Home Page | Rotary Club of Geelong East Inc. A0017825B

Regular Club Meetings by Zoom

The club went into hibernation initially. However, we soon discovered Zoom and we meet weekly via that medium.

We have been fortunate to have a great range of speakers including former Rotary Exchange Student Frederick Jespersen updating us on his progress in the last ten years since he completed his exchange with us. Frederick joined us on Zoom from Denmark (pictured(. Eyrian Morgan a returned Exchange Student who went to Norway also spoke to us.

The Purple House, is a unique project providing dialysis to indigenous communities in and around Alice Springs. We heard the story behind and the importance of The Purple House and Rotaries connection with it from CEO Sarah Brown.

One of our recent online guests was leading infectious disease expert (formerly with CSIRO Australian Animal Health Lab), Dr David Boyle B.Sc.(Hons), M.Sc., PhD. David spoke about his work on infectious diseases in humans and animals and provide some insight into the current pandemic.

We inducted a new member during a Zoom meeting.

Rotarians and guests from Wylde Green in the UK, Germany, RC Nhill, RC Bayside and RI Director Elect Jessie Harman, RC Geelong Central, RC Highton and Norway join in our meetings.

Things have changed in Rotary - at least while the pandemic is keeping activities restricted.

The Rotary Club of Geelong East - Meeting through Zoom

Reflections - Eastern Park project 1980–1981

There is a fine, well-built blue stone structure in Eastern Park that proudly displays the logo of the Rotary Club of Geelong East. It is a water fountain, located near a colourful new children’s playground, picnic table and public toilets, in the general vicinity of Geelong High School. It is obviously a past project of the Rotary Club of Geelong East – but when was it built?

Thanks to our wonderful long-serving Rotarian David Beretta, its story has been revealed.

The project was completed in David’s year as President, 1980–1981 and was opened with great ceremony by the-then mayor, Councillor Des Podbury, in the presence of President David and Rotarians Leon Mott, Alf Foster, John Burleigh, Bob Lethbridge and others

The project took many months and involved more than water fountains. It included picnic tables and two wood-fired barbecues, with wood generously supplied by the Geelong City Council. However the wood kept disappearing (light-fingered visitors were blamed) so the Council demolished the barbecues and left the fountain. Several gas barbecues are now installed in a large pavilion elsewhere in Eastern Park.

Rotary Club of Geelong East - Serving the People

History & Philosophy for Our Times

The following video is a simple and yet profound way of thinking about our world, post Covid-19. Tomos has given permission for The Rotary Club of Geelong East to post this video.

Take a few minutes to watch and absorb the messages in it.

Facebook: Probably Tomfoolery

Instagram: @ProbablyTomfoolery

Twitter: @probstomfoolery

Rotary Club of Geelong East - Sharing Powerful Messages

The Purple House

Rotary District 9780 was to have held its District Conference in Swan Hill in March. The Covid-19 virus put a stop to that. Fortunately District Governor, Rosanne Kava has arranged for a number of the speakers to do videos and all clubs and members can see them. Below is the link to the first of these speakers.

Sarah Brown has an important story to tell and it is one that should interest every Rotarian and indeed Australian. The link below will take you to the video. Enjoy and learn about the Purple House and the amazing work it does.

https://vimeo.com/407831303

Rotary - working in all communities to improve health

They Died in Our Service

The members of the Rotary Club of Geelong East recognise the dedication and essential work that our police officers carry out in order to protect the Victorian community.

We express our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and the colleagues of the four officers tragically killed on Wednesday night (22/4/20). Your pain is our pain to.

Vale:

Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor
Senior Constable Kevin King
Constable Josh Prestney
Constable Glen Humphris

Rotary – mourning with so many others

Time to remember those who helped us

The Rotary Club of Geelong East has had great support from many local businesses throughout its history. The current Pandemic is causing grief for both owners and employees of these businesses. They have supported us when we needed them. Now it is our turn to support them.

In particular, Goodall Meats (Vines Road), Porter Avenue Hot Bread Shop, Harvey's Fruit & Veg (Highton),The East Geelong Newsagency, East Geelong Fruit Market and Discount Drug Store have supported us in our Anniversary celebrations.

Please do your bit and support them.

