 | Author's Name: Bob Glindemann Date: Thu 28 Nov 2024 |
My involvement with DIK started sometime after Timor Leste gained its Independence in 2002 when the West Footscray store had started to ship all manner of supplies to Timor, and they sought some assistance in packing containers.
That started my long involvement with Donations in Kind of over 20 years and it is impossible to capture in these next few minutes the multitude of activities and my involvement but more importantly the great service this project delivers.
Knowing where we started is important to understand where we have ended up.
In 2008-09 I chaired the district 9800 RAWCS committee and DIK sat under that Committee. A major disagreement occurred in 2009 when the then District Governor sought to close the store. He believed the Store was a “rubbish tip” and not something that Rotary should continue. This led to a large investigation involving the 5 other DIK stores in Victoria leading to the recommendation that apart from Geelong, the other stores should consolidate into West Footscray which should continue operating.
Everyone was happy except the DG who then advised that the Licence fee for the store at West Footscray, donated by Golden Bros transport would cease and the district would not meet the annual cost of around $30,000 so the store was directed to close. Over the intervening couple of years, the tenant in the other half of the shed, was moving out gradually and as he left, we had expanded into the vacated space such that we had the whole of Shed 40.
The edict to close was not greeted with any enthusiasm by several Clubs including ours, there was considerable pushback resulting in the District agreeing to a year’s amnesty but if the store was to continue, an Incorporated organisation would have to take over the licence and it looked as though Rotary Melbourne would assume the licence.
I had expanded my time there to a day a week which soon became two and many weekends as the activity at the store grew.
There were discussions galore trying to come to an acceptable solution and I convened a meeting of 4 Clubs – West Footscray, Essendon, Balwyn and Melbourne where we decided to incorporate Donations in Kind, and this occurred on May 4th, 2010. I became the Company Secretary and Public officer until I passed over this role earlier this year.
Shed 40 was not the most organised location. Bill Dagg had retired and handed over to Laurie Fisher and he and I set about getting some “order” in the shed. We had taken over some of the previous tenants racking, constructed a small meeting room to compliment the “borrowed” demountable office and commenced regular bulletins to Clubs. We continued to send containers – mainly to Timor and Pacific Islands but also a couple to Africa. Included in the goods to Timor were the 2 tonne coils of steel rolling stock for East Timor Roofing – our project in Baucau which had commenced operation earlier. We were able to buy a reconditioned forklift and had an old pallet wrapper from a previous tenant.
It was a quite small operation sending 10-12 containers annually but there was enthusiasm to do more as there was no shortage of goods on offer. However, it was all very basic material – not anything like the goods we move today. Everything was oriented towards export containers.
The need to grow the membership of DIK Inc was a pressing one both to generate funds to pay the rental and to continue to ship the humanitarian aid to Timor.
As our space expanded, our rental in shed 40 continued to rise – by now $70,000pa but we were slowly getting more Clubs to join the Incorporated body. This was hard slog particularly when our landlord advised that following increases in State Government land tax and other charges, our rental would have to double. This represented the going commercial rate in the complex, so we had been enjoying very beneficial rates. Regardless, we had no capacity to fund $140,000 being requested so we were faced with options to either move or shut up shop.
Our landlord was amenable to us staying, we were trouble free tenants so after long and involved negotiations, we agreed to move to the empty Shed 39 – a less desirable shed for the owners but perfectly satisfactory for us at $110,000pa. Still a big financial jump but with continuing growth in DIK Inc members, one we could manage albeit on a hand to mouth basis.
Shed 39 was empty so we could organise the shed layout to suit the operation that was still growing. The new shed has a great meeting room, office accommodation, toilets and showers – luxury! We were also able to construct a large lunchroom and kitchen following a marvellous donation that also provided us with a new second van – something we really needed for collections. We also purchased a new pallet wrapper and were donated a new electric forklift. The challenge was to relocate our racking and the goods from one shed to the other. We had to purchase more racking as we did not have enough to transfer but we did not have any funds to buy it. We were also told that our existing racking was quite old and would not meet the current regulations. To fund this and the relocation of 25 sets of three tier racking, I launched a campaign to sponsor the racks and in a very short time we had all the racks sponsored and the costs, almost $35,000 fully covered.
Once Shed 39 was established, 3410 square meters all triple racked, we had really moved the operation to another level.
We really cranked up the shipping to more countries and from 2000 to end June 2024 we had shipped 708 containers to 35 different countries.
2019 marked another big leap in operations as we were now registered for GST, we achieved registration with ACNC and were approved with DGR status. These were big advances.
There has never been a problem in getting donations of goods. Over the years I have spent quite some time talking to both Public and private hospitals and many Aged Care businesses in Melbourne and near country locations. We were also publicising the need for beds with Clubs who, particularly in country locations were significant sources of stock. Because we were seen as responsible up-cyclers, and hospitals were aware of what we were doing, we were now being offered all manner of more sophisticated equipment as Hospital upgraded their equipment. Anaesthetic machines, ventilators, ECG’s, patient monitors, dialysis units and Humidicribs to name a few. We were not skilled in making sure that all the equipment was in working order, so we sourced a volunteer medical equipment technician to check and repair this equipment. It changed quite radically what goods we were able to provide against the many wish lists from Clubs and other organisations. In addition to the “hard” equipment, we were receiving heaps of hospital consumables, most of it past the expiry date but still perfectly useable in the countries we were sending to. These “consumables” include bandages, gloves, syringes, needles, gowns, masks, drapes, plastic ware to name a few. This all needed to be identified, sorted, packed and stored so again, we needed to source some nurses who were familiar with the many hundreds of items we received.
It never ceased to amaze me at the range of goods that hospitals tossed out, but we were the very happy recipients.
We of course were quite affected by the COVID closures but were still able to send some containers as well as a dozen pallets of urgently needed medical supplies by road to Darwin for onforwarding to Timor as well as a 40ft Container of hand steriliser to Timor. COVID has also been great in providing supplies of face masks, gowns and shields as the surplus stocks in hospitals and Aged Care homes all reach their expiry dates.
There are two areas I have not yet mentioned – education and mobility aids. Both have specific areas in the store now. We are fortunate to have people who are dedicated to these areas to “drive” the activities there. We pack school and teacher packs to send with each shipment of desks and chairs.
Mobility aids – walking frames, crutches, over toilet frames, shower stools and chairs, wheelchairs are all stocked. As well as being sent against hospital wish lists, there is a steady stream of Occupational Therapists who come to the store every week seeking goods for patients who are not able to provide these items for themselves. Last year we delivered over 1000 items to the OTs for their patients free of cost.
DIK is quite a large project financially. These numbers give you some idea of the size. There are now 33 DIK Inc members and more Clubs are looking to join because they can see the opportunities the store can provide.
The store cannot function without volunteers, and we have about 20 regular volunteers on the two days each week that the store is open.
As I said at the outset, trying to capture my 20 years in a few minutes is a challenge but I hope has given you a flavour of what I have been doing at DIK. My role has passed to two Rotarians – the DIK INC Secretary is now George DeSouza from Camberwell and the Operations manager is now Colleen d’Offay from Brighton.
Have I enjoyed it – you bet! It’s cheaper than gym fees and the feedback you receive from the container recipients makes it all worthwhile.
