging for water. Rotary has helped us with many things. We have tools for digging for water and they give us many things for schools communities and our hospital. Rotary has bought us shipping containers where we keep the equipments and we care for them until Rotarians come to help us each year. If we have better equipments we will keep them safe and look after them with great care. We appreciate the tremdous effort from Warrnambool and Geelong and supporting Rotry Clubs for this noble and life helping project. Together we make a difference in a community in this part of the world. We have strong local volunteers here who will do more work if only we are properly enpowered with resoucers. We want to help our people to live like others can in the world and drink clean water and die when thay get old not die from water born disease. I and my people ask you can you please help our Rotry friends who try so hard to help us help ourselves. Elijah Sarigari Chairman Oro Community Service Foundation. |
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Days for GirlsWithout education there is no future for Girls. The Rotary Club of Warrnambool has recognised this and takes on board the life changing benefit for girls and women having an education in developing countries. We know that if we can educate a girl, we in the long term educate a village and community. Our involvement and the sewing of the Days 4 Girls hygiene products enables us to help girls stay in school and obtain the best possible education available to them. Missing school for a week per month is detrimental to the health and prosperity of a community. We as a group have a connection to communities in the North East of Papua New Guinea and in particular Popondetta and know that if we can keep girls at school and continuing their education, we can make a fundamental difference to these communities. Our sewing days bring together Rotary members and also members of our local community with the common goal of enriching the lives of girls and their communities. |
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Father Of The Year 2021 Entries Once again we had a great response to our Father of the Year competition. We received some 1,222 entries from the schools across the region which was a fantastic effort. While we were lucky enough to be able to collect all our entries before Covid restrictions hit, we were once again forced to cancel our celebration breakfast. Given the Covid restrictions, we were lucky enough to partner with Fitz media to present our awards in a virtual format. You can view the awards ceremony via our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Rotary.Club.of.Warrnambool Congratulations to all entrants and we wish to thank our great sponsors, 3YB, South West Credit and Bunnings. The runners up were Grades 5-6: Rohan Murphett, nominated by Rieli Grades 3-4: Nathan Pye, nominated by Daphne Prep – 2: Adam Knell, nominated by Reuben Father Figure: The winner wished to remain anonymous, nominated by Kayleigh The winners were Grades 5-6: Anthony Dixon, nominated by Jerry Grades 3-4: Tom Harrison, nominated by Sam Prep – 2 : Peter Furphy, nominated by Sophia Father Figure: Liam Williams, nominated by Eva Overall Winner: Anthony Dixon. You can view a selection of our entries via the Father of the Year photo album at https://portal.clubrunner.ca/1969/PhotoAlbums/father-of-the-year-2021 |
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Second Hand Book Sale 3Once again we will be running our second hand book and craft sale during the first weekend of the school holidays. Come along to the Warrnambool Club at 86 Kepler St on Sat 26th June (10am to 4pm) or Sun 27th June (10am to 2pm) to pickup some great bargains.
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Father of the Year 2021The Rotary Club of Warrnambool is pleased to announce that the Father of the Year competition is once again in full swing for 2021. For further information including entry forms, please click on the "Father of the Year" link in the site pages to the right. The following article contains some links to entries from last year's competition.
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Father of the Year 2020 EntriesFather of the Year 2020 Unfortunately, a return to Stage 3 restrictions put an end to our plans for the 2020 Father of the Year competition. After lockdown version 1 we were hopeful of being able to hold our annual event, albeit in a somewhat reduced format. All the local schools were eager to get involved and students completed a large number of entries. With the Stage 3 restrictions in place, this year's format was changed and schools were given the opportunity to award their own prizes. We are grateful for the school's getting on board, as well as to our sponsorts, 3YB, Bunnings and SouthWest Credit. You can view the entries via our Photo Album here: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/1969/PhotoAlbums/father-of-the-year-2020
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Club History UpdateThe Rotary Club of Warrnambool was chartered on 20 November, 1929. In celebration of our 90th birthday we have released two documents for download. |
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FATHER OF THE YEAR 2017On Wednesday 30th August the Rotary Club of Warrnambool held the annual Father of the Year Awards Breakfast. In conjunction with Brophy Family Services and sponsored by Southwest Credit and Bunning's Warehouse the awards aim to celebrate fathers and father-figures who inspire young people to be their best, and to encourage men to be good role-models for young people. Awards are given to fathers and father-figures in a number of categories based on the age-group of the child nominator, with an over-all winner named "Father of the Year". This year's winner was Daniel McKenna, nominated by his daughter, Amarli. In her submission Amarli wrote of writing a letter to her dad when she was little asking him to play a sport with her. The duo chose BMX and have been actively participating in BMX racing ever since with the whole family now involved. We are delighted to congratulate Daniel, and all the other nominated fathers and father-figures. A great article by The Standard can be found at: http://www.standard.net.au/story/4889431/years-best-dads-named/#slide=3  |
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DONATIONS-IN-KIND - HOSPITAL SUPPLIESLast year Tony contacted several hospital services in the area requesting DIK items that could be sent to developing countries. As a result of this he collected approximately 2 tonnes of donations last year and on Friday picked up another load. Friday's donations were from the Timboon & District Healthcare Service. They will shortly be taken to the Geelong DIK depot for sorting. It is likely that these goods will go to the Popondetta hospital in PNG in a few months.