Geelong East Rotary’s support of the North Children’s Choir

Geelong East Rotary is proud to be a supporter of the North Children’s Choir, a group of four to eleven year-olds drawn from the northern suburbs of Geelong. The formation of the choir was the brainchild of the Bluebird Foundation and aims to gather and perform songs, music and dance from the diverse cultural backgrounds of the children and their families.

Geelong East Rotary has a long association with the Bluebird Foundation, a community arts organisation that recognises the power of the arts to effect cultural change within communities resulting in improved social, emotional and health outcomes. Together we have touched the lives of many vulnerable children, youth and adults in our community, bringing joy and meaning through music, art and theatre.

So we were delighted when our Rotary club was invited by Bluebird to participate in ‘Pitch Up Geelong’, a live crowdfunding event organised by ‘Give Where You Live’ at the Geelong Arts Centre on 5 March. Three enterprises—Bluebird Foundation, Foundation 61 and Geelong Mums—were invited to’ pitch’ to an audience of community-minded people as to why their work should be supported. There was a great incentive to make a pledge as each pledge (up to the value of $15,000) was to be matched by two generous donors, GForce and the Anthony Costa Foundation. Our pledge of $600 was therefore doubled.

As a result of the generosity of the assembled throng, Bluebird received over $30,000 for the North Children’s Choir project, Foundation 61 over $45,000 for its dream to build a residential facility for women fighting addiction, and Geelong Mums received over $31,000 for their work in providing material support for new mothers and babies.

This most successful event showed the Geelong community at its most generous best and demonstrated what can be achieved when we work together.

Rotary Club of Geelong East - working with others to build stronger communities

Rotary Club of Geelong East Celebrates 50 Years of Service

On Sunday 23^rd February, Rotary International’s 115^th Anniversary, The Rotary Club of Geelong East held a celebration lunch for its 50^th Anniversary. The club was accepted into Rotary International on 2^nd December 1969 and the Charter meeting was held on 21^st. February 1970.

Over 80 Past and current members, Friends of Rotary and members of other clubs, enjoyed a lunch at the Range, Curlewis Golf Club.

A presentation from the District Governor, Roseanne Kava of a commemoration certificate from the Rotary International President, Mark Daniel Maloney and a certificate from District 9780, of which the club is a member.

A special announcement was made by the District Governor, that club member and Past District Governor, Eddie Loughnan was to be recognised with the highest award of Rotary International – the Service Above Self Award. It was fitting that the announcement was made at this event, as Eddie has been a stalwart of the club since he joined and has served the club, the District and Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.

There were three short speeches, covering the history, projects and membership achievements. The projects included:

Building the first Heliport in Geelong for an Air Ambulance Helicopter
Working with other clubs to get a Renal Dialysis unit in Geelong and funding a building to house it (Rotary House, corner Ryrie and Swanston streets)
Providing bursaries and scholarships to students of Geelong High School and Newcomb Secondary College
Re-roofing the hospital in Tonga following damage by a cyclone
De-mining 700kms of the Cambodian/Thailand border in conjunction with other clubs overseas
Provding water to 21 villages in Zambia and 18 in Cambodia
Annual involvement in Arbour Day tree plantings
Funding the Organisation for Socially Handicapped, monthly dance and provision
of a bus
Providing library books and iPads to Whittington Primary School

A great day of celebration was had by all. The club is now well positioned to continue carrying out Community, Vocational, Youth and International Service for another fifty years.

Rotary Club of Geelong East – Now its onto the next 50 years’ service!

Junior Footys Great Supporter

Over the past few years, the Newcomb Power Football Club has introduced award winning junior programs which work with loc

al schools. Record levels of participation and a growing number of teams has meant Building better facilities for players, coaches, volunteers and fans with a view to encouraging more locals.

The primary foci of the programs are to engage young people who would not have the opportunity (usually financially) to take part in football and to get children into healthy activities. Both boys and girls take part in the programs. The programs have been so successful, that the club is now considering using the model on their Netball program.

This will give the club the space they need to grow, store equipment and provide greater

flexibility to train and win avid junior FC players, Newcomb Power Netball Club

and Newcomb Cricket Club.

