The Rotary Melbourne meeting on Wednesday 20 March 24 was a projects and member focused event. It was the 33rd Rotary Melbourne meeting of this Rotary year - the 5024th all time Club meeting, in the Club’s one hundred and third year.
The meeting was opened by MC Peter Davis, with the welcoming of members and guests, and acknowledgement of Wurundjeri and the Bunurong people, traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and also paid our respects to Elders past, present and future.
Barbara Yerondais delivered the weekly reflection, a copy of which is published later in this Bulletin.
After proposing the customary Toast, and a brief meal service break, President Chris welcomed Richard and Trish Parker as the Club guests for the presentation of a Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) Award to Richard for his Community service.
President Chris also acknowledged the presence of visiting Rotarian, Andrew Clarke from Rainhill, in the UK and exchanged banners.
President Chris then began the presentation of the PHF Award to Richard Parker, explaining the Award’s origin and reading the citation, which highlighted Richard’s notable service in the establishment of the Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network (RIMERN) and his leadership of the Make a House a Home Project (MAHAH) for Launch Housing. A copy of the full citation and Richard's speech are published later in this Bulletin.
Richard then came to the podium and President Chris presented the Award and Citation. In response, Richard gave a lively presentation, beginning by acknowledging the team of MAHAH volunteers without whom the project could not function.
In the spirit of showcasing Club projects, Richard gave a more detailed response, highlighting the Club’s substantial financial support alongside the volunteer efforts provided by Rotary Melbourne over the past 8 years.
He bench marked the MAHAH project against the key components of a successful Rotary project such as moral purpose, deliverables that make a difference; volunteering opportunity; fellowship; strengthening Rotary’s community standing, and social impact.
Concluding the presentation ceremony President Chris acknowledged the sterling contribution of Keith Callinan in preparing high quality citations.
After the exchange of banners with visiting Rotarian, Andrew Clarke from Rainhill, in the UK, Past President Mary Barry delivered a promotional presentation on the For a Meal volunteer meal packing opportunity to be held on the 3 April at 5.30pm at RMIT University followed at around 7:00pm by a fellowship meal opportunity at the Oxford Scholar Hotel, adjacent to RMIT.
President Chris then highlighted notices from the call for nominations of Rotary Community leaders who will lead Club engagement and support on behalf of the new Regional Council, currently being trialled. Expressions of Interest must be received at the Club’s office by 26th March to enable submission by midnight on Thursday, 28th March. He reminded members that nominations for the 2024 Young achievers Award close this Thursday 28th March 2024
Bernie McIntosh then assumed chairmanship of the meeting to fully introduce the three speakers who had been asked to either speak about project’s in which they were engaged, or the experience as a Rotary Melbourne member.
Past Presidents Chris Wang and Robert Fisher provided an update on the Rotary Give Every Child a Future Project which is within 18 months of so of completing the objective of vaccinating more than 100,000 Pacific Island children against pneumonia, diarrhea, and cervical cancer. The address highlighted the uniqueness of this multi-club project being delivered in partnership with UNICEF by the four 2021centenary trans-Tasman Rotary clubs of Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney and Wellington. Having raised nearly US$4 million over the past 5 years and enduring necessary delays due to the pandemic, one third of the planned immunisations are now complete and over 50% of the health care workers involved have been trained. Completion by late 2025 is now in sight.
Attached HERE is a copy of their presentation.
Bernie then introduced Rotarian Amit Gill to speak about his experience in Rotary Melbourne as a new member during his first year of membership, and his early thinking on how he will approach the role of Membership Director on the Rotary Melbourne Board in 2024-25, and 2025-26. Amit acknowledged the threat of declining membership and stated that the clear shared goal for all of us must be to actively recruit new members. He highlighted clear benefits of the opportunity to engage in service projects with hands on effort, and clear impact of member contribution, the opportunity to build professional networks and leadership development. Noting that there are 800,000 professionals in the Melbourne area, Amit challenged members to identify 3 candidates for membership each over the coming year. He also noted that there is perhaps a need to review and simplify membership structures noting the engagement needs of modern-day professionals are different from our traditional model.
The final speaker was another relatively new member, Anthony (Tony) Battaini, who spoke on behalf of Karen Kim with whom he is working closely with on the creation of the Rotary Melbourne’s annual Music Scholarship. The purpose of the proposed Award will be to identify and materially support an emerging musician of exception talent and potential who lacks access to essential training and/or a quality musical instrument. The likely level of support will be a grant of up to $10,000 and a one-year loan of a high-quality instrument. The annual scholarship would be available on a competitive basis and would be presented at an annual music event. The Award outcomes are planned to be the Awardee successfully completing advanced training, measurable artistic development, and achievement; increased professional opportunities and enhanced community support. Development of the proposal is at an early stage and the goal is for the initial Award to be made in 2025.
Overall, this meeting was outstanding for those present in showcasing major projects and challenges facing Rotary Melbourne going forward. You can view the recording of this meeting by clicking here.
