"Hello everyone,
It’s been around five months since I joined Rotary Melbourne. I remember my induction back in May was also online in the zoom meeting, one of the first online inductions our club held this year I think. It’s been a very tough year for every Victorian. Our hotel has shut since April, except the month of June we operated for one month and then had to shut again. Now we are tidying up the whole place again to prepare for our new reopening in November.
This year we had to communicate in the new way, such as building friendship and having communications online by zoom meetings, etc. I was very touched by the friendship in our club. I remember that one day I received a phone call from Chanti and she’s basically calling members one by one to check whether everyone is okay during the lockdown.
Sharann Johnson is my mentor, she is very helpful in many ways. When I told her I was interested in participating in something like SecondBite, she sent me an email asking whether I would be interested in a newly created Environment Sustainability Action Group and I said "Yes" immediately. Then I met Gary Fowler, Peter Berg, Ari Talantis, Mina Guli, Mikaela Stafrace, Jeremy Oats, and a few other amazing members in the group.
We also created a Sustainable Environment Whats 'App group where we basically welcome any interested people to join, where we share our photos, articles, etc. everything about sustainable environment.
One of the first small projects is “Colour Your World”. In response to the pandemic in Melbourne, our District’s Environmental Sustainability Committee came up with the concept of "Colour your World" which aims to encourage members collectively to contribute to biodiversity and support pollinators, by growing flowering plants in the garden, balconies, rooftops, or pots. It’s simple, tangible, and safe.
It will make a positive contribution to the environment, and also engage members. We would love to encourage everyone to participate and also share your beautiful images of flowers, plants, maybe with bees and butterflies, to colour everyone’s world. We are about to start promotion of this new mini project for everyone, so watch out for any promotional materials in the following weeks.
Thanks again for having me here, and we’ll see each other again soon."
Yidan Xi Rotary Melbourne