The Community Service Committee of The Geelong East saw the need and worked with Newcomb to provide financial support. The Rotary club has been a major sponsor providing the club with a $6000 district grant. Newcomb FC has also played an integral part in supporting our main events like the Geelong Show BBQ, Bunnings Sausage Sizzles and for this received a further $1500 and $200.

The Rotary Club of Geelong East – Sporting Partners

Shore It Up Project - Philippines

Rotarian, Alison Marshall was on a private trip to the Philippines when she decided to attend a local Rotary club meeting in Makarti which was the Rotary Club of Manila, District 3180.

On the night she was there, the club was arranging a working bee as part of an ongoing project to protect the mangroves along the coastal area of Alaminos, Pangasinan. The mangroves are important for protecting marine life and people.

For marine life, mangrove forests serve as valuable nursery areas for fish and crustaceans as well as a sanctuary for threatened and endangered species. For people, mangroves protect the shorelines from damaging storms and floods, and they provide renewable resources such as timber and plant products that can be used as raw material for construction and other commercial uses.

Alison joined the working bee, which was an all-day affair. While she said everyone worked very hard, they all enjoyed being able to help in the upkeep of the natural environment.

As a result of Alison’s visit to the area, her club, The Rotary Club of Geelong East, has contributed $500.00 toward the project. Alison is personally adding to the club contribution.

Rotary Club of Geelong East - working internationally

Safety in Numbers

On 16^th April 2019, The Rotary Club of Geelong East and its partners, The City of Greater Geelong and The Corangamite Catchment Management Authority and the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), launched a series of Safety Markers along both sides of the Barwon River.

In order to ensure that the signs remain in good condition, they are regularly inspected by members the Rotary Club and report made to the partners. The initial report highlighted that only 3 of the 46 signs have been tagged graffiti and due to the vandal and graffiti proof nature of the signs this has been removed without any damage.

The Calls and the events which are managed by ESTA reported the following breakdown: -

A total of separate 21 events (calls) were received from 13 different locations with the following services responded to:

Victorian Police 11 times,
Ambulance Emergency 7 times and
Ambulance Referral 3 times.

A Breakdown of the Type of Events

Abdominal pain
Breathing problems
Cardiac Arrest
Convulsions
Falls
Missing person
Overdose Poisoning
People causing trouble
Property found
Sick person
Snake Bite
Suspect Vehicle
Theft
Traumatic Injuries
Unconscious
Welfare Checks

The Rotary Club of Geelong East - Making the Community Safer

Rotary Junior Community Awards 2019

ROTARY JUNIOR COMMUNITY AWARD AT GEELONG EAST PRIMARY SCHOOL

On 18 December 2019 seven Grade 6 students from Geelong East Primary School celebrated completion of the Rotar

y Junior Community Award (RJCA) program (see photo). Each student received an attractive certificate and a monetary voucher to assist with the purchase of school supplies for 2020.

Peter Cook, Chair of the Community Service Committee, congratulated the students on their enthusiasm and commitment to the program, and thanked their teacher, Mrs Kristin Underwood, for willingly taking on the extra workload that the program demands.

The Rotary Junior Community Award program, initiated by the Rotary Club of Mitchell River in 1997, requires participants to undertake activities in four avenues: Community Service, Physical Recreation, Social Experience and Skill Development.

A group activity, aimed at satisfying the community service component, saw the students make regular visits to ‘Eden Park’, an aged care facility located close to the school. Both students and residents enjoyed the interactions and wonderful friendships developed.

Participants in the program are also required to attend a meeting of a community group. On 3 December four Grade Sixers attended a meeting of Geelong East Rotary,

listened with interest, took careful notes and wrote a report on their experience.

They were delightful company and proved to be great ambassadors for their school.

Rotary - developing young people in our community!

Fun Raising Funds

The Rotary Club of Geelong East held its first Trivia night on Nov 8th treating guests to 5 rounds of well researched trivia questions including Name that Tune, famous sports event and a word association game. The event also included a Wine Raffle, best dressed table award and

lenty of prizes for the winning tables. The Red dot cheat sticker was also a hit for those of us needing a little help wth some of the answers.

Proceeds will go to a yet to be determined community or youth cause.

Finding ways to raise funds is always a challenge but the Club took this challenge for a fun and successful brain workout raising $1500.