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HAY DONATION BOOSTS ROTARY WATER PROJECTWannon Water has donated hay to support a Rotary International relief project supplying clean water to a remote village in Papua New Guinea.
More than 30 round bales of hay were harvested from Wannon Water land near Port Fairy and donated to the Rotary Club of Warrnambool for the second successive year.
The club will use the funds from the sale of the bales to support the Sariri Village Project which is helping to rebuild a community devastated by a cyclone in 2007 and severe flooding in 2009. Branch corporate services manager Les Johnson said the long-term project linked to Wannon Water's corporate vision of going "beyond water for strong communities". "Wannon Water is once again proud to support Rotary in its work to help the Sarari village re-establish and become self-sustaining with projects including timber milling, construction of safer housing and a school and the installation of a running water supply," Mr Johnson said. "Watching a video of village children playing in running water for the first time was heartwarming."
Wannon Water's social committee has also supported the project, providing money raised from last year's employee Christmas quiz towards a solar water pump. The Rotary Club of Warrnambool's international services director Tony Austin said Sarari was a Rotary Australia World Community Service project first initiated by the Rotary Club of Geelong and later supported by the Warrnambool Rotary clubs. "Much has been achieved and the lives of the villagers have significantly improved as a consequence," Mr Austin said. "It is an example of the convergence of traditional ways and modern technologies making life better in an extremely harsh and primitive environment."
He said villages such as Sariri received little or no financial support. "Most villages have absolutely nothing except what they grow and cut from the jungle and everything has to be carried by hand." "In the past, women and children had to walk three kilometres to the river each day to fetch and carry all their water needs. With Rotary's support, they've dug a well, sunk a bore and set a solar powered submersible pump on it, set up a solar battery array to provide a limited electricity supply and installed water tanks, pipes and taps to service much of the village."
Mr Austin said it was hoped the Sariri project could become a model replicated by other communities in the Oro Province, which is on PNG's north eastern coast. |
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FATHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS - 2 SEPTEMBER 2015
Warrnambool's Jai Russell with daughters Nikayla, 11, and Shearna, 14, after being named South West Victoria Father of the Year. Picture: Jono Pech JAI Russell’s effort to spend time with his daughters is the key to their strong bond. The Murray Goulburn shift worker was named South West Victoria Father of the Year at the Rotary Club of Warrnambool’s annual breakfast on Wednesday. Mr Russell said work sometimes made it difficult to see his children, especially on night duties, but he always made an effort. |
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SCIENCE & ENGINEERING SUPER CHALLENGE - DEAKIN UNIVERSITY
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SARIRI VILLAGE PROJECT
ROTARY clubs have called on the community to throw support behind a south-west project to help a rebuilding Papua New Guinea village. Since 2011, Warrnambool’s clubs have joined a Geelong Rotary Club effort to support the Sariri village’s relocation, after the community was forced to rebuild due to several natural disasters. A recent visit has prompted several Warrnambool members to put together a campaign aimed at helping the disadvantaged villagers become self-sustaining in forestry harvesting and agriculture. Allansford resident Graeme Ross, a Rotary Club of Warrnambool past president, has donated a working Massey Ferguson tractor to the cause. “After 55 years it’s never given me an ounce of trouble,” Mr Ross said. But Rotary Club of Warrnambool member Tony Austin believes more help is needed to truly change living conditions at the battling village. He said working tools, farming equipment and financial contributions would aid their effort to make a difference in Sariri. It will cost about $10,000 just to transport the tractor after any required restoration work. “We need to send the tractor in as reliable condition as we can,” Mr Austin said. See your ad here “They have no tools or equipment. “The Rotary clubs can’t resource this work on our own.” He said the impact of sending a working tractor and tools to the village would be immeasurable. “This will be life-changing but it’s part of a bigger picture,” Mr Austin said. “At the moment they live on a day-to-day basis of what they can grow and eat, but they want to go beyond that. “They’re a bunch of people who have nothing and if no one helps them, that’s all they’re going to have. “This has come from what we’ve seen on the last trip to the village.” Sariri is a coastal area village on the north side of Papua New Guinea, comprised of about seven tribes and 2000 inhabitants. Anyone who wants to donate money or equipment can contact the Rotary Club of Warrnambool or Warrnambool Daybreak. (Article from the Warrambool Standard Newspaper 24 July 2015) |
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WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU |
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2015 GREAT SOUTH COAST SCIENCE & ENGINEERING CHALLENGE
THE region’s brightest young minds faced off in the Great South Coast Science and Engineering Challenge regional finals on Tuesday.
About 100 students from 10 schools between Colac and Portland put their skills to the test at Deakin University in Warrnambool.
Rotary Club of Warrnambool volunteer Astrid Sorenson, 17, said teams took part in multiple science exercises.
“The idea is to get students interested in science and thinking about subjects they want to study in year 11 and year 12,” she said.
