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From the Editor Good morning to my fellow Mornington Rotarians. Well I'm back from a short break from my Bulletin duties and even though we are all in a very restricted stage of lockdown from a Rotary prospective within our Club, there has certainly been a lot of activity. Just to mention a few items that are " on the go " at the moment we have; the Bushfire Relief Project involving revegetation, the provision and installation of a refrigerator to a much need family, the Fusion Sleep in Your Car Event, the assistance in the provision of Face Masks. There has also been a number of requests for financial assistance from a number of local organisations , which will be tabled at the upcoming Board Meeting , in a few weeks and we also have a new Isolation Project in the pipe-line from John Renowden, all this and more. Our Presidents Report, as below, provides specific details on many of these news items, and its great to see a bit of warmth and sunshine for our daily exercise/ walk the dog duties, all of course within the Lockdown guidelines. Also of note was at last weeks online ZOOM Meeting we had a visitor " attend ' that being Mr Bruce Rankin, who has recently returned to the Peninsula to take up residence, thanks for " attending " our Club Meeting Bruce and we hoped you enjoyed the evening. Guest Speaker At At our Clubs ZOOM Meeting held last Wednesday on the 05th August, we were fortunate to have Stuart Davis-Meehan, the current Manager of the Mornington Community Information & Support Centre. Stuart has been a previous Guest Speaker at our Club and we invited him back to speak about the Centre’s current involvement in regards to the current COVID State Government Lockdown and its flow on effect within the Centres Services. Stuart opened his presentation by informing all that the first week in August is Homeless Week and this combined with the current Stage 4 Lockdown that requires all but essential service’s to “ stay at home” places the very vulnerable of homeless people within our community in a very dire situation. With the current Stage 4 Lockdown the Community Centre has not escaped the scaling down of operating services in that they have had to close their doors in face to face contact to the public, but this has not stopped their ability to continue, under reduced constraint’s, to still provide meals, clothing and a range of services to the local community. With valuable support from local organisation’s, to mention a few, such as Toorak College, RACV, Port Phillip Estate, Coles and Woolworths, the Centre has still been able to provide some 150 hot cooked meals, all of which has been delivered door to door to those in need by a team of dedicated volunteer staff. With the very cold weather we have been experiencing the centre is providing a collection point, directly adjacent to their front door, to provide people the availability of warm clothing. The centre’s volunteer staff has been curtailed from some 120 down to approx 30 and unfortunately as with all Community Op Shops the Centre’s shop has also been closed. One service that still continues is that people can still call by the Centre to collect food hampers, a very much-needed service. The Centre is currently undergoing some renovation’s, that being a purpose built shower and bathroom facility providing much needed health and hygiene facilities to those who sleep rough and require somewhere to clean up and maintain the basics of essential living. Stuart also informed us that the Mornington Community House that was located in Albert St, has now been closed with a new Hub to be included as part of the very large redevelopment of the Councils Facilities at Wilsons Rd. This poses a very interesting point of what is to become of the “old Community House” at Albert St ?? Certainly a building of some note and what could be a potential re-development project for Community use. With such turmoil and disruption in our lives, under the current lockdown restrictions, to say the least, it must be very, very hard for those members of our community who are in need of basic life services to get by day to day. As a collective we can all be very thankful for the ongoing support that our Mornington, and all the associated Community, Information and Support Centre’s provide in these trying times. A big thanks to Stuart for his informative presentation.  Birthdays & Anniversaries This past week we saw three important milestones within our Clubs Social prospective. Firstly a very big congratulations to both Pam Hall and Meridith Horton on your Birthday's. We hope you had a great day and your partners spoiled you with a gift and a " night out at home " with some fine dining and a glass of Red. On behalf of all Members and Partners at the Rotary Club of Mornington congratulations , Happy Birthday  And further to our Birthday girls our Club recognises a very special milestone for one of our long standing and very much respected members in Fran Chambers. Both Fran and Darryl have been involved with Rotary in a combined 58 years of service. To Fran and Darryl this is an amazing milestone. You both exemplify the very ethos of Rotary as " Service Above Self ", you , as we are should be very proud of all your