Rotary - finding fun ways to serve others

Mark West Foundation Donation

The Rotary Club of Geelong East donated $1,500.00 to the Mark West Foundation during the senior game of football at St. Albans ground.

The funds will be used to assist disadvantaged children from missing out on the opportunity to play football. In the 2019 season, there are sponsored children playing at 25 Geelong clubs, due to the assistance of the Mark West Foundation.

The Mark West Foundation was established following the tragic death on the football field of Mark West at the age of 19. Mark had played football at all levels of club football and began coaching at the age of 17. A very talented footballer and someone who believed that he had to give back to the game, for the enjoyment he gained from it.

The Foundation has two Mission Statements:

To ensure no child in the greater Geelong region misses out on being able to play Australian Rules football due to financial reasons.

To strengthen the legacy of Mark West who set an amazing example of how to make a difference to those around him through participation, community involvement and striving to be the best you can be.

Details on the Mark West Foundation can be found at the website: http://www.tmwf.org.au/the-foundation

The Rotary Club of Geelong East – Supporting Other Community Organisations

Andrew Love Cancer Centre – The Best

The staff and volunteers at the Andrew Love Cancer Centre, have every reason to be proud of the work they do and the standards they set.

This was what led to three Rotarians who had all had experience with

either Chemotherapy or Radiology at the Andrew Love Cancer Centre to nominate the centre for the Pride & Professionalism Award. The annual award is an has been until now, presented to an individual. In discussing the nomination, all nominators agreed that they could not separate individuals from the overall professionalism of those they came into contact with. Hence, the award was presented to all management, staff and volunteers within the Andrew Love Cancer Centre.

The award was presented at a small gathering on Thursday 27^th June at the centre. All groups and professions were represented on the day.

Pictured are (left to right): Rotarian Stan Deans, Medical Oncologist
Dr. Madhu Singh, Operations Manager Radiotherapy, Shane Barsier
and Rotarians Laurent Franklin & Jenny Acopian

The Rotary Club of Geelong East – Recognising those who Serve our Community

Rotary Continually Working for Peace

Rotary International and it’s 32,000 clubs and 1.25 million members have been working to bring about peace since the organisations inception in 1905. Below is a timeline of some of the key activities relating to peace.

Readers may find some surprising insights into Rotary here.

1905 – 1914 Rotarians expressed concern about the rise of nationalism in Europe

1921 – Rotary adopted its fourth Object of Rotary “The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a worldwide fellowship of business and professional men united in the ideal of service”

1940 – At the Rotary International Convention in Havana, Rotary passed a resolution “freedom, justice, truth sanctity of the pledged word and respect for human rights” – this provided the framework for the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1942 – Rotary formed the organisation that was to become UNESCO

1945 – 49 Rotarians were involved in the writing of the United Nations Charter

1960 on. Rotary established Peace Parks, Peace Cities and Peace Poles. The City of Wagga Wagga, NSW became the first Peace City in the world. Today there are over 60 Peace Cities around the world

2002 Rotary established The Rotary Peace Centres. There are 6 universities around the world that provide Rotary sponsored a Masters Peace and Conflict Resolution program over two years. There are now (2018) over 1150 graduates of the programs working in a range of organisations and roles (governmental and non-government). Rotary Peace Fellows have been drawn from over 80 countries

2018 – The Rotary International President, Ian Riseley has selected Peace as the theme for his RI President’s Conferences. There will be 6 such conferences, each focused on a different element of peace. The conference in Sydney in March 2018 is focused on peace and economic and community development

This is not an exhaustive list. Almost every project Rotary and its clubs undertake are related to peace in one way or another.

Rotary Exchange Students learn about and to appreciate other cultures and form friendships that reach across the globe

Group Study Exchange and Vocational Training Teams, like Exchange Students learn about other cultures and form international bonds

Rotary’s foray into the areas of health through Polio Eradication, Australian Rotary Health research grants, sponsorship of Indigenous Nurse Scholarships, Bowelscan, Interplast and ROMAC among many others, all help to bring about peace in communities.

Rotary continues in the quest for peace. You may wish to consider joining an organisation that has peace at its heart and contribute your bit toward peace.