King’s College student Chloe Gale, 16, said she enjoyed the friendly competition much more than expected.
“It was really fun and challenging,” she said.
“You had to definitely use your brain.”
(Article from the Warrnambool Standard Newspaper)
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SARIRI VILLAGE PROJECT 2015 - PRELIMINARY REPORT
In November 2007 Oro Province in Papua New Guinea suffered extensive flooding, loss of life and property damage during Cyclone Guba. One of the many villages in Oro Province that were devastated by the cyclone was Sariri. Subsequent to the disaster Elijah Sarigari, a former teacher and one of the community leaders of Oro Province, made contact with his former PNG school Principal, Reverend Donald Johnstone, who was living in Geelong at the time of the disaster, seeking help. Reverend Johnstone in turn contacted Anton Van Doornik of the Rotary Club of Geelong. Both Reverend Johnstone and Anton went to Sariri and it was agreed that assistance in rebuilding could be provided. Since then there have been Rotary teams working at Sariri Village in 2011, 2013 and 2015.
The 2015 Sariri Project
On March 28 a container of materials, equipment and donations for the 2015 Sariri project left Australia for Oro Province, PNG.
The 2015 project team was scheduled to leave Australia on 11 May however due to the container arriving late this had to be postponed; the container arrived at Oro Bay late May.
The 2015 project team was finally able to depart Australia on 31 May and returned 13 June.
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The Team
From left:
Tony Austin (Warrnambool Rotary Club)
Anton Van Doornik, Team leader (Geelong Rotary Club)
David Greaves (Barwon Water)
Ian Watson (Warrnambool Daybreak Rotary Club)
Chris Preston (Warrnambool Daybreak Rotary Club)
Isobel Van Doornik
Completed Scheduled Projects
Completed Unscheduled Projects
Where to from here
What is desperately needed by the Sariri people and other village communities and work that remains to be done will be included in a more comprehensive future presentation and report.
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DEFIB YOUR CLUB FOR LIFE
Last night, over 150 representatives from 36 sporting and community groups in and around Warrnambool Vic were given a defibrillator for their club, funded by local philanthropic trusts, the Gwen & Edna Jones, & Ray & Joyce Uebergang Foundations, Project partners included South West Credit Union, as part of their 50 Year Celebration and the Rotary Club of Warrnambool. The defibrillators were provided by Defib Your Club for Life, an organisation established by Sue Buckman and Andrew White. Sue’s son Stephen collapsed and died from a cardiac arrest during a football training session at Rupertswood, Sunbury in 2010. Paramedic Andrew White was at the club and assisted with CPR as ambulance and defib equipment did not arrive for 20 minutes. Prior to last night's presentation, Sue had met with the sponsors in Warrnambool and provided a demonstration of the defibrillator. An advertising campaign was launched on local Radio 3YB and the Warrnambool Standard newspaper seeking applications from interested community groups. The response was overwhelmingly positive. At the presentation, Sue and Andrew outlined the equipment's operating procedure and answered many questions from those present. A huge thank you to the Gwen & Edna Jones, Ray & Joyce Uebergang Foundations, South West Credit Union and the Rotary Club of Warrnambool for this fantastic initiative in providing life-saving equipment throughout the Warrnambool region. And of course to the amazing Sue and Andrew. Your community could do it too.
(Sue Buckman with a photo of her son Stephen who died after he had a heart attack during training. Photo: Pamela Mirghani)
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ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLIES PROGRAM
Our guest speakers last night were Scott Gall and Gemma Gibbons (both 18 years old) who took part in "Alternative Schoolies in 2014" a project in the Philippines. Scott and Gemma together with 14 other young people (4 boys and 10 girls) from across Moyne, Warrnambool. Corangamite Shires spent 23 days at a village on the outskirts of Davau as well as in Saboo and Manilla. Their project was to refurbish 12 dilapidated classrooms at TV Fernandez Elementary School in Indangan Village. The buildings had been badly damaged by a super typhoon which hit the Philippines in 2013.
The aim was to refurbish 12 classrooms which were so damaged and required so much hard physical labour they only managed 9 buildings (8 classrooms and one teachers room). They had a local carpenter / builder to help them but other than that they did the remainder of the restoration work. Gemma commented that OH&S was non existent. The group enjoyed the interaction with the local children, many of whom had not seen white people before. The school day started with a dance to pop music and this doubled as the morning exercise program for the children. The Australian students were surprised at how nationalistic the local children were with a pledge to their country and by singing the national anthem daily.
The Visitors also noted how respectful the children and young people are to their elders. No one was permitted to leave any food on their plates and they spoke of eating rice several times a day. They also ate a local delicacy - chickens which were within two days of hatching. Some members of the group spent time at Paradise Island; they were fascinated by the children's agility at climbing coconut palms and they witnessed great poverty when they visited the Smoking Mountain which is nothing more than a huge pile of rubbish. Some of the group visited Manila. In Sabu they visited an orphanage for children under three years of age who had been orphaned by the 2013 typhoon.
