Rotary Club of Melbourne
www.rotaryclubofmelbourne.org.au

Meeting No 5014 in the Club’s 103rd year 

Highlights in this bulletin include: 

• This Week's Evening Dinner
• Upcoming Meetings & Events
• Last Week's Meeting
• Annual General Meeting
• Reflection
• Member News
• Club News 
• District News
• International News
• Environmental News

This Week's Evening Dinner - 6 December

Rotary Evening Dinner – Wednesday 6 December 23

Topic End of Year Recap

Date: Wednesday 6 December 23 @ 6pm

Venue: Imperial Hotel, Bourke St Melbourne

Price $70 dinner provided, drinks at bar prices [in person meeting only]

Note: Bookings close Monday 4 Dec: https://events.humanitix.com/rotary-melb-evening

Join the evening team for a night of networking and end of year festive cheer at this dinner.       

Upcoming Meetings & Events Calendar    

13 December 23 Lunch@No35 Festive Meeting, ‘Partners Day’

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/rotary-melb-lunch13dec 

20 December 23 - 17 January Holiday break

24 January Volunteering at RIMERN details to be advised

31 January 24 Lunch@No35 Vocational Service Panel

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/rotary-melb-31-jan

Last Week's Meeting 

At the Rotary Melbourne meeting on Wednesday 29 November the Community Service Award was presented to Emma Soloai, Banksia Gardens Community Services, Broadmeadows.

Reflection

Thank you to Ross Scholes-Robertson for last week's reflection on Wednesday 29 November 23.      

Club News    

The final meeting of the year is on 13 December and President Chris invites all members and friends to join the festive lunch which will feature organised entertainment.  This meeting is in person only and we hope all members able, plan to attend.        

At our recent lunch and AGM with Sally Capp on Wednesday 22 November 23, our visiting humanoid robot Pepper was stage-struck and unable to deliver the reflection. Fear not, you can watch Pepper's reflection right here!

Rotary Melbourne supports Rotary SAFE Families during the United Nations 16 Days of Activism and Gender-Based Violence which alerts communities around the globe in the prevention of violence against women and children.      

Past President Bob Glindemann from our East Timor Committee recognised Bill and Ann Rolfe’s generous donation to the East Timor Roofing funded Don Bosco Training Centre on the eve of East Timor Independence day.

Last year Launch Housing helped 14,250 Melbournians with housing or wraparound support at their time of need. Solutions to homelessness exist – and our latest Impact Report shows how more housing + healthcare + support ends homelessness. Click HERE to read the report.

I was out for my evening run, but as so often happens lately, I was not alone. The monsters, all in my mind, were gaining on me, ready to pounce. I had to sprint, a full-out panic dash, to avoid capture at sundown, that moment when Alzheimer’s bears down. If you are interested in reading more about Alzheimers and Rotary CLICK HERE.

Tania Miletic was a recipient of a Rotary Melbourne Paul Harris Fellow (Sapphire) in 2021 and also a 2002-04 Rotary Peace Fellow. Read this article from the December 2023 issue of Rotary Magazine.

If you are interested in keeping up to date with all that’s been happening with volunteers, donations, welfare agencies & clients, and the many exciting things ahead at RIMERN please HERE for Issue 6 October/November 23. It’s not long now until we close the warehouse and goods collections for a well-earned break, but before we do we invite all our wonderful volunteers to our Shut Down Knees Up on Thursday 14th December, noon until 3pm, to celebrate the closing of another fun & effective year!

District News

Read how District 9800 team for 2022–2023 implemented its Growth Action Plan to connect with more volunteers, activate them into members, and nurture them into community leaders, hosting Rotary International Convention 2023 Melbourne, Big Difference in Federation Square, Rotary Gala Dinner and much more HERE.

Please find attached an article HERE published in the November Rotary magazine titles 'Ask me how to make a difference District 9800, southeastern Australia'.

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The Australian Rotary Health November 2023 Newsletter is available here and features articles on their recent Final 
Board Meeting and more.

Environmental News

Rotary Melbourne is a leader in promoting and adopting Environmental Sustainability initiatives. The Club is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by calculating emissions and offsetting through carbon credits and adopting trees in social enterprises such as WithOneSeed, a community agroforestry program supporting subsistence farmers in Timor-Leste.       

This month the Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group (ESRAG) newsletter ESRAG November 2023 Volume 8 Issue 6 features an article titled 'Rotary springs into action at COP 28'. For the first time, Rotary’s President, Foundation Chair, and CEO are all attending the UN Climate Conference. Rotary International is hosting eleven days of presentations at Rotary’s Blue Zone pavilion.

Member Anniversaries: Shailesh Dangle (9), David Dunoon (19), Clive Hollands (41), Peter Hollingworth (19), Madeleine McManus (8).

     Member Birthdays this week: Ted Exell, Chris Rodd, Reg Smith, Eric Wright.

Guests at Last Week's Meeting 

Guests of the Club Emma Soloai, Ann McKenzie, Jah Soloai, Caramia Soloai-Skelton, Bill & Ann Rolfe, Bruce Parker, Emily Shepard, Jaqui O’Donohoe.

Visiting Rotarians Irena Bauer (Canterbury), Ross & Malcolm Clowes & Ann Grant (Mt Waverley).

Guests of Members  Harvey Cohen (Irena Bauer), Zeynap Kaya (Berat Kaya), Margaret Ross (Ian Ross).