SAFETY ON THE BARWON

The Rotary Club of Geelong East has been working with a range of authorities including City of Greater Geelong and Corangamite Catchment Authority to arrange for safety markers to be installed along the BaRwon River.

The project, an idea by Rotarian Keith Dawson is to have markers spread along the bank so that anyone who had an accident could give emergency services the exact location that they were in. Each marker would be numbered and would be linked to a GPS. This would save emergency services critical time in trying to locate someone and may make the difference between life and death.

The project is now about ready to go. A great deal of work has been done and shortly the markers will be put in place.

Rotarian Tony Alsop is holding one of the markers in the photo.

Barwon River Safety Marker Project

This project sponsored by the Rotary Club of Geelong East involves the installation of 36 signs along the length of the Barwon River between Breakwater and Fyansford. Each sign has an unique registered site number that allows a person calling (000) emergency services to readily identify their exact location giving the operator the first and most critical element in the delivery of timely and accurate emergency response. The “000” emergency phone number receives 2.3 million calls per year of which 1.8 million result in an emergency response. 58% of the calls come from a Mobile phone. When a call is made from a home or business it is fairly easy to identify location but what happens if you are along the Barwon River. These markers are the answer.

Rotary - Engaging with Eastern Geelong

Posted by Warren Norton

The Rotary Club of Geelong East is a key player in the Eastern Geelong area and has a number of Partners and organisations that it does work with and for. These include: The Eastern Hub, Barwon Health, Whittington Primary School, East Geelong Primary School, the Eastern Geelong Business Network, Newcomb Secondary College, the Uniting Church, Geelong High School and others.

As part of this extensive network, the club is advised of activities of interest to residents. A new feature on this website will now be the promotion of those activities. Under the heading Downloads on this page, readers will find a range of materials that relate to activities being held in the area or of general interest to the people of the area.

Items will include health promotion activities, classes, meetings and discussion groups.

The Rotary Club of Geelong East, teamed up with the St. Albans Football & Netball club to raise funds for the education of children

undergoing cancer treatment.

Footy Colours is an annual fundraiser for The Fight Cancer Foundation,

This year, both clubs joined together to raise funds so that children undergoing cancer treatment or rehabilitation, can continue their education. The average child treated for cancer, loses six months of schooling, putting them behind their peers. The Fight Cancer Foundation fund ongoing education at this time, to ensure no child is left behind.

Through a range of activities, culminating in a Dinner with the CEO of the Gold Coast Suns, Mark Evans, just over $2,000.00 was raised.

Rotary working with other community organisations

The Rotary Club of Geelong East donated $1,500.00 to the Mark West Foundation during the senior game of football at St. Albans ground.

The Foundation has two Mission Statements:

To ensure no child in the greater Geelong region misses out on being able to play Australian Rules football due to financial reasons.

To strengthen the legacy of Mark West who set an amazing example of how to make a difference to those around him through participation, community involvement and striving to be the best you can be.

Details on the Mark West Foundation can be found at the website: http://www.tmwf.org.au/the-foundation

The Rotary Club of Geelong East – Connecting with Other Community Organisations

The staff and volunteers at the Andrew Love Cancer Centre, have every reason to be proud of the work they do and the standards they set.

This was what led to three Rotarians who had all had experience with

The award was presented at a small gathering on Thursday 27^th June at the centre. All groups and professions were represented on the day.

Pictured are (left to right): Rotarian Stan Deans, Medical Oncologist
Dr. Madhu Singh, Operations Manager Radiotherapy, Shane Barsier
and Rotarians Laurent Franklin and Jenny Acopian

The Rotary Club of Geelong East – Recognising those who Serve our Community

The Rotary Club Geelong East, together with the City of Greater Geelong and the Corangamite Catchment Authority, launched the Barwon River Safety Markers.

This six year start-to-finish project was the brainchild of Rotarian Keith Dawson of Rotary Geelong East. The idea of the project was to TRANSFORM and make SAFER the activities areas along both sides of the Barwon River. Safer for Walkers, Runners, Riders, Tourists and Families.

A total of 46 double sided Location Marker signs were installed along the Barwon River on both sides. Along approxi

mately 10 kilometres of river on both sides stretching from the Breakwater to the Ring Road.