The group bagged about 200 tons of Rice and donated this to about 500 local families, but still people missed out. People are very poor and they were very grateful for the donation of rice. Because of changes in the exchange rate the group were about $3,000 short and did not have the funds to meet their desired targets so they got onto Facebook and asked friends and family to donate money. This was so successful they raised an extra $5000 which allowed them to purchase more rice and give it away to extra poor families. It was an eye opener for the group to see how the local people live in simple crude dwellings with dirt floors and Gemma said how grateful and lucky it made them feel to come from such an affluent country.
Gemma and Scott said it was a life changing experience and both plan to return to do more work. The students who attended Alternative Schoolies all raised their own funds to go away.
Geraldine Edgar Ralph the program Coordinator spoke of her pride and gratitude in the students, their hard work, the initiative they showed raising the extra funds and of Scott’s generosity when he donated money from his savings. In addition to the rebuilding of several classrooms the group helped provide food for 670 families. A wonderful effort from a small group of students who chose to do some good rather than head for Queensland to get drunk and party.
See some fantastic photos of their experiences on www.alternative2schoolies.com
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DG 2017-18 DISTRICT 9780 - RAY HERBERT
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DETECT BOWEL CANCER EARLY |
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GUEST SPEAKER - DR ERIC FAIRBANK, WARRNAMBOOL HOSPICE
John Stuckey introduced our guest speaker Dr Eric Fairbank and provided some background information. Dr Eric Fairbank graduated from Melbourne University in 1968. Following two years residency in Warrnambool, another two in Papua New Guinea and one at Box Hill, he returned to Warrnambool to become one of a two-doctor GP practice. At that time, GPs in Warrnambool did all of their own anaesthetics, delivered babies and were on call almost 24/7. Things changed in the 80s when an influx of specialists saw GPs less involved in the hospital scene. That’s when Dr Fairbank decided to pursue his interest in palliative care and gain more qualifications through Flinders University. In 1986 he was instrumental in establishing the Warrnambool Base Hospital’s Palliative Care Unit – of which he was the Director until retiring in 2013. In 2012 Dr Fairbank received a Victorian Rural Doctor Award for the profound impact he has had on the health and wellbeing of local communities. In 2013 Dr Fairbank was honoured with the Victorian Public Healthcare Award recognising more than 35 years work providing exceptional healthcare for hundreds of people facing the biggest fight of their life.
His work has had a profound effect on his colleagues, students, nurses, palliative care staff, volunteers, and most importantly on patients and their families.He has helped shape the way palliative care is delivered in Warrnambool, and his influence is now felt nationwide and internationally.
According to Dr Fairbank those of us who prepare for death do it better than those who don’t. 85% of people die from a chronic illness - rather than an accident of some kind. Those with chronic illness such as cancer patients tend the have a reasonable quality of life during a prolonged lead up followed by a shorter end stage death. Other people die from some sort of organ failure such as heart, kidneys and lungs etc and they tend to have a more drawn out end of life with critical health incidents followed by periods of some degree of recovery, before they finally die. Yet another group die as a result of old age frailty and dementia. The Base Hospital SWH has 6 palliative care beds, SJOG hospital has 2 palliative beds and Lyndoch also has some beds.
In the next 25 years deaths will double as the baby boomers reach the ages of 75 to 95 years.
70% of the population say they want to die at home but in reality Australia-wide the percentage of people who die at home is less than 15%. People don’t prepare well for death and death is seen as a medical event when it is in fact a normal stage of the life span. Dying is not a medical event and if you want a good quality of life and a good death you are better off at home.
It costs three times as much money to die in a hospital - $19,000 and around $6,000 to die at home. In the terminal phase to die in a hospital costs around $800 per day. A patient dying at home supported by Hospice in the Home costs around $125 per day.
The Hospice in the Home program is still very new and although initially they wanted a purpose built building, this was decided against because of the cost ($1,000 a day to keep a hospice open and running). Hospice in the Home has been very fortunate to have been offered a building at Deakin for $10 per annum rent. This building is furnished like a home and is a teaching facility to teach family members and friends how to use various bits of equipment and how to care for dying friends and family members. They are in the process of training non-medical volunteers to work with families caring for a dying person. The volunteers will assist with aspects of patient care to ease the burden on family members and they will also provide overnight and weekend respite. The first group will finish their training on 13 July 2015.
Hospice in the Home trained volunteers working in the homes of terminally ill people are supported by comprehensive assessments carried out by the Palliative Care team, District Nurses, on call Doctors and Ambulance staff.
Dr Fairbanks explained that so far the Hospice has raised around $250,000 and they need to double this figure in the next year or so. They hope to get some larger donations from various trusts and also from the Government once they have some facts and figures to justify why they need funding.
Rotarian’s were also introduced briefly to Kerry Robertson who is in charge of fund raising at Hospice in the Home. Kerry has some sort of fund raising activity happening most of the time and in early 2016 they are planning a Marigold Ball (Bollywood style) at Deakin.
Dr Fairbanks thanked the Club very much for nominating Hospice in the Home as the charity to be the main recipient of funds raised by the Dinner Auction in May 2015.
