Mark's ReMarks 21
Marks Remarks 21
We again had strong attendance at our
weekly meeting last week. It was great to welcome Past president Paul Craig at
the meeting after a bit of a spell. Again
we also had a great speaker in John Altman who spoke on the relatively inexpensive
solar lighting systems which make such a difference in poor rural areas of
Africa. I was impressed by John's passion for the project but it is easy to
understand when you see what a difference a relatively small thing like a
reliable cheap portable light can make.
There is always something unexpected in these presentations and for me it was
learning that even in the poorest areas of Africa the use of mobile phones is
very widespread. Its and amazing world we live in!
We are very fortunate to have a very active
Inner Wheel club in our district who do an amazing job of fundraising. Our club
is keen to support inner wheel and does so in a number of ways. The ladies of
inner wheel also support our club in a number of ways, for example providing
the refreshments at our theatre nights. The inner wheel club of Bundoora has
advised us that last year their district A61 raised $12,000 to purchase demonstration equipment for the Berega school of nursing in Tanzania.
Well done to the ladies of inner wheel.
I mentioned at the meeting two weeks ago that we were still holding the $5000 raised at the auction night last year which was earmarked for drought relief. The reason we still have the funds is due to difficulty finding a suitable project to direct the money to. Obviously drought relief is not an issue now so the board wishes to channel that money toward flood relief programs to benefit the same areas in Victoria where the drought relief money was originally intended to go. These funds together with some of the funds raised from The Stephen Mayne day will make a substantial difference. This matter will be brought before the meeting on March 2nd for endorsement by our members.