The two most important pieces of information during a Triple Zero call is the nature of the emergency and its location. When an incident occurs at a specific street address, it is generally easy for emergency services to find the caller. However, if it takes place in large open-spaces, walking trails or beaches where no obvious reference points exist, it takes extra, valuable, life saving time to identify and verify the specific location and vehicle access point.

Another Community Service of The Rotary Club of Geelong East

River’s Gift and Sailability were the recipients of a combined $15,000.00 from the most recent Rotary Club of Geelong East Dinner Auction.

River's Gift is the largest source of funding for laboratory-based SIDS research in Australia. To date, River's Gift has generated over $1 million to save babies lives, by funding scientific research, delivering Safe Sleep Education and raising awareness of Sudden Infa Master Logo - Navy RG-Sky tagline-Sky he

nt Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Sailability is a “not for profit” organisation, volunteer-based, and through the activity of Sailing enriches the lives of people of all abilities – the elderly, the financially and socially disadvantaged as well as people with physical challenges.

The Dinner Auction attracted 150 Guests and was MC’d by media personality and Rotarian, Gary Newton and the auction was conducted by Joe Grgic.

Dozens of local businesses supported the auction by donating goods and services to be auctioned on the night and the club thanks them. The club’s Dinner Auctions are held every two years.

Rotarians working in the Community

The Rotary Club of Geelong East hosted ten Canadians visiting our District. Four couples and two single women travelled from Canada to Australia on a Rotary Friendship Exchange. Ten Australians will go to Canada in August on the return leg of the Exchange.

The visitors were home hosted by local Rotarians both on their way into the District and again on their departure. In Geelong they toured the Bollards, Narana, National Wool Museum, did a tour of Corio Bay, Anglesea Golf Club, attended an AFLW match at GMHBA Stadium, toured Queenscliffe and a Picnic in the (Eastern) Park.

They spent time in Portland, Warnambool, Grampians, Port Fairy and Drysdale.

The feedback from all, was that they thoroughly enjoyed their 14 days in the area.

The Rotary Friendship Exchange allows small groups of Rotarians to go to other countries and meet with locals and experience the culture and so see local sites of interest and animals. A component of the Friendship Exchanges is creating greater understanding and friendships between people of the world.

Rotary Friendship - Worldwide

It is with great excitement that we announce Melbourne as the host city for the 2023 Rotary International Convention, the largest conference secured this century for Victoria.

Melbourne is a Big Events City! Set to deliver over $88 million to the Victorian economy, the Convention is the most valuable conference ever won for the state, with the four-day event anticipated to attract more than 20,000 Rotarians from around the world. The global spotlight will be on Melbourne and how we present ourselves to the world.

The Convention will take place 27-31 May 2023 using superb venues; Rod Laver Arena and the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. All activities and events are within the Heart and Soul of Melbourne. Over 7000 hotel rooms over 50 properties across Melbourne. Our transport plan uses our famous trams, ferries and buses to quickly and easily move delegates between venues, hotels, event and restaurants. And of course, Melbourne is a very walkable city with many interesting routes and laneways to tantalise visitors.

In addition, the Victorian visitor economy will be bolstered with expenditure from thousands of visiting Rotarians utilising transport, hospitality, entertainment, venues, attractions, tourism services, event planning, freight customs broker services, technology rental, security and various other members of the local business event and tourism supply chain, as well as the flow on benefits across regional Victoria for pre and post touring. Rotary has a business heritage as well as community service. We are proud to make an impact on local business and create jobs.

Rotarians Supporting Victoria

Rotary world-wide, is dedicated to making the world a better place for all.

Through its 32,000 clubs, the organisation and its 1.2 million members work in their local communities, internationally, through youth and professions to do those things that will lead to a more peaceful world.

The illustration below shows Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus. Working to improve five, will help the world move toward the sixth, Peace.

Rotarians - People of Action

3D printers to the rescue

Rotary members join 3D print enthusiasts to make personal protective equipment in short supply due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Better together

A need to connect with different age groups is woven into our genes

The Rotarian Conversation: Marc Freedman

The Rotarian Conversation:Marc FreedmanThis longevity expert has found that both younger and older people thrive when they work together with a common purpose — something

Rotary’s first virtual convention inspires members to innovate and stay connected