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2015 ROTARY DINNER AUCTION FLYER |
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ROTARY LIGHTS PROJECT |
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AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM TUESDAY'S (28 OCT) MEETING |
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RCW'S SPONSOR CHILD IN BANGLADESH - RITU AKTER
RCW recently received a letter from Ritu Akter who the Club sponsors through the Salvation Army. Ritu attends the Hearing Impaired School in Vakutia, Jessore, Bangladesh. Ritu writes:
Dear Sponsor,
Accept my heartiest love. Hope you are well. I am also fine. I have stood 2nd in 1st tereminal examination. In summer vacation I went to my maternal uncle's house. I ate mango, jackfruit, litch guava etc and enjoyed them. My 2nd tereminal examination will be held on last week of August. It is raining season now in Bangladesh. Sometimes its rains and sometimes its heats. Pray for me. God bless you. Thanks.
Ritu Akter
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AQUABOX
Aquabox is essentially a lifesaving water tank with water filters and water treatment tablets that can convert up to 2,000 litres of polluted water, making it safe and pleasant to drink. The boxes are also filled with emergency aid to reduce the suffering during the aftermath of a disaster. Estimates suggest 25,000 children die every day from the effects of drinking polluted water. With your help Aquabox can play a vital part in minimising the after effects of disaster. This local initiative is powered by the voluntary members of the Rotary Club of Eltham, Victoria, Australia. |
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EXCHANGE STUDENT, ASTRD SORENSEN.jpg)
Chair Isobel Siebel introduced Exchange Student Astrid Sorensen as a charming 16 year old Danish girl, whose motto is “smile at the world and the world will smile at you”.
At home in Denmark Astrid lives on a farm in a rural area 3km from the small village where she attends school. She lives with her mum and dad and younger brother and the family’s Labrador dog.
At home Astrid rides her bike to and from school, she enjoys riding horses and is actively involved with a youth organisation called 4H at a local level and also at a national level in the Zealand 4H Youth Board. She likes Zumba and yoga, music and hanging out with her friends. Both of Astrid’s parents work some distance away and leave for work very early and return home late. She gets herself up and off to school without any parental supervision and home again in the afternoon.
In the past Astrid has done some holiday travel with her family to Iceland, Austria, Seychelles, Philippines, Norway and Sweden. A cousin came to Australia as an exchange student and that influenced Astrid to select Australia, rather than America as a destination. Astrid is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Gorlev, population 2,433.
Astrid provided the meeting with a very interesting account of her life and family back at home in Denmark, and illustrated her presentation with lots of great photos. Astrid lives in a small village with just fifteen households near the town of Hoeng, population 4,500. Hoeng is about 100 km from Copenhagen.
Denmark is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. At 43,094 square kilometres (16,639 sq miles), with a population of around 5.6 million people, Denmark consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and 407 islands, of which only about 70 have people living there.
Denmark shares strong cultural and historic ties with neighbours Sweden and Norway. The national language, Danish, is very closely related to Swedish and Norwegian and all three can pretty much understand each other.
Denmark has a very old history with some monuments still there from Viking days and earlier.
Denmark, like Australia, is a constitutional monarchy, and the current head is Queen Margrethe II. Her son Prince Frederik is married to Australian Prince Mary from Tasmania, but Astrid does not follow politics very much.
Danes enjoy a high standard of living and rank well in many comparisons, including educational achievement, health care, protection of civil liberties, democracy and human development. The currency is the Danish Krone and $1A buys 5.17 KR, so Astrid needs 5 KR for each Australian dollar.
Danish winters can be as cold as Australia’s with plenty of snow but the summers are not as hot, averaging 16C in August. Astrid said she doesn’t know how she would cope with 40C in an Australian summer.
Astrid lives with her father and mother, both aged 48 years, and younger brother Carl Johan 12 years, and their brown Labrador dog. They also have their neighbour’s horses and rabbits. Her father Hans is a district sales manager with an agricultural machinery company and part-time farmer and her mother is Britta, a market and business development manager, with a large agriculture, energy and telecommunications company in Copenhagen.
Astrid attends Hoeng Private School and is in Grade 9. She cycles to school each day from the family’s farm about 3km away in Herslev, population 360. She could take the bus, but prefers to cycle. Her school is very small with just 250 students, and Brauer College, Warrnambool seems so big compared. She leaves home at 7:45 am to begin classes at 8:05 and studies Danish, German, English, physics, biology, history, math, religion, geography, social science, and sports. After school she may spend time with friends or visit her grandmother. Astrid also enjoys shopping, television, movies, computers (especially Facebook), being creative and cooking. She loves art, fantasy books and music and hopes to try Yoga one day. Her other favourite sports are Zumba, badminton and gymnastics.
Astrid has been riding horses, large and small now for about seven years. She has been involved in a rural organisation like our Young Farmers called 4H for eight years and participated in many agricultural fairs. As mentioned earlier she is a member of the 4H National Youth Council and the Regional Zealand Youth Board.
Astrid likes meeting new people and especially working with young people. She has many friends who talk about their problems, especially with boys and parents. She doesn’t like people who are unkind to others and she dreads big spiders!
