Hello Daybreakers and welcome to Bulletin 5.
This week we had our last breakfast meeting at the Mid City and next week will look forward to our first gathering at The Lady Bay Resort in the back Bistro area. We envision a long relationship with The Lady Bay however there will always be hiccups in the first few weeks of any change, so please be patient as we settle into our new ‘home’ and get things running smoothly for members and our guests. We are asking members to retain their badges and bring along every week rather than the Club storing them. For the members who did not take their badges with them last week, we will have them for you at the meeting next week. A reminder that the venue does not open till 7am meaning a possible five minute sleep in when the alarm does go off, benefits all round!
Guest presenters this week were Jenni and Peter King who have established a South West Victorian Distribution Centre for Backpacks 4 Kids, a program that supplies backpacks full of comforting and practical items for children that are placed in out-of-home care for various reasons. In Victoria alone in 2015-16, 4,115 children were re-homed and since April 2015 Backpacks 4 Kids has delivered 6,000 packs. Jenni and Peter have delivered 290 packs to local family services since September 2018 and have a stock of 80 immediately available for emergencies. This is an amazing and worthwhile program to have operating in our local community. For further information on the program and what can be donated contact jdouglasnyc@gmail or call 0401 611 123.
The Board met on Monday July 22 and I gave a brief report on some points to members at our breakfast meeting. The Board approved payment for the freight of donated football equipment to a small remote Aboriginal Community at One Arm Point Western Australia. The equipment will facilitate school children participating in an Auskick experience. We also approved a payment of $1000 to the Rotary Club of Bairnsdale to distribute to drought victims. This amount was redirected as it was previously set aside for the freight of hay to Gippsland, a cost that was picked up by two other Warrnambool Rotary Clubs.
At the Board meeting there was also a lot of discussion regarding how we collect the administration fee that we have been paying with our breakfast now for several years which covers the cost of our guest speaker breakfasts and other administration costs associated with our meetings. This amount remains the same as in previous years at $2 per week. Previously the amount was built into the breakfast fees charged, however our members will now pay the provider directly for their breakfast. The Board decided to only charge this fee for forty weeks of the year (a saving for members) and that members be invoiced for the amount in the coming weeks. Members may pay the amount in two instalments if they wish. In future years the amount will be added to members annual dues.
Projects upcoming include National Tree Day on Sunday July 28. Unfortunately our club received late notice of this event. Anyone interested can join in by meeting on Sunday at the Flume between 10am and noon to ‘Reveg the Flume’. A free BBQ will follow. More information can be found at http://treeday.planetark.org/
The Volunteer Expo to be held at The Uniting Church on Sunday Sept 15 (12.30-5pm) and Monday Sept 16 (9am-2pm) will have participation by Daybreak. Geoff has kindly volunteered to coordinate the roster for this event.
Lift the Lid/Bunnings is an Australia wide project promoting Australian Rotary Health and Mental Health Research to be held on the weekend of October 5-6. A combined participation between the four Warrnambool Rotary Clubs and Port Fairy Rotary Club seems likely with positive responses thus far from Daybreak, RCWE and RCPF.
Earth Day will occur on April 2020 so we have quite advanced notice of this event. Rotary International has adopted Earth Day as an ongoing project. Full details can be found at http://www.earthday.org/earthday/countdown-to-2020 The date of Earth Day coincides with our Wednesday breakfast meeting, maybe members can explore ways we can be in involved? This is a world wide project that the Preserve Planet Earth Committee has been running for 3 years. In 2020 the Earth Day Network also celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Members News - A reminder that Geoff is organising a trip to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the Terracotta Warriors. Contact Geoff if you are interested with a preferred day of the week. Geoff is also organising a wine tour of the region for our members. This is in initial stages of planning so more details on this excursion will follow in future editions of the Bulletin.
We welcome back Ann Barker from Nepal and look forward to her presentation on The Seven Women Project scheduled for our weekly meeting on August 21. Ian Watson is still in PNG with poor internet services so we have no pics coming through from the water project he is working on. Ian is scheduled to be our guest speaker at our meeting on August 28 when I’m sure we will see plenty of pics taken with his new wiz bang camera.
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Meanwhile……….Sergio relaxes at Bitter Springs Thermals!
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Rostered Members for the coming week include:
Friday July 26 - Meals on Wheels - Ian Harper
Sunday July 28 – Care Program – Chez Bellman, Sue Cassidy, Andrew Suggett
Wednesday July 31 – weekly meeting fun session – Chris Preston
Next week’s guest speaker is Prudence Raine who will speak on the topic of ‘An insight into International Environmental Programs. Prudence works for The United Nations but will not be speaking from this position or responding to questions regarding The United Nations.
If it’s not cold enough for you now, it’ll be even cooler and wetter early next week. Stay warm and perhaps pass a little warmth onto others through a smile or how warmly you connect with them.
Have a great week and we’ll meet up at The Bay next Wednesday.
Liza