Good afternoon Rotarians and guests online and present today.
The monthly theme for August in Rotary District 9800 is membership and new club development.
During the month clubs will focus on growing membership, engaging current members and chartering new clubs.
I have always been an advocate for corporate memberships and partnerships providing the opportunity for organisations and 3–4 employees to participate in our club activities.
Current corporate members include Bionics Institute, Brotherhood of St Laurence, GHD, Morgan Stanley, Monash University, RedR and Scalzo Foods.
Reflecting on earlier years, our club and the community projects we supported benefited enormously from corporate partnerships with Shell through Bob Glindemann and Peter Duncan, including a $250,000 grant from the Shell Foundation for East Timor, as well as National Australia Bank through Past Presidents Austen Burleigh and Cliff Breeze.
GHD has been a wonderful contributor involving our members Peter Manger, Clive Weeks, Russell Board and Dean McIntyre.
Special thanks to our retiring member Peter Manger after 42 years, predominantly for health reasons, for his enormous contribution in so many ways including the East Timor Roofing Project and CASPA Residential Aged Care in South Melbourne.
We also thank Michael Selth for his efforts in pursuing corporate memberships and encourage you all to reach out to his replacement Anthony Austin with potential targets.
Thank you Peter Dakin
Thank you to Peter Dakin for last week's reflection on Wednesday 15 July 2026.