Despite Astrid stating that she was not so good at English as she wanted to be, which is why she wanted to go to an English speaking country, her presentation was excellent and was understood and well received by everyone. Chair Isobel thanked Astrid for a great presentation so early in her stay with us.
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2014 ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, SYDNEY Check out all that's happening at the 2014 Rotary International Convention in Sydney on the following link:
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BUILDING COMMENCES ON THE NEW CAMP QUALITY CABIN IN WARRNAMOOL
Camp Quality’s purpose is to create a better life for every child living with cancer in Australia. The services we provide for children (0-13 years) living with cancer and their families help create a better life by building optimism and resilience throughout each stage of their cancer journey.
Camp Quality in Victoria has grown immensely in the past 3 years, we now service over 600 families and provide 30 Recreation Programs; Kids Camps, Family Camps and Family Fun Days each Financial year.
To complement our service delivery through Recreation Programs our Family and Hospital Support team are very pleased to be able to offer our families the unique opportunity to stay at the Camp Quality Cabin in Warrnambool that is kindly provided by the generous Rotary Club of Warrnambool.
The redevelopment of this cabin is an exciting opportunity to be able to continue to offer this service to Camp Quality families who are at various stages of their cancer journey. For many years the stories that have travelled back to the office from the quality time families have been able to spend together at the cabin “away from it all” has cemented the importance of the cabin for the future and we are very happy to see it shall remain this way for years to come.
We look forward to unveiling the new cabin and providing this opportunity to families with the support of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool into the future.
For more information about Camp Quality and the services we provide please do not hesitate to contact Lee Emberton, Program Delivery Manager at Camp Quality Victoria: Lee.emberton@campquality.org.au; 03 9329 8660 |
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TRIBUTE TO JOHN REID 1922 - 2014
John Melville Reid was delivered by a midwife at home in Prestwick Scotland on 1 January 1922, the son of John and Isabella Reid. His siblings were Andy, Jim, Ella, Jean and David. Another brother Alexander died aged 18 months from whooping cough. It is of interest that at 5 kilos or 12 lb, John was the smallest of the Reid children despite both parents being of small build.
His father had been in Australia for six months, working as an engineer for Nestles, when his mother brought the family to Australia on the T.S.S. Euripides on 1 April 1928. An interesting anecdote of the six week voyage concerns John being thought to be lost at sea. Apparently 6 year old John wandered off to watch some passengers playing pool in another part of the ship. Young John fell asleep and un-noticed by the pool players, was locked in the room. John’s mother noticed one chick was missing at bedtime and the alarm was raised. The ship stopped and prepared to backtrack when John, who daughter Judy has advised, could ‘sleep on a barbed wire fence’ was discovered.
The day the family arrived in Australia was the day the very ornate and grand Hotel Mansions, formerly on the site of the current Hotel Warrnambool, was burned to the ground. John initially attended Jamieson Street Primary School. The family moved into one of the now demolished quaint Swiss style cottages adjacent to the Nestles factory, supplied for general foremen and engineers. John at that time attended Dennington State School and later the Warrnambool Technical School on the site of the current Institute of TAFE.
wheel rubber tyred trailers for farmers from T-model Ford chasses. He was also involved in the making of caravans, a new innovation at the time. Current tradies.
In 1944 he went to Melbourne to work for Wilkins’ Electrical at Williamstown, involved in marine electrical works. Later he went to Ballarat to rewire the Inland Meat Authority plant. He returned to Warrnambool in 1946 to work for the late Jim Leahy as foreman. Out of a weekly wage of six pounds seventeen shillings, two pounds was deducted for tax. His duties with Leahy’s included domestic wiring and also dairies.
In 1949 he started an electrical contracting business from his home in Skene Street with the firm vehicle being a baby Austin converted into a utility. In 1950, a shop was built in Lava Street called ‘The Warrnambool Lighthouse’. All manner of electrical goods were sold including white goods and appliances. This was the first light-fitting shop in Warrnambool. At one stage there were 8 staff and 10 electrical apprentices were trained.
In 1968 John and wife Gladys moved to a new business in Timor Street where they diversified into sound systems, musical instruments, sheet music, Lowery organs and Lowery and Kawai pianos. The business was also the Tattersalls agency and saw the inauguration of Tattslotto. In 1987 the business added bookings for the Performing Arts Centre as well as for the Port Fairy Folk Festival and visiting circuses.
It should be noted that as well as retailing new musical instruments, John was also engaged in refurbishing and restoring older instruments such as organs, pianos and pianolas. In his ‘rear of shop’ workshop, John also repaired different types of wind and string instruments. It was not uncommon for John to completely dismantle pianos and pianolas and then rebuild them for sale.
John retired in 1990 but many will know of his finely fitted out workshop under his Skene Street home. Equipment included woodworking machinery, wood lathe, steel turning lathe, electric and oxy welders and spray painting equipment. His woodworking skills have become legendary. He has made about 125 clocks, plus a gavel and base for outgoing Rotarian Presidents. In earlier years John could turn his hand to a variety of building projects. These included a 15 foot or 5 metre bondwood ski-boat fittingly called ”. He built a large family/sun room on the house, go-carts for his children, now being driven by his great grandchildren. Incredibly, he excavated by hand 24 tons of sandstone to build a hydrotherapy pool for wife Gladys, to help soothe arthritis, the pool being heated to 38 degrees.
