If you think of the Rotary year as a glass of particularly good wine then we have a glass half empty. So what are the highlights and lowlights of the six months that have been?
The year started off with a bang with the Interplast Christmas in July function that raised $4,326. A fantastic night well planned by Harvey Lane that filled Bucatini and left us with a feeling that joint club functions are possible. The contribution of Len Brear was also recognised in November when he was made an Interplast Honoured Member. The Club has been a long time supporter of Interplast and we should be proud of what we have done to help children in developing countries.
The travel season of August / September resulted in a large proportion of Club members being overseas or on the wallaby. Programs tended to stall and one Board meeting was effectively a non-event due to the lack of a quorum. This was frustrating for me personally after putting so much time into forward planning for the year. We live in the reality that Rotary is a volunteer organisation that relies on goodwill for tasks to be done. This means that family and personal time often come ahead of Rotary.
The Club pays around $750 a year to use the Canadian ClubRunner web-based application. We have started to use this database more effectively for:
- Invitations to Club meetings and functions.
- The Club calendar
- Planned absences
- Speakers
- The Bulletin
The Club website has been updated and is maintained by Sue Warmington and Judith Eadon with regular posts from events. Many Rotarians struggle with internet-based systems and we are treading a delicate path that respects their place while bringing our systems up to current standards.
The Aurora project to build planter boxes was a great success on several levels. It was a great day of personal involvement that reconnected the Club to Aurora. The excellent work done by Neil Ibbott meant that most of the raw material was obtained for free. The money allocated was then used to support Men’s Shed to pay for a slab (of concrete) and storage racks.
Following six months of consultation and many false starts I presented a Club Mission Statement of: “We support youth within Whitehorse and International health projects” This phrase sums up the essence of the Rotary Club of Nunawading. I will work with Janette as President-Elect and Gabby as President-Nominee to develop a three-year plan in the new year based on this mission statement. As a consequence of defining the mission, I will alter the thrust of my President’s Personal project. Instead of focusing on rural youth, I propose that four children aged 9-11 will be sent to the Portsea Camp in April from within Whitehorse.
Peter Koens has continued his fantastic RAWCS Medical Imaging Machine work by visiting Fiji three times to get the Cath Lab at the CWM Hospital in Suva operational. With Joe and Mary Vanaria, and help from Tauranga Rotary Club, they removed a Cath Lab from Tauranga Hospital in New Zealand. The Nunawading Board has authorised reallocation of the funds formerly for the East Timor X-Ray project to send and install this Cath Lab in Lautoka, Fiji. Peter also visited Nepal to conduct repairs on the Cath Lab at the Dhulikhel Hospital in Kathmandu. The plan is to install a Fluoroscopy laboratory currently in store at DIK Brisbane in Dhulikhel during the current Rotary year.
Fundraising has been a steady progression of small and large events. Harvey and his team produced great olive oil that is being sold to raise funds. A fun weekend away to pick the olives was backed up by a day of bottling and labeling. Bob Davis has had great success with the Bunnings BBQ’s which fund projects within Whitehorse. The Farmer’s market was supported by all members. Ian Symons did a great job of organising the social weekend away in the King Valley.
The Christmas breakup at Box Hill Golf Club will be the last official meeting for 2017. It will also be the last Bulletin for the year, with the first Bulletin in 2018 being for the meeting on January 16th. Sue and I will be away for a few weeks and Janette has agreed to fill in for me on the 16th and 23rd of January.
During the six months ahead we should enjoy the rest of the glass. It is a great vintage and should be savored and enjoyed with the friends that Rotary brings.
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