Narooma Rotary Beacon 30 March 2017

Short Words

Last week was a bit of a horror one. Between rain storms I helped with some mowing and drove school buses to help out and to cover for people having to attend funerals.

Yesterday (Saturday) I started the week photographing a wedding in bright sunshine and this morning our markets were blessed with blue skies, let’s hope it is a sign for a bright week ahead.

Sandra with Shania in the van at the markets

Thank you to John and Sandra for getting the van in on Saturday and Michael and Frank for marking out in the long grass.

To David and Rachel thank you for filling in on the gate at the market.

John and Sandra, Joan, Angie, John Rungen, Frank, Mal, David (again), Lynn, Michael, Shania (a Narooma High Yr 12 Student) and myself all pitched in to help at the van, making light work of a big task – thank you everyone. Michael took around the bucket and raised another $150.00 for his walk.

A good day was made great when the Formula One grand prix in Melbourne was ready to commence and Liz Cherry, back by the Army Band, sang the National Anthem. Liz is Charmaine’s daughter and as usual she nailed the performance.

This week I hope to get the defibrillators out and happening.

Our application for the Oyster Festival is in, add the Friday night and Saturday to your calendars, more on this when Chris gets back.

Have a great week, see you on Thursday night.

Bob Ant

The Week that Was

(Thanks to Peter Bull for the meeting report and Sandra Doyle for the photos)

There were 14 members and 4 guests at last week’s meeting. Guests included Jess Callaghan & Brittany Harrington from the university of Canberra, Angela McMillan from the Eurobodalla Shire Council and Iris.

Peter Hartley with Mal Gray and President Bob

The meeting was chaired by John Doyle. Present Bob inducted Mal Gray into the club after he transferred from Tumut, where he was a member for 21 years. Present Bob reported that the Goulburn Rotary club had refunded our cheque for $200 as their Nepal building project was abandoned. The club agreed to donate these funds to the Asher foundation, another Nepal project.

Sandra Doyle that reported that she attended the busking competition held at Ballarat last week and was able to promote our busking competition to be held in May. Her granddaughter Shelby was a winner on the weekend as was Sandra, who won the raffle.

Raffle results: bread (32) – Angie; food back (1) – guest Jess; white wine (4) – Sandra; red wine (15) – Michael O’Connor.

Learner Driver Mentor Program – Jess Callaghan and Brittany Harrington

Jess and Brittany are final year students at Canberra University completing a Masters degree in Occupational Therapy. There final placement is in this project sponsored by the PC YC and the Eurobodalla Shire (Y Drive Program). The Y Drive program has been developed to assist disadvantaged youth in the Eurobodalla area to acquire the 120 hours of driving experience they require to get their provisional license. Disadvantaged or disengaged youth (not working or studying) obviously find it hard to obtain a driver’s license. This causes social and economic disadvantage and, through the help of driver mentor volunteers, this pilot project hopes to provide these opportunities to 20 youths to be chosen from applicants. Jess pointed out that while 70% of young people in New South Wales have driver’s licences, less than 50% of Indigenous youths have a licence.

The International toast was to the RC club of Sheffield, D1270, UK, who together with the support of 12 other founding member clubs on six continents, formed the Sustainability Trust

  • The Objectives of the Trust are:
  1. To create a forum that shares ideas on how to introduce Sustainable Principles into our own lives, our businesses, our communities and our Rotary Club projects.
  2. To encourage the 1.2 million Rotarians to understand the implications of using non-renewable resources on the lives of future generations and on the climate of our planet.
  3. To provide suggestions on principles and products that Rotary Clubs can promote to reduce the use of non-renewable resources by their Club members, their communities and in their humanitarian projects.
  4. To point Rotarians to humanitarian projects that are already being supported by Rotary Clubs, which meet the aims of the Trust by using sustainable systems, renewable energy and locally supported programmes.
  5. To provide ideas and inspiration to Rotary Club members that will enable them to reduce their use of products that are made from non-renewable resources.
  6. To provide a carbon calculator that enables Rotarians to calculate their carbon emissions and donate to a Rotary Club project that removes the carbon emissions their activity has created.
  7. To link together all 33,784 Rotary Clubs world-wide into an internet-based support website that promotes these ideas and principles.
  8. To offer help and guidance to Rotarians, using the Trust’s world-wide network of internet-based contacts, on how their Clubs can achieve these aims.

The Trust slogan is – What is the 5th Test in the Four-Way-Test?   Is it Sustainable?

Australian clubs who have joined the project include:

Margaret River D9460 AUS

Buderim – D9600 AUS February 2013

Naracoorte – D9780 AUS June 2010

Ryde – D9685 AUS September 2014

Erina – D9685 AUS February 2015

Redcliffe City- D9600 AUS May 2015

The Market Report

Once again a very successful market was held on Sunday. Bob Antill reports that the Wishing Well collected $85.55, the van made $535.50 and $785.00 was collected at the gate.

Eurobodalla Shire Council have asked the Club to submit and EOI for a licence to conduct the market for the next 5 years. Thanks to Laurelle, Chris and Rod who have put the EOI together and submitted it to Council.

Drawing Connections

In St. Joseph, Michigan, USA, Rotary members have been matching high school students with mentors in their dream careers, providing valuable guidance as they explore their options after graduation. The exposure to community service has led students to start Interact clubs at six local schools, and has cemented the club’s connections with its community. Meet some of the students helped by the program and the members behind it all. Click here to read the article.

The Week Ahead

This week I understand that we are to get an update on the ‘Angel Flight Program’. Angel Flight Australia is a charity which coordinates non-emergency flights to assist country people to access specialist medical treatment that would otherwise be unavailable to them because of vast distance and high travel costs. Click here to see some videos about Angel Flight.

RYDA

The annual RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness) will be held for Narooma High students next Tuesday 4 April 2017. Youth Coordinators Lynda and Sandra desperately need a volunteer to help out on the day, so if you can help out please make contact.

RYDA is now conducted by an organisation called Road Safety Education. If you want to know more about the organisation click here. If you want to know more about Rotary’s involvement click here.