Regressing to John’s time at Nestles. In 1946 John was invited to participate in the Nestles Social Club Christmas Treat at the then Base Hospital, singing Christmas carols and distributing gifts to patients. Dancing and supper later followed in the nurses dining room. It was there that John met one nurse, Gladys Hartley, the youngest charge sister ever on the male ward. From this first meeting matters progressed to marriage to Gladys on 4 September, 1948.
Subsequently Gladys and John had two daughters Judy, who is married to Phillip Ross, and Robbie who married John Blackmore (d). Judy and Phillip have two children; Debbie and Geoff, of whom John was extremely proud, and four great grandchildren; William, Samuel, Emily and Chelsea.
Despite being extremely busy operating his business, John had an impressive record of community service. Although not exhaustive he became involved in a wide range of organisations including membership of a mouth organ band. He was a committed member of the former Congregational Church, later to become part of the Uniting church. There he was a member of the tennis club. He was also a member of the choir at this church, possessing a lovely tenor voice and performed exerpts from Handel’s “Messiah” during which John sang solo parts. At this time John was responsible for setting up a youth choir for young people in the church. In later years after union, John was also a dedicated member of the Uniting Church choir. In the later 1950’s John was an active member of the Warrnambool Ski Club which operated on Lake Pertobe, long before it became the scenic area it is today. His daughter Judy recalls being splattered with mud from such activities on what then was little better than a swamp. Later the Club operated on the Hopkins River. John was a member of the Hopkins Masonic Lodge. After open heart surgery he became a member of the “zipper” club.
Perhaps John is best remembered for his long association and outstanding contribution to the Warrnambool Theatre Group. Not only did he participate as a member of the cast, but also made many of the spectacular props either for the backdrop or for participants in the stage shows. He even made spotlights using milk cans. The shows in which he was involved included all of the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas together with such famous productions as Salad Days, South Pacific, Merry Widow, Oklahoma and many more. He was at one stage the President of the Group and was later made an Honorary member.
Of significance to many Rotarians was John’s 57 years membership of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool, a record unlikely to be achieved by many members of this worldwide movement dedicated to service above self and the improvement of both local, national and international communities. In 2006 he joined a select few in the Club to attain 50 years of membership and was presented with a 50 Year Certificate signed by the World President.
He joined Rotary in 1956 and as a 35 year old, felt somewhat over-awed by being in company with business and civic leaders, regarding himself as merely a humble electrician. One can appreciate his feelings when then members of Rotary included Fletcher Jones, later Sir Fletcher, not to mention the current and past City Town Clerk, Manager of the Base Hospital and other business leaders. Be this as it may John went on to serve Rotary in many fields. He was Acting President for 6 months in 1973-74 and President of the Club in 1974-75.
Rotary is comprised of a number of Service Committees, each dedicated to a particular area of Community, Vocational, Club, Youth, now New Generation and International Service each presided over by a Director. John was Director of Club Service and, over his many ears of membership, was a member or senior member of every avenue of Rotary Service. He was involved with Group Study Exchange, the Annual Senior Citizens Treat in the Town Hall attended by up to 300 senior citizens, and where he often acted a compere and led community singing. His late wife Gladys was also a tower of strength for the wife of the then President when catering was required for the large numbers at supper after the Senior Citizens Treat.
John was also involved with young people in Rotaract. He acted as projectionist when slides were screened by guest speakers. Other Rotary activities involved Membership Development, Vocational Service Awards, District Conference Executive, FAIM, which assisted overseas projects, Finance & Fundraising, and Attendance. He was also active in sponsoring ‘On to Conference’ to ensure the Club was well represented at the Annual District Conference. He was associated with the Club Bulletin, the then Florado Festival which was supported by Rotary, handicapped children, apprenticeship week, new projects, classifications, welfare and special projects. More recently he has been a member of Probus, an off-shoot of Rotary, and supplied a large display board with names of Past Presidents. He was also involved in the relocation to Flagstaff Hill, of an expensive diorama, financed by the Club and formerly located in the Tourist Information Centre when based on Raglan Parade.
The Club was particularly indebted to John for his contribution to music and entertainment. In earlier years of his membership, there was always a song at weekly meetings and John believed the Rotary Club of Warrnambool had the best singers in the District. Until recent times, he led the singing of the National Anthem to end meetings and due to his absence, the practice has had to be abandoned due to the appalling rendition by the rest of us. He was in earlier years, always involved in community singing at District Conference. A measure of the Rotary interest by John and Gladys was their attendance at District Conferences at Adelaide, Mt Gambier, Ballarat, Broken Hill, Melbourne, plus those held in Warrnambool. Little wonder that John was honoured with a Paul Harris Fellowship in 1990-91.
