Central Sopke 7th April (Apr 06, 2020)

President

Tim Goodall

President Elect

Gerard Barker

Secretary

Mark McFadden

Treasurer

Sam Baulch

Community Service

Brendan O'Neill

Vocational Service

Shane Keogh

Club Service

Anthony Davies

International Service

James Mepham

Rotary Foundation

Lew Officer

Membership

Brian Dillon

Public Relations

James Mepham

Youth Service

Garry Askew

Tickler’s ramble.

Hope all you ferals are managing ok in this difficult time. Our club is operating via the phone and the internet at the present time more details in this edition. Mary made it home safely although she was nearly arrested on a stopover see her report below
I also would like to remind everyone to please do their bit and contact the two people listed in the communication tree beside their name

Cheers

Tim Goodall

Mary goes home.

Here is a picture that missed the press last week. Sorry Ronnie!

And here is one at the other end

And a few words from Mary on her return

I had safe travels and everything went smoothly, except for the fact that I almost got arrested in Doha. We went shooting during the mini safari and i put the empty shot in my cabin baggage and forgot about it, so they weren’t too happy with me at security... but nothing bad happened. I met three of my swiss friends and we flew to Switzerland together. Now I’m in self-isolation and already annoying my parents because I’m really bored. So everything is quite normal here and I’m already planning my next trip to Australia! Cheers Mary xx

Greetings from Switzerland.

Good day from Switzerland

I often intended to write a short note for your lovely Bulletin “Clubrunner”. Probably something about FC Basel or our life back in Switzerland without our daughter Marjolein?! The weekly news from Warrnambool has been delighting our family across Europe since July. Marjolein has always been so busy that we have mostly been able to take her experiences only from the Bulletin.

I speak in the past.

I'm sure everyone has noticed that Mary is no longer in Australia. On Friday, March 27th, we decided with a heavy heart and under pressure from Swiss government, to bring Mary home. On Monday, March 30, she was already on one of the only flights with Qatar Airways from Melbourne to Doha and Zurich.

The departure on short notice was really nerve-wracking for everyone and we regret from the bottom of our hearts that Mary did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to all of you and her new friends personally.

Our daughter is very lucky to spend the best 9 months of her young life with you. Jan-Arie and I are very grateful for all the love, care and support she received from all of you. Cheers to Louise and David, Di and Tim, Felicity and Gerard, Narelle and Paul and everybody I forgot.

Once these uncertain times will be over, Mary will have the opportunity to come back. There are 1001 reasons why she will return to Warrnambool. You guys are definitely a big one.

I am optimistic that Australia finds its way better through this crisis than Europe. In Italy (distance from us to the epicentrum = Warrnambool - Melbourne) the number of cases is currently up to >130’000 and >16’000 dead, other countries like Spain is about the same (Switzerland 21’000 / 580).

I wish you and your families all the best during the COVID-19 pandemic, please take care and stay well!

Lots of love and a big hug

Alex

Brophy needs our help.

During these social isolation restrictions Brophy foster carers and kinship carers are at risk of burnout. They may also get sick with COVID-19.

If they burn out they will have to ask Brophy to find new foster homes for the children in their care.If they get sick children will need a place to go while they recover.

Brophy (and other local foster agencies) do not have enough respite carers to help these children in either scenario. So we are getting creative about how to manage the situations.

As you can imagine carers mental health and wellbeing, and supporting the children who are socially restricted during social distancing measures, is a critical component of keeping these foster homes together. Knowing Brophy have a contingency plan to support them is really important during this time. That they could have some respite at some point would be very much looked forward to.

How can you help?

Do you own a holiday home that is not being used or is sometimes vacant? Would you offer it to a foster family for 2-5 nights so that they can have a change of scenery? This would be a huge mental health boost to both carers and kids. These are known families with 24/7 support from Brophy. We know them very well and would be ensuring your home is protected, respected and throughly cleaned.

Do you own a holiday home which you could offer for 14 days for isolation should a carer become sick? Or if children needed to leave the home and be looked after by staff for up to 14 days.

We understand that your homes are valuable and important. We understand that offering to support us in these ways is a very generous act. At this stage there is no funding to support these offerings, however we are working on securing some funding with the Department of Health and Human Services, though we might need help long before they come onboard.

The other way to help is to become an accredited foster carer and sign up for respite care of foster kids (a weekend or a week at a time).

Would you please spread the work within your network. We know this is a big ask. We are hoping to prevent further hardship on these kids and carers during this pandemic.

If you can help, please contact Francis - m: 0408527966 or fbroekman@brophyfys.org.au

If you would like to get involved and volunteer to coordinate available houses feel free to stick your hand up.

If you have an other suggestions, please let us know jmepham@brophy.org.au

Stay Connected.

This week we learned about some of the interests and talents of our club members. Members have been building things and preserving seasonal produce in the kitchen.

Peter cooks up some relish.

Paul R. has his tomatoes ready to go.

Tim has his chutney all done.

Your correspondent has his passata done and dusted.

Malcolm has a new batch of quince paste on the go.

Glendon has some pizza dough ready to go. Black market price for the flour - $4800.

James gets some popcorn from the cinema. This is how dentists recommend it is eaten.

Knuckles installs a stove. Knuckles, you really do spoil Pam.

Brendon constructs a box for his friend's telescope declination drive.

The Compass was seen jogging on the breakwater. Apparently Bernadette passed him on the way out and then overtook him again on the way back.

Don't forget we are now using Facebook as our platform to stay in touch

How to join:

The platform we are using is Facebook Messenger.

If you are already use FB messenger, please message James and he will add you to the group.

If you do not have Facebook, you will need to establish an account. You can have strict privacy settings.

Facebook messenger has a chat app available for all smart phones and can be accessed via Facebook.com

If you are already on FB and have been added to the group and you are friends with other members, you can add them.

Facebook is widely used. If you need assistance to establish an account and navigate to messenger, ask a grandkid!!! But also feel free to call James 0414833012

Boré’s view

Di and Macca love cruises, mainly because it doesn’t involve having to drive on our terrible roads. Apparently, cruises are very cheap at the moment and it is a great option for the adventurous traveller. Despite this however, our two experience sailors have decided to spend a bit of time in port. Fortunately, Boré was on the spot to capture all the action (without breaking lockdown rules of course). We thank Boré for this great cartoon.

Thank you to all those who contributed this week.

Please send contributions to;

bulletin.warrnamboolcentral@gmail.com