achievements to both Rotary and all the Community Orgainisations you have contributed to over so many years. On behalf of the President, The Board all our Club Members, their Partners and The Friends of Mornington Rotary, congratulations and well done. Isolation Projects Well as we are all too aware another five weeks of Lockdown to go , at this stage , hopefully ?? and to this end I am pleased to announce we have received a contribution to our Bulletin Item's of My Isolation Project. Yes that old stalwart of the club, young John Renowden has sent thru a little project he has undertaken, a budding artist in the making, and in John's words , I quote " In my boredom or perhaps stupidity I took on an adult ' painting by number's project ..... sounded easy and fun but I find it a gas, about 26 colours and about 1500 numbered area's to paint .... some only the size of a match head !!! Our Next Club Meeting If you are available tomorrow evening , Wednesday 12th August commencing at 6;00pm, we will once again be conducting another online ZOOM Meeting. This week our " Guest Speaker ' will be our own club member, Joe Siragusa, who will present a very interesting trek he undertook in WA some years ago along the Bibbulmu Track. So please log-on and join in. The Meeting ID is : 927 056 436 , and the Password is : 294331 President’s Report – August 10 2020 Fusion The final total raised was nearly $29000, against their target of $25000. A great result for a virtual event in a lock down! Mornington Rotary was the second highest fund raising team, with $2850 against our target of $2500, so THANK YOU. Victor’s team’s is progress the detailed assessment of what is involved in the building of a female bathroom for Fusion at their Mt.Martha site. It has been delayed a few weeks as trades people cannot go on site to assess the work and likely costs under stage 4 Restrictions. I am looking forward to this week’s meeting and hearing from Joe about the Burrumbilmum Track in WA. Its on Zoom at 6pm Bushfire Relief In continuing to talk to the Gippsland Fire Relief Clubs the details of their preferred support have developed. Their priority remains with revegetation of impacted areas. So pleasingly the meeting last week approved - The immediate ordering of 500 Swamp Gums and 500 Manna Gums from the Council’s Briars Nursery. They should be ready by late September and we can work out delivery then. The Clubs down there have plans for distribution and planting. The cost of this is $1700.
- Approval in principle, but subject to final approval, of sourcing seeds from Gippsland for a further 1000 tubes of their choice or propagation by the Advance College Nursery in Mitchell St. This will be at a time that suits Gippsland and the cost if a further $1800. Talking to Peter Sindrey at Bairnsdale since, we have agreed that seeds are so hard to get, this will be deferred until 2021.
Homeground Thanks to an introduction by Stuart Davis-Meehan, we were invited by Homeground Café (http://homegroundcoffeeco.com.au/#1n ) and Tanti Park Social Enterprises to contribute to the purchase of a freezer. “TPSE has established and operates the HomeGround Café, located in the small strip shopping centre, positioned virtually in the centre of the Tanti area, and next door to Fusion’s opportunity shop. (see photo) HomeGround is a not-for-profit Training Café based around the three main objectives of TPSE. In particular, as well as training young people in hospitality, it provides a safe place for people from the local community to gather. Initially in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Jigsaw, HomeGround and Fusion have joined together to start a new initiative called ‘In This Together’ (ITT). The aim was originally to provide emergency supplies, meals and support to those in the Tanti Community needing a helping hand. It was initially intended that ITT would have a life related to the impact of the pandemic. However, being aware of the ever ongoing need for support to those that struggle in the Tanti, it has been decided that this will be an ongoing activity”. Thanks to the members present at the meeting who endorsed the contribution of $1000 to buy the freezer.. I have invited Ian Johnson from Homeground/TPSE to speak to us at a forthcoming meeting. Well done Ian and Leigh Well done to Ian who last week circulated an email he received from a Rotarian seeking a freezer for a person in Balnarring. Leigh Power’s son Damien had one at his place in MtMartha. It was coordinated, delivered and installed by Damien, free of charge, with compliments from Leigh! Ian did follow up with Somerville / Tyabb & Hastings/ Westernport re the success & had a positive response, to the effect we should do more cooperative ventures together. It also made me wonder, in conjunction with Geoff’s trampoline, how many large items we have unused around our homes that someone would value. Welcome to Bruce Ranken It was great to have Bruce join our meeting last week. He is in the process of transitioning to the Mornington Peninsula with his family and looking for the opportunity to get involved in beneficial community groups and projects. I have invited him back to enjoy the Mornington Rotary “Zoom’ meeting experience. |
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