John Reid exemplified the concept of community service, not only through his many skills whilst in the workforce, but also by his association with voluntary community organisations, his exemplary character when dealing with his fellows and his devotion to family and friends. A wise yet anonymous person has written:
“greatness is not found in possessions, position, power or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service and character.”
We shall not soon see the likes of John Melville Reid again.
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SECOND UPDATE FROM ROTARY EXCHANGE STUDENT, FABIO GOMES |
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INTERPLAST - MEDICAL AID IN THE THIRD WORLDMEDICAL AID IN THE THIRD WORLD – REPAIRING BODIES AND REBUILDING LIVES
South West Health Care (SWHC) Warrnambool Auxiliary is holding a special morning tea, with speaker, on Tuesday 15 October, 2013 at the Hammond Fellowship Centre, Christ Church, Warrnambool. The visiting guest speaker is Lorraine Meehan, OAM, a registered nurse who has worked in Indonesian Borneo with voluntary surgical teams specialising in plastic and reconstructive surgery. This is a fund raising event for South West Health Care Warrnambool and all are welcome. The function will run from 10:00 am until 12 noon and tickets are available at $15 each.
Lorraine Meehan has been involved in nursing since leaving school. From a young age she had always wanted to be a nurse. She did her General Nursing and Staffing year at the former Prince Henry’s Hospital in Melbourne and then studied Midwifery at St Georges Hospital, Kew. After working in London for some time, Lorraine returned to St Georges as the Operating Theatre Sister. She undertook further theatre work at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane before completing her training at the Canterbury Presbyterian Babies’ Home in Melbourne, studying Infant Welfare.
Plastic and reconstructive surgery has been an integral part of Lorraine’s working life for the last 30 years. She has worked as the Practice and Theatre Nurse for many eminent plastic surgeons in Melbourne. It was as a result of this work experience that Lorraine qualified to join four consecutive Interplast teams on their initial voluntary visits to Borneo.
Interplast is a not-for-profit organisation which was founded in 1983 as an association between the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) and Rotary Clubs in Australia and New Zealand. Interplast works to improve the quality of life for people with disability who are disabled as a result of congenital or acquired medical conditions such as cleft lip and palate, burn scars and other acquired abnormalities. It is staffed by volunteer Fellows from the RACS, volunteer anaesthetists and registered nurses, and also Rotary volunteers who assist with various administrative tasks. Every year about 20 programs are conducted in developing countries in the Pacific Region and also in some areas of the Indian Ocean.
Interplast aims to provide free surgical treatment for patients who would otherwise not be able to afford access to such services. In addition to the surgical work they undertake to repair bodies, the visiting teams also focus heavily on facilitating medical training and mentoring for in-country medical personnel by supporting and building the capacity of local health services. Their aim is to provide life-changing surgery for the people now and develop sustainable health systems for the future.
People who would like to attend this important fund raising event for SWHC to hear Lorraine Meehan speak about her experiences with Interplast in Indonesian Borneo are asked to contact Laurel Myers on 5561 7571 or 0411 136 850, or send an email message to laureld@hotkey.net.au.
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UPDATE FROM EXCHANGE STUDENT, FABIO GOMES |
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ROTARY HOUSE.jpg)
Doug Maclean has provided a comprehensive article on Rotary House as well as some photos which will be of great interest. The article can be found on our web site, or click on the link below. Thank you Doug for a very informative article.
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ROTARY HOUSEAt the end of a Working Bee In 2005 South West Healthcare, the major public Hospital for the district located in Warrnambool, provided in principle support for a Rotary House. The hospital also agreed to provide land for the project preferably, within the hospital precinct. The responsibility of Rotary was to fund and build the facility. On completion of the building the facility would be transferred to South West Healthcare to manage the facility.
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FATHER OF THE YEAR 2013
The “competition”, now in its fifth year, will again be promoted throughout all primary and secondary schools in the Warrnambool and Moyne district. Brophy’s “School Focused Youth Services” (SFYS) team and Rotarians will distribute all details, including entry forms and will also make sure that the competition is promoted heavily throughout the schools. Notification of the competition will first go out to schools in early June asking for the project to be included in the school's program/curriculum during term 3.
The competition will be divided into three age/year level groups: Prep to Grade 3 (approx 5-8 years old), Grade 4 to Year 8 (9-14) and Years 9 to 12 (14-18) with students asked to nominate their father/father figure and provide supportive drawings or words. Entries close August 10 and judging will be completed by August 24.
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Congratulations to our 2015 Rotary Club of Warrnambool/Brophy Father of the Year Jai Russell, nominated by his 14 year old daughter, Shearna from Warrnambool College.
SCIENCE CHALLENGE: Rotary Club of Warrnambool volunteer Astrid Sorenson, 17, helps King's College student Chloe Gale, 16, with a Stringways board exercise at Deakin University. Picture: VICKY HUGHSON.jpg)
Background to the project
Its official! Our DG for 2017 - 2018 is Ray Herbert RC Mt Gambier West. Congratulations to Ray and Diedre.
We take clean water for granted every day. In the midst of devastation and disasters, there are few gifts more valuable than the gift of clean safe water.
