A reminder to everyone planning to join the Around the Bay bike ride: you need to register directly on the official website. The ride organisers also offer helpful training tips and resources to help you prepare.
We asked members to prioritise four initiatives to help clubs develop and deliver successful international projects. There was no runaway winner. Support was spread quite evenly across the board:
The message is clear. Clubs aren't looking for just one form of assistance. They want connections, expertise, practical information and opportunities to exchange ideas.
RIMERN Turns Five — And Keeps Growing
RIMERN celebrated its 5th Birthday on 3 July, marking half a decade of turning donated furniture into fresh starts. The numbers tell the story: 2,815 people supported, 76,462 items delivered and $2.4 million in homewares donated since 2021. Launch Housing CEO Sherri Bruinhout gave the keynote at the birthday celebration, reminding volunteers that homelessness is "a big problem but winnable." Read the full Issue 20 newsletter for client stories, corporate donor shoutouts and this year's growth figures.
After welcoming all to Rotary Melbourne’s 7th Meeting of the new Rotary Year and our 5137th Club meeting in our one hundred and sixth year, President Carol made special mention of Guest Speaker, Tony Aloisio, CEO, Australian Flexible Pavements Association, as well as Mr. Ryusuke Yokoyama, President of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and formerly of the Rotary Club of Osaka.
Thank you to Tony Battaini for last week's reflection, on Wednesday 19 August 2026.
Balwyn Rotary is excited to invite you to celebrate 50 years of the Camberwell Sunday Market strengthening communities locally, across Australia and around the world. None of this would be possible without the dedication of volunteers, stallholders, community partners and visitors. As we look to the future, the mission remains the same: to turn community participation into lasting community impact.
Join the celebration on 6pm Tuesday 22 September at Green Acres Golf Club, 51 Elm Grove, Kew East. Tickets are $65 for light entertainment, table wine and a two course meal, and a touch of gold is encouraged. RSVP by Friday 18 September.
In Topeka, Kansas, the Rotary Club of Community Action Against Human Trafficking runs Intersection to Care, a reentry program born from a hard truth: traffickers were waiting in the jail parking lot for women being released, ready to exploit their vulnerability. Since 2022, the program has grown from care kits and mentorship into technology and health classes, art therapy, supportive housing and doula services, assisting over 1,000 women along the way. Read the full story on rotary.org for how one formerly incarcerated woman, now a paid staff member, meets women at the gate and drives them to safety instead of a trafficker.
Solutions journalism, which delves beyond “bad news” to examine what people are trying to do about it, can be traced back to a 2010 column in The New York Times called “Fixes.” The column, co-written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tina Rosenberg, investigated solutions to social problems, covering what worked and what didn’t. Chicago journalist Mark Caro sits down with Rosenberg, who co-founded the Solutions Journalism Network in 2013, to discuss how this approach can help address systemic issues, and how Rotary clubs can benefit from following its best practices. Listen to the latest podcast of "Rotary Voices" here.
This week’s duties: John Peberdy, Sue Smith, Marg Leser (Reception), Rosemary Nixon (Raffle), Rosemary Nixon (MC), Tony Battaini (Reflection), Gerald Ashman (Photographer).
Membership Anniversary Stewart Stribling (25), Antonio Pajovic (11), Stephen Rando (5).
Happy Birthday Bruce Livett, Sue Smith, Chris Wang, Clive Weeks, Dean McIntyre.
Club Guests Tony Aloisio (Speaker).
Visiting Rotarians Ryusuke Yokoyama (Osaka).
Guests of Members Robin Whyte, Jonathan Anazodo (Deb Yin Foo), David Teague (Peter Dakin).
Owen Parnaby's book Australia's First Rotary Club tells the story of Rotary Melbourne since our 1921 foundation, its influential members, and the projects that shaped Victoria. It has long been part of the new member joining pack, giving every new Rotarian a direct line to the Club's history and figures such as General Sir John Monash.
Copies have now run out. A reprint would take time and come at real cost.
If you have a copy at home, please bring it along to a lunch or drop it at the office. Your donation helps ensure new members can still discover the story that connects us all.
