As most of you will know, our Club has supported the indigenous homeland, Donydji or, as it is now known, Gurrumala, for over 15 years, both financially and in kind. Until his sudden death, John Mitchell was a key member of the Rotary Subcommittee providing this support and was its Chairman from its inception.
Bookings are open for the Peace Conference which is to be held as part of our Multi-District Conference in February, 2019.
Led by the Rotary Club of Melbourne, the “EndTrachoma by 2020” project unites Rotary clubs across Australia, to work towards eliminating trachoma by preventing the spread of infection that causes this avoidable blindness. This project is endorsed by 2017-18 Rotary International President, Australian Ian Riseley, and Zone Director Noel Trevaskis, and has been endorsed as a project to commemorate Rotary Australia’s centenary year in 2021.
Polio eradication would be one of history's greatest public health achievements, with polio following smallpox to become only the second human disease eliminated from the world.
To read more about the RI End Polio Now programme, click on the link https://www.endpolio.org/news-stories.
Last week's meeting, Anton Leschen, General Manager, Smith Family was thrilled to receive a cheque for $20,455 on behalf of the Smith Family. This was raised by the outstanding efforts of our 'Around the Bay' 2018 Team of riders and volunteers.
Bulletin Editor received the following email from our fantastic Member Ruth Carlos-Martinez who is presently returning from yet another mission to the Philippines. Ruth was checking out a Global Grant and her amazing story follows.
Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of irreversible blindness. The disease disappeared from Australian cities and towns over 100 years ago. But we remain the last developed country in the world where this disease is still considered endemic. It persists in some of our outback Indigenous communities. It does so in communities where living standards are inadequate, where there is a lack of functional, maintained washing facilities, and where homes are chronically overcrowded. Current personal and community hygiene practices allow the frequent spreading of infected secretions from one child to another, and although trachoma is easily treated with antibiotics, it is the frequent recurrent infections that damage the eyelids and cause blindness.
RCM members volunteer weekly to collect surplus fresh food at the Queen Victoria and Prahran Markets. Second Bite then redistributes donated food to community food programs for the disadvantaged. Volunteers donate 2 hours of their time to collect donations, and are rostered up to 6 times a year.
In Australia today, on any one night, 105,000 people are homeless. Of these 46,000 are women and 63,000 are 34 years of age or less with 18,000 children under 12. Get involved in projects to end homelessness and support the homeless in Melbourne particularly among young people, working with other like-